13-Oct-09: Glock Ruled Out of Brazil GP

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 13th October 2009.

Over the weekend Toyota confirmed that Timo Glock won’t be participating in the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix due to injuries sustained at the last race in Japan. We knew that Glock had hurt his leg and was complaining of back pain, but Toyota have said after further investigation, they’ve found the German has a cracked vertebrae. He won’t even be going to the track, staying in Germany to recover, and they hope he will be well in time for Abu Dhabi. Kamui Kobayashi will be filling in for him, just as he did in free practice in Japan. Kobayashi says he feels ready: “This is an incredible opportunity for me to make my Grand Prix debut but of course it is a pity for Timo as I know how much he was looking forward to getting back to racing.” Toyota boss John Howett said: “Kamui was the natural choice to step in and he proved in Suzuka that he is capable of holding his own.”

That’s all for now, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

Toyota – Japanese Grand Prix Debrief – Q+A with Jarno Trulli

How did it feel to stand on the podium in Panasonic Toyota Racing’s home Grand Prix?
It was a fantastic feeling to stand on the podium and celebrate with all the team and our Japanese fans. My second place was a true reflection of how strong we were at Suzuka because I qualified in that position and there were no retirements at the front; we were genuinely extremely competitive. Japan is always an important race for the team and I personally love visiting the country so it was extra special from that point of view. Everyone in the team has worked so hard this season and to finish on the podium again, after Timo’s second place a week ago in Singapore, was another really good reward for them.

Were you in any way disappointed not to win?
I was hoping to win the race for Toyota, of course, but second place is still a great result. The team and myself pushed to the absolute maximum all weekend and we got the best result possible; I think Red Bull were just a bit too quick for us to win. But I am certainly not disappointed; all the team, including myself, were extremely happy with another podium.

Did the weekend run smoothly in general?
Friday was not a very productive day generally because of the rain. The weather forecast said it would be dry for the rest of the weekend so there was not much to be gained from doing too many laps, which left us with a busy programme on Saturday morning. But right from the start the car felt good and the lap times were consistently very competitive so I was pretty optimistic going into qualifying.

How was qualifying?
It was quite a strange session because of all the red flags, and of course Timo’s accident. The team told me quickly that Timo was okay so it wasn’t a problem to concentrate on the rest of the session after that. Just like in practice we were really quick, although it was hard to judge which tyre compound was the fastest. In the end I used the soft tyres for my fastest laps but there was not much in it. I was happy with my lap in third qualifying even though I missed pole by less than a tenth of a second. It was probably the most I could get out of the car and it gave us a really good chance for another podium.

How was the race?
It was like a long qualifying session! Every lap was flat out and I was pushing right to the limit to get ahead of Lewis (Hamilton). It was hard work but the car felt great and I knew we had the speed to get past. I was just putting the pressure on and never letting up. In the end it paid off thanks to some fast lap times, a great strategy and also two perfect pit stops. Big thanks to the team for their work because it was a fantastic team effort and we got our reward.

Tell us about the start.
The start was a key point in the race. It’s always a battle and I knew the cars around me would be a difficult challenge but we made a good getaway. Going into the first corner I almost held my position but Lewis overtook, which left me chasing him the whole race. I stayed right behind and just kept pushing and pushing like crazy. At the second pit stop it paid off.

Did the safety car at the end cause any concern?
It wasn’t ideal because after I got past Lewis at the second pit stops I had pulled out quite a comfortable gap so there wasn’t any danger. Of course the safety car got rid of that advantage so I had to start all over again but the restart went well so after that I wasn’t concerned.

What about Timo? It was a difficult weekend for him…
Timo had a tough weekend unfortunately. Actually I had a similar cold and fever immediately after Singapore but recovered in time for Suzuka so I knew exactly what he was going through. It was very unfortunate he couldn’t race after his accident in qualifying because I am sure he would have had a great result too. We work really well together and there is a great atmosphere so I know he was cheering me on to the podium. But he will bounce back and we will both be fighting for another positive result in Brazil.

What are your expectations for Brazil?
This season has proved it is difficult to make accurate predictions so it’s hard to say. I am usually very competitive at Interlagos and last year I qualified in second place. It should suit our car and I definitely hope to be fighting at the front again after two consecutive podiums for the team but we’ll have to wait and see how things go in practice.

Williams – Japanese Grand Prix – Review

SYNOPSIS
AT&T Williams arrived in Japan with a determination to recover from a missed opportunity in Singapore and left rewarded with four points from Nico Rosberg’s fourth 5th place of the season at the 5.8km Suzuka circuit. As anticipated, Japan’s predictable storm showers broke cover in time for the Friday practice sessions, leaving the team with only a minimal amount of track time. Indeed, Nico only managed to record 28 laps, while Kazuki covered 26, roughly half the number completed on a normal Friday. With the running the weather allowed, the team covered off valuable tyre comparisons to evaluate where the window between the prime and option fell as well as completing set-up evaluations and aero checks. Both drivers reported a confidence in their cars, with Nico ending both sessions in the middle of the pack and Kazuki 2nd quickest in session one and 5th in P2.

The weather promised better things on Saturday, and indeed the day remained dry throughout providing a good platform for a more straightforward day on track. However, Suzuka lived up to its unforgiving reputation during qualifying when it created casualties out of no less than five drivers in the hour, causing a total of three red flag incidents, two of which came during Q2 severely disrupting Nico’s running schedule and compromising his ability to finish in the top ten. Kazuki’s afternoon proved more disappointing when his progress ended in Q1 with the 17th best time, the result of an inability to find enough grip with his FW31. A batch of penalties handed out to various drivers within the top ten for speeding offences under yellows after Alguesuari’s Q2 accident promoted both AT&T Williams drivers up the order, Nico by four places and Kazuki by two.

With the grid shaken up, Nico ended up in a car weighing 685 kilos (one of the heaviest fuel loads on the grid) but managed to hold position with another clean start off the line, as well as move up the order by two places following a late first stop on lap 22. Nico entered the middle stage of the race in P5 before making a final stop just as the safety car was deployed for another incident involving Alguesuari. Rejoining the race in the same position, Nico remained in P5 to the chequered flag. A post-race steward’s enquiry into Nico’s sector times under the safety car were dismissed as the stewards accepted that he was unable to see the safety car time delta for a short period when his dash indicators were automatically over-ridden by a fuel warning display.

Kazuki’s hopes of a points-scoring finish in front of his home crowd were unfulfilled as his one stop strategy was blighted by traffic, a lack of clean air and the heaviest car in the field on the opening stint, all of which cost him the possibility of finishing any higher than his start position of 15th.

Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Q: How did Friday’s wet running compromise preparation for qualifying and the race?
SM: Obviously it affected us quite a lot, although it was the same for everyone. We had some new parts with us for Japan, as well as some alternative set-ups which we wanted to try out, so the time with which we had to do that was limited. When you lose so much track time as we did on Friday, you simply have to re-prioritise and inevitably drop some items from your list.

Q: How relevant was the team’s technical data from the last race at Suzuka in 2006?
SM: A little, but not much! The cars have changed a great deal since the race in 2006. We now have a single tyre supplier, slicks and completely different aerodynamics so there wasn’t a huge amount of data that was still relevant.

Q: Give the pace of the FW31 at Spa, was it more competitive at Suzuka than you expected?
SM: Well, Suzuka is a different track to Spa and has a higher downforce level. We were strong during the first stint of our race in Japan, which is why we were more competitive and scored points.

Q: How did the two red flags during Q2 compromise Nico’s qualifying?
SM: They had a considerable influence because we were concentrating on the prime tyre at the time. To do that, you need to be able to do multiple laps. When the session time is lost, your runs, and therefore your qualifying, is compromised.

Q: Were you pleased with Nico’s race performance?
SM: Yes, he drove a good race.

Q: Kazuki finished his home race in 15th position. Could he have finished higher on a different strategy?
SM: It’s always going to be a difficult race starting from 15th. We went for the one stop strategy banking on something happening which could affect his position, but it didn’t so we couldn’t capitalise on it.

Q: Were there any tyre issues on either car over the weekend?
SM: No, no tyre issues.

Q: How do you expect the FW31 to perform at Interlagos?
SM: We expect to be competitive. The season is drawing to a close now, so we need to be scoring as many points as possible. Our chances of doing that in Brazil are good.

Quotes Roundup – Week Ending 4th October

The very best from the mouths of those in the know.

Preview Quotes

The current teams are not happy…

• “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve raced Suzuka on computer games – and while it kind of gives you an idea of how the circuit goes, nothing can beat the real thing.” Lewis Hamilton
  
• “I only heard I would be driving today at 8.30 this morning when I was on my way to the circuit; it was a bit of a surprise because even though I knew Timo was sick, I wasn’t expecting this.” Kamui Kobayashi
• “Certainly there wasn’t much to learn today. I feel sorry for the many Japanese fans who stayed out in the grandstands despite the nasty weather but didn’t get much to watch.” Nick Heidfeld
  

Post Qualifying

However, there are plenty lining up to take their place…

• “I did my best not to get distracted today; it was a strange session with a lot of incidents. The most important thing is that all the drivers are okay.” Sebastian Vettel
  
• “I was called by the stewards because I had a green second sector under yellow flags. I explained that coming out of turn 14 I had little visibility because of the dust left from Buemi spinning into the gravel …then I saw debris of a wing in the middle of the track, which I avoided and at that point I saw the yellow flag and immediately slowed down and came carefully into the pits.” Fernando Alonso
  
• “I am very disappointed not to have made it through to Q2. We only had this morning’s free practice to prepare the car in the dry, but I think all the same, I improved my performance level, growing ever more confident in the F60.” Giancarlo Fisichella
  

Post Race

The racing is still happening, by the way…

• “Standing on the podium in the team’s home Grand Prix is a fantastic feeling and this great result is down to the whole team; the engineers, mechanics and everyone, including Timo. We work really well together as part of a great team and it’s a pity he wasn’t able to race today.” Timo Glock
  
• “At turn 15, which you take flat, I lost the rear end of the car and crashed into the wall, but I’m not sure why, as it was inexplicable and I would like to see the data, in case there might have been something wrong with the pressure of the rear tyres or a puncture. I am really, really sorry for what happened.” Jaime Alguersuari
  
• “We had expected a better result from this race, particularly given Adrian’s excellent performance in qualifying fourth yesterday. The penalty cost us dear as Adrian was behind the heavier Rosberg and then dropped back behind Kovalainen early on.” Dr Vijay Mallya
  

A Big Improvement

Jaime Alguersuari walks away from his Japan GP incident that brought out the Safety Car during the last ten laps of the race. Jaime says of the weekend: “Today, I think it was my dream race – the race that I was dreaming all year, which I thought I could never make this year. I felt a bit improvement just from me.” The barriers felt the most of that improvement, it seems.

Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images

A Man Who Knows His Wine

Jarno Trulli celebrates second place on the podium with Sebastian Vettel the race winner at the Japanese Grand Prix today. Vettel led from the front, but Trulli kept his nose clean throughout the safety car period to take another Toyota podium this season.

Credit: Toyota Corporation GmbH

04-Oct-09: Vettel Turns Pole Position into Japan Win

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This is F1 Minute for the 4th October 2009.

Sebastian Vettel turned his pole position into a victory in a Japanese Grand Prix that was a lot calmer than qualifying. The FIA finally decided on a grid, with the main things of note that Button would be starting behind Barrichello. Toyota confirmed that Glock wouldn’t be racing today. His leg was bandaged up but he was okay, it was really mobility of the leg that was the problem.

The race itself wasn’t super exciting, but Alguersuari did bring out a safety car during the last ten laps. He crashed into the barriers and was taken to the medical centre via ambulance, but he was okay. Brawn GP were concerned that Rosberg might have been speeding under the safety car but the stewards investigated and found that the safety car message had been overridden by a low fuel warning, so they decided no penalty was to be given.

Button lost just one point to Barrichello in his title fight, whilst Vettel has managed to close up to Rubens considerably.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Renault – 2009 Japanese Grand Prix Sunday

Today’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka saw Fernando Alonso finish in tenth place, while teammate Romain Grosjean completed the race in sixteenth.

Fernando Alonso, R2904, P10
“My race was really decided after qualifying because although the car was competitive and I pushed hard, it was not enough to score any points. We now have to concentrate on the two remaining races and make sure that we qualify well because if we do that I am sure we can score some strong points and have a good end to the season.”

Romain Grosjean, R2903, P16
“Overall it was a tough afternoon for me. The car was very heavy on fuel and was difficult to drive as I had a lot of understeer. The Suzuka circuit was also a new experience for me this weekend, but I did my best to complete the race without any problems. I’m now looking forward to the next race in Brazil.”

Jean-François Caubet, Managing Director
“I would like to congratulate Red Bull Racing on yet another victory, which shows the competitiveness of the Renault engine. Unfortunately for the Renault F1 Team, a weekend that looked promising for us after the Singapore podium, didn’t meet our expectations. Both cars started so far down the grid that even with a good strategy and an excellent performance from Fernando, who made up six places, we didn’t manage to get into the points. We will need to deliver those in the next two races.”

Bob Bell, Team Principal
“It would be easy to say that it was a disappointing race, but in fact it was a disappointing qualifying session, which really determined what happened to us in the race. Fernando did a great job to gain six places, but I think the race would have been a different story had he not had his qualifying penalty and started in the top ten. Romain drove a solid race to bring the car home, which is as much as we expected from him considering his starting position. So it wasn’t a great weekend, but there are positives: the team worked well together; we remain upbeat; and we look forward to Brazil with continued optimism.”

Remi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations
“Our return to Suzuka was not particularly successful. We had the speed but our grid positions compromised our chances of a good result. We used new engines for this race and they completed their mileage without any problems. For Brazil, we now have a choice as it’s likely that we will use new engines, but that is still to be confirmed.”

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Japanese Grand Prix Report

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) used a hard – hard – soft tyre strategy to score his third race win of the season after a dominant performance in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Vettel finished ahead of Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Jarno Trulli, who used the same tyre strategy, whilst Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton used soft – hard – soft to finish third.

Shoshi Arakawa – Bridgestone Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, says
“Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for his victory here at the Suzuka Circuit. The Japanese Grand Prix was held at Suzuka in beautiful weather today after a two year interval, and I believe the spectators thoroughly enjoyed the world’s top class battles of Formula One. We are proud that our tyres have helped to provide an impressive and exciting race. Bridgestone, as the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, will continue to support all of the teams and drivers with our full efforts for the season’s remaining two races.”

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says
“Well done to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing for keeping the drivers’ championship alive with a thrilling win. Congratulations to Jarno Trulli for scoring Toyota’s second podium finish in as many races and also to the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton for his third place for McLaren. We were privileged to have many Bridgestone guests, staff and board members here to enjoy fantastic racing.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says
“From the beginning of the race the soft tyre worked well, however in the second two thirds of the race it really came alive and we saw very good race performance from this tyre. The high track temperature meant that the hard compound could be used at the start which would not be as advisable on a colder track due to longer warm-up requirements. This was a safe strategy for those concerned by any degradation from the soft, however those who did opt to use the soft at the start saw good performance.”

Force India – Race – Japanese GP

The Force India Formula One Team has finished the Japanese Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil in 13th position and Tonio Liuzzi just under a second behind in 14th.
Adrian, who had qualified in fourth but had started in eighth position following yesterday’s round of penalties, was able to move up to seventh on the opening lap ahead of Nico Rosberg, but on lap four dropped back to ninth behind Kovalainen.

Adrian Sutil – car 20, VJM02/01
13th +14.959secs

Tonio Liuzzi – car 21, VJM02/04
14th +15.734secs

The pair raced nose to tail until Adrian finally moved alongside the Finn on lap 13 going into the chicane. Heikki however refused to yield and the pair touched, sending Adrian into a spin and back down the order to 12th. From that point on Adrian’s race was compromised and despite racing hard with the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella he crossed the line in a disappointing 13th overall.

Tonio Liuzzi enjoyed a series of battles over the 53 lap race to achieve his second consecutive race finish for Force India. Using a two stop strategy Tonio was able to move up four places on his starting position after battling with the two Renaults, the Williams of Nakajima and Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso.

Adrian Sutil – car 20

It was a really disappointing race. The start was OK and I could keep my position but then I fell back to ninth and was caught behind Kovalainen. I got past him at the chicane but then he cut back across and I spun and lost a lot of time. That was really the end of the race for me. When that happens it’s obviously very disappointing as I thought we could have done really well today and got some points. We’ve just got to look forward to Brazil now – it’s a similar type of circuit to here where the car has been competitive.

Tonio Liuzzi – car 21

Overall I think it was not a bad race. Starting from that position it was always going to be difficult to score points but we showed a strong pace in the race and never gave up. I could have a really good fight with Fernando [Alonso] and the Williams, plus also the Toro Rosso so I think it was a good effort from the team.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal

We had expected a better result from this race, particularly given Adrian’s excellent performance in qualifying fourth yesterday. The penalty cost us dear as Adrian was behind the heavier Rosberg and then dropped back behind Kovalainen early on. Adrian’s race was then compromised when he tried to get past the McLaren but he nevertheless demonstrated that the car is performing very well in race conditions and we are able to race competitively with the top teams. Tonio too had a strong race to secure his second finish in three events. His confidence is now high and we should look forward to the next race in Brazil where we hope we can capitalise on the pace we have showed over the weekend. Hopefully next time we can get the results to prove it.

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