Red Bull went 1-2 at yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix (Sebastian Vettel first, Mark Webber second after starting from pole) but the World Championship will have to wait until India as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished fourth and is still a mathematical outsider to claim the title if Vettel scores no further points.
But Japan was a frustration for Webber despite his excellent qualifying effort. The Suzuka circuit is mostly about straight-line speed and the Aussie went for a smaller rear wing with less downforce.
However that combination produced more tyre wear and despite a good start, Webber stopped three times for fresh Pirelli rubber and just could not sustain the pace of his world champion team-mate who stopped twice.
Webber’s effort in qualifying and brilliant race pace to finish second underscores why the Aussie will be missed next year when he heads to sports car racing with Porsche.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was the talk of Suzuka, finishing third after a strong showing all day.
Mercedes-Benz driver Lewis Hamilton again showed pace in qualifying but was stymied in the race when Vettel clipped his right-rear tyre going into turn one which resulted in a puncture and subsequent underbody damage.
And a big cheer for the Swiss Sauber team with driver Eric Gutierrez scoring the team’s first point of the year after finishing seventh – on the 70th birthday of team boss Peter Sauber.
Sunday’s Japan GP was the 14th 1-2 result for Red Bull and the fifth consecutive win for Vettel. No doubt he’ll be chasing number six in India, but only a fifth-place finish is required to gurantee his World Championship title.
Off-track talk In Japan again centered on 2014 and the debut of the new turbocharged 1.5-litre V6 engines for Formula One. The drivers just hate the current strategic races where the compulsory laps on soft compound tyres are considered a ‘dead rubber’ (no pun intended).
They’re calling for a new direction in Grands Prix which will enable them to race from lights-to-flag with less emphasis on strategies and tyre management.
It’s going to be a long winter for F1 teams and management as they hone the new cars and agree on a race format.
