Japanese Grand Prix

[ÜberDoober]

No fancy write up this week because the crew has been blasted with work and pressing personal matters. Sorry! :o

The good news, at least for those of us on Pacific time, is that qualifying is on Friday night and the race is Saturday night. You east coast guys should prolly just watch the replay? :)

We aren't even going to post broadcast times as Speed and RaceFanTV don't seem to be on the same page with their schedules? It's been a messed up week around these here parts but hopefully things will get back to some kind of normal over the weekend?

Here are Friday's times


Practice 1
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.910 + 23
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:19.063 + 0.153 24
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:19.279 + 0.369 20
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:19.399 + 0.489 31
5. Alonso Renault (B) 1:19.473 + 0.563 30
6. Piquet Renault (B) 1:19.743 + 0.833 35
7. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.121 + 1.211 30
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:20.160 + 1.250 26
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.182 + 1.272 34
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.217 + 1.307 25
11. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:20.288 + 1.378 26
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.350 + 1.440 28
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.620 + 1.710 24
14. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:20.628 + 1.718 23
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:20.657 + 1.747 33
16. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:20.753 + 1.843 32
17. Button Honda (B) 1:20.769 + 1.859 27
18. Glock Toyota (B) 1:20.823 + 1.913 37
19. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:20.905 + 1.995 24
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:21.014 + 2.104 28

Practice 2
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Glock Toyota (B) 1:18.383 44
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:18.426 + 0.043 41
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.463 + 0.080 40
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.491 + 0.108 40
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:18.725 + 0.342 39
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.734 + 0.351 39
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.734 + 0.351 36
8. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.761 + 0.378 23
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.803 + 0.420 32
10. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:18.863 + 0.480 45
11. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.865 + 0.482 39
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.888 + 0.505 43
13. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.981 + 0.598 41
14. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:19.040 + 0.657 41
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:19.258 + 0.875 42
16. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.287 + 0.904 41
17. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:19.327 + 0.944 36
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.482 + 1.099 44
19. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:19.894 + 1.511 37
20. Button Honda (B) 1:19.999 + 1.616 42

[LittleAlguy]

How about that Toyota!

Massa now with a 1:18.1.

[LittleAlguy]

Eliminated from Q1: Heidfeld, Barrichello, Button, Sutil, Fisichella

[LittleAlguy]

Eliminated from Q2: Coulthard, Piquet, Webber, Nakajima, Rosberg

[LittleAlguy]

Hamilton gets pole position! Massa qualifies 5th.

results: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/802/6573/ (http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/802/6573/)

[ÜberDoober]

LittleAlguy, what the hell were you doing up so late? :ack2:

I watched from the bedroom and didn't feel like running back and forth to my office to post. My TV set in the living room blew up last week and I pulled the set from DooberVille HQ to replace it. Don't really have a thousand bucks right now to buy the TV I want so I'm going to suffer a bit. My second PC has a Hauppauge TV/PVR card in it that works great on every channel except SPEED. :( For the race tonight, I'll pull the little set in from the bedroom but didn't want to mess with it for just qually.

I love the excitement of that last lap of the third qualifying session. It's going to be very interesting at the start tonight and I hope like hell that Raikkonen doesn't tangle with LuHam. I feel bad for Massa starting in such a bad spot, especially with Kovalainen in front of him but I do expect to see some team play in action tonight.

If it rains, all bets are off. With that tremendous long straight, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if Massa is running a little more downforce, just in case. At any rate, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Starting Grid:
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.071 1:17.462 1:18.404
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:18.160 1:17.733 1:18.644
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:18.220 1:17.360 1:18.821
4. Alonso Renault (B) 1:18.290 1:17.871 1:18.852
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.110 1:17.287 1:18.874
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.684 1:17.931 1:18.979
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:18.501 1:17.541 1:19.026
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:17.945 1:17.670 1:19.118
9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.559 1:17.714 1:19.638
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:18.593 1:18.102 1:20.167
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.303 1:18.187
12. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.300 1:18.274
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:18.372 1:18.354
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.640 1:18.594
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:18.740 1:18.672
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:18.835
17. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:18.882
18. Button Honda (B) 1:19.100
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.163
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:19.910

[LittleAlguy]

Haha, I couldn't help it. I just had to watch. :p

Although the championship battle will be interesting to watch (high vs. low downforce, heavy vs. light) I'm interested in seeing what the Toyotas have up their sleeves. They must be expecting rain.

[ÜberDoober]

Sorry, Ev. I'm not going to be joining you this evening. I'm not feeling so hot, don't feel like moving the TV in here and will just watch from bed. I feel bad for not hanging out. Sorry, man. :o

[LittleAlguy]

Awful start by Hamilton. A big mess midpack.

This looks just like last season. Hamilton pushes more than he needs to.

[LittleAlguy]

Sorry, Ev. I'm not going to be joining you this evening. I'm not feeling so hot, don't feel like moving the TV in here and will just watch from bed. I feel bad for not hanging out. Sorry, man. :o

Aww, I hope you feel better.

[LittleAlguy]

Glock with an early exit. Tough for him. :( I thought he would have a great run.

Coulthard was the one with heavy damage on the first lap.

Ack, too close for comfort between Kimi and Jarno.

[LittleAlguy]

Hamilton and Massa called for drive through penalties though for different incidents.

Edit: Kovi out

[LittleAlguy]

Looks like Alonso is in pretty nice shape. Over 6 seconds ahead of Kubica.

[LittleAlguy]

Hmm, 33 laps on the option tires? That's asking a lot.

[LittleAlguy]

Alonso still in good shape after the 2nd stop. Massa doing quick laps before his last stop (I think).

[LittleAlguy]

What a battle between Kubica and Raikkonen. Piquet trying to get involved as well.

Massa involved in another incident. That will be investigated afterwards. I hate when they do this.

[LittleAlguy]

Alonso wins again. Kubica 2nd, Kimi 3rd. Massa provisionally in 8th. He should be able to keep it but who knows given these stewards. That was pretty exciting.

[LittleAlguy]

Alonso wins again. Kubica 2nd, Kimi 3rd. Massa provisionally in 8th. He should be able to keep it but who knows given these stewards. That was pretty exciting.

Bourdais penalized 25 seconds for the incident with him and Massa. Phil moves up 7th. They're kidding me with these penalties. :mad: What the ****?