The Official 2016 Japanese Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
Suzuka Circuit, Friday 07 - Sunday 09 October 2016
F1 is back in Japan for the 17th race of the season.
Nico Rosberg carries a 23 point championship lead following a podium in Malaysia where Hamilton suffered an engine failure whilst leading.
Danny Ric has a convincing lead over Kimi following his win in Malaysia, with Raikkonen holding 7 points over his team mate.
Early start for those of us in the UK!
All sessions are live on Sky F1, with highlights shown on Channel 4
Live timing for all sessions will appear here;
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here;
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Japan/Suzuk...
Will be updated closer to the race.
Tyre compounds available for the weekend are soft, medium and hard.
These are the tyres that Pirelli has said must be used at some point in the race:
Two sets of P Zero Orange hard.
Each driver must have both these sets available for the race, and must use at least one of them.
These are the tyres assigned for Q3 in qualifying:
One set of P Zero Yellow soft
Also in this case, following the regulations, each driver must save for Q3 one set of the softest of the three nominated compounds. This set will be given back to Pirelli after Q3 for those who qualify in the top 10, but the remaining drivers will keep it for the race – as is the case currently.
The teams are free to choose the remaining 10 sets; making up 13 sets in total for the weekend. The tyre choices requested by the teams:
Some more info from Pirelli
Fastest Race Lap: 1:36.145 (L33, L. Hamilton; Mercedes)
Overview
F1 is back in Japan for the 17th race of the season.
Nico Rosberg carries a 23 point championship lead following a podium in Malaysia where Hamilton suffered an engine failure whilst leading.
Danny Ric has a convincing lead over Kimi following his win in Malaysia, with Raikkonen holding 7 points over his team mate.
Early start for those of us in the UK!
Session Timings
All sessions are live on Sky F1, with highlights shown on Channel 4
| Session | Day | Sky F1 | Channel 4 | Session Start | Local Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri | 0145 | - | 0200 | 1000 |
| Practice 2 | Fri | 0545 | - | 0600 | 1400 |
| Practice 3 | Sat | 0345 | - | 0400 | 1200 |
| Qualifying | Sat | 0600 | 1230 | 0700 | 1500 |
| Race | Sun | 0430 | 1330 | 0600 | 1400 |
Race Info
Live Timing
Live timing for all sessions will appear here;
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
FIA Info
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here;
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
Weather
http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Japan/Suzuk...
| Session | Comment | Air Temp (°C) | Cloud Cover | Rainfall (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Sunny Skies | 24 | 3% | 0.0 |
| Practice 2 | Patchy Rain Possible | 30 | 21% | 0.4 |
| Practice 3 | Sunny Skies | 27 | 14% | 0.1 |
| Qualifying | Sunny Skies | 29 | 16% | 0.2 |
| Race | Patchy Rain Possible | 18 | 69% | 0.3 |
Will be updated closer to the race.
Tyres
Tyre compounds available for the weekend are soft, medium and hard.
These are the tyres that Pirelli has said must be used at some point in the race:
Two sets of P Zero Orange hard.
Each driver must have both these sets available for the race, and must use at least one of them.
These are the tyres assigned for Q3 in qualifying:
One set of P Zero Yellow soft
Also in this case, following the regulations, each driver must save for Q3 one set of the softest of the three nominated compounds. This set will be given back to Pirelli after Q3 for those who qualify in the top 10, but the remaining drivers will keep it for the race – as is the case currently.
The teams are free to choose the remaining 10 sets; making up 13 sets in total for the weekend. The tyre choices requested by the teams:
Tyre selection per driver
Some more info from Pirelli
2015 Grand Prix
Qualifying
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | MERCEDES | 1:33.015 | 1:32.632 | 1:32.584 | 16 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:32.844 | 1:32.789 | 1:32.660 | 15 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:34.326 | 1:33.416 | 1:33.024 | 11 |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:34.431 | 1:33.844 | 1:33.245 | 11 |
| 5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:34.744 | 1:33.377 | 1:33.337 | 12 |
| 6 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FERRARI | 1:34.171 | 1:33.361 | 1:33.347 | 10 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RED BULL RACING RENAULT | 1:34.399 | 1:34.153 | 1:33.497 | 17 |
| 8 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | LOTUS MERCEDES | 1:34.398 | 1:34.278 | 1:33.967 | 19 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Perez | FORCE INDIA MERCEDES | 1:35.001 | 1:34.174 | DNF | 16 |
| 10 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | RED BULL RACING RENAULT | 1:34.646 | 1:34.201 | DNF | 15 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | FORCE INDIA MERCEDES | 1:35.328 | 1:34.390 | 13 | |
| 12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | STR RENAULT | 1:34.873 | 1:34.453 | 15 | |
| 13 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | LOTUS MERCEDES | 1:34.796 | 1:34.497 | 13 | |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | MCLAREN HONDA | 1:35.467 | 1:34.785 | 8 | |
| 15 | 33 | Max Verstappen | STR RENAULT | 1:34.522 | 8 | ||
| 16 | 22 | Jenson Button | MCLAREN HONDA | 1:35.664 | 6 | ||
| 17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | SAUBER FERRARI | 1:35.673 | 5 | ||
| 18 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | SAUBER FERRARI | 1:35.760 | 6 | ||
| 19 | 28 | Will Stevens | MARUSSIA FERRARI | 1:38.783 | 5 | ||
| NC | 53 | Alexander Rossi | MARUSSIA FERRARI | 1:47.114 | 5 |
Race
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 53 | 1:28:06.508 | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | MERCEDES | 53 | +18.964s | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 53 | +20.850s | 15 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | FERRARI | 53 | +33.768s | 12 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 53 | +36.746s | 10 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | FORCE INDIA MERCEDES | 53 | +55.559s | 8 |
| 7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | LOTUS MERCEDES | 53 | +72.298s | 6 |
| 8 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | LOTUS MERCEDES | 53 | +73.575s | 4 |
| 9 | 33 | Max Verstappen | STR RENAULT | 53 | +95.315s | 2 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | STR RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | MCLAREN HONDA | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 11 | Sergio Perez | FORCE INDIA MERCEDES | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | RED BULL RACING RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | SAUBER FERRARI | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RED BULL RACING RENAULT | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 22 | Jenson Button | MCLAREN HONDA | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 19 | Felipe Massa | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 51 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 18 | 53 | Alexander Rossi | MARUSSIA FERRARI | 51 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 19 | 28 | Will Stevens | MARUSSIA FERRARI | 50 | +3 laps | 0 |
| 20 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | SAUBER FERRARI | 49 | DNF | 0 |
Fastest Race Lap: 1:36.145 (L33, L. Hamilton; Mercedes)
Edited by rsbmw on Tuesday 4th October 13:58
Excited for this one - it would be fantastic for one or preferably both Mclarens to finish strong - Honda have taken some serious flak for a couple of years and I suspect it would be very welcome!
Also interested to see this Red bull internal competition develop - how do they usually run here? Another Danny V Max thriller?
Also interested to see this Red bull internal competition develop - how do they usually run here? Another Danny V Max thriller?
Just looked at the weather forecast link in the OP. Lots of cloud cover for the race and track temps in the mid-20s! It looks like most teams are preferring to use both the high working range tyres (Soft/Hard) in their strategies but the (low working range) Medium tyre might be a better race tyre if the track temps plummet as teams may have trouble with warm up of the Soft/Hard...although, the track does put a decent amount energy on to the tyres so it might be ok. A bit of rain is predicted too, I think? It's going to be a crazy race!
Edited by Dr Z on Tuesday 4th October 14:29
ELUSIVEJIM said:
Unfortunately the Japanese Grand Prix always will be remembered for the terrible Jules Bianchi accident.
It was very sad but I disagree... do you only remember other circuits only by who died there?!If Suzuka is to be "remembered" (FFS we still go there) for anything it should be- SLOW Down under double waved Yellows.
ELUSIVEJIM said:
Unfortunately the Japanese Grand Prix always will be remembered for the terrible Jules Bianchi accident.
Just wanted to take this opportunity for us all to think of his family and friends during this period.
We all lost a future star of F1 that day.
R.I.P Jules Bianchi
Good shout, I should have remembered that in the OP.Just wanted to take this opportunity for us all to think of his family and friends during this period.
We all lost a future star of F1 that day.
R.I.P Jules Bianchi
suffolk009 said:
I'm going with a pole for Nico and a race win for Lewis. Nico will balls it up at some point when there's another car near him.
But, mostly I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good race for McLaren - will there be a better circuit for them the rest of this season?
Pole for Lewis and if it stays dry a win too. Rosberg should get 2nd but the Red Bulls are strong.But, mostly I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good race for McLaren - will there be a better circuit for them the rest of this season?
Suzuka and Sao Paulo will be the two circuits McLaren may get points.
The other three will be difficult against the faster Mercedes powered cars
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 4th October 19:32
scubadude said:
ELUSIVEJIM said:
Unfortunately the Japanese Grand Prix always will be remembered for the terrible Jules Bianchi accident.
It was very sad but I disagree.Unfortunately JB wasn't the first and probably won't be the last.
Suzuka will, for me at least, always be remembered for simply being a great racing venue.
scubadude said:
ELUSIVEJIM said:
Unfortunately the Japanese Grand Prix always will be remembered for the terrible Jules Bianchi accident.
It was very sad but I disagree... do you only remember other circuits only by who died there?!If Suzuka is to be "remembered" (FFS we still go there) for anything it should be- SLOW Down under double waved Yellows.
Suzuka for me will be remembered as the track where the race had to be restarted in 1994 utterly appalling conditions with Schumacher ahead, only for Damon Hill to drive one of the races of his life and finish ahead on aggregate time. Driving in the rain will always be more dangerous, but what a race it can give you!
irony much?!
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