08/10/2011
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's qualifying session for the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix, the air temperature is 23 degrees C, while the track temperature is 36 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.
Jenson Button has led the way in all three practice session, heading a McLaren 1-2 in two of them, however, there is a widespread belief that Red Bull, focussing on the forthcoming session and tomorrow's race, has not yet shown its hand.
Suzuka is a circuit almost tailor made for the RB7 and therefore many believe that while the McLarens have appeared to have the edge when the chips are down its Austrian rivals will have more than enough in reserve.
As ever, there is great interest in tyres with Pirelli predicting two possibly three stops tomorrow. The Italian manufacturer points not only to the fact that Suzuka has one of the shortest pit-stops on the calendar - around 21s - but also the speculation as to the dilemma in terms of the point at which the soft (option) tyres are slower than the medium (prime). Indeed, they suggest that some drivers might actually post their best laps on the harder rubber this afternoon.
While most focus on McLaren's pace and Red Bull's preference for holding back, others are intrigued by the battle behind.
Ferrari has already admitted that it is now going to concentrate on next year, though Fernando Alonso has made no secret of the fact that he would like to finish runnr-up to Vettel. While Mercedes will also be looking ahead, having seemingly wrapped up fourth place in the team standings, there is a great battle behind with Renault under increasing pressure from Force India which, in turn, has Sauber and Toro Rosso breathing down its neck.
Williams, which has had a dreadful weekend thus far, desperately needs to add a few more points to its tally, while Lotus still seeks that first world championship point.
In each of the three practice sessions at least three drivers failed to beat the 107% time, it will be interesting to see if anyone falls foul of this rule today. It's only happened once this year, when the HRTs failed to make it into the season opener in Australia.
Trulli leads the way when the lights go green, followed, shortly after, by Petrov and di Resta.
As Trulli posts the first time of the afternoon (1:36.571), more and more drivers pour on to the track.
Despite a minor mistake in the final chicane, Petrov posts 34.045, with di Resta going second with a 34.998.
Vettel is an early riser, the German unsurprisingly going quickest in the first sector. Teammate Webber is also on track.
Vettel goes quickest with a 33.051, onboard camera showing his rear wing fully open through 130R. Webber goes second with a 33.135.
In the Renault garage the mechanics are working furiously repairing Senna's car following his crash earlier this morning.
As Alonso goes quickest (32.817), Hamilton makes full use of the massive run off at the Spoon Curve. The Englishman subsequently crosses the line at 33.414 to go sixth.
Button posts 33.018 to go second as Vettel and Webber both fail to improve on their previous bests. Indeed, even though they are on the harder rubber, nobody attempts to improve their time on their next lap. That said, Button improves with a 32.947 while Hamilton is also on a hot lap. The 2008 champ crosses the line at 32.843 to bump his teammate down to third.
With 6:40 on the clock, Rosberg, Senna and Liuzzi have yet to post a time, indeed, all three are still in their garages.
With 5:30 on the clock Senna and Liuzzi head down the pitlane as Schumacher goes seventh (33.748) ahead of Petrov, Sutil and Buemi. Still no sign of Rosberg who is sitting in his car whilst his mechanics work on it.
Di Resta goes seventh (33.499) as Senna (softs) goes quickest in S1 and Sutil (softs) goes quickest overall (32.761). Senna goes eleventh with a 33.359.
The stands erupt when Kobayashi (softs) goes quickest (32.626), ahead of Sutil, Alonso, Hamilton, Petrov and Button.
With the clock standing at 1:00 Rosberg is still in the pits, therefore he will start from the back row of the grid alongside Liuzzi. It's the first time this year that the Mercedes driver has failed to make it into Q3.
Alguersuari is just outside the danger zone, with Perez and the Williams duo hovering..
Q1 ends and quickest is Kobayashi, ahead of Sutil, Alonso, Hamilton, Petrov, Button, Vettel, Buemi, Webber and Massa.
We lose Kovalainen, Trulli, d'Ambrosio, Glock, Ricciardo, Rosberg and Liuzzi.
Tyre degradation is clearly a problem, though not so much for McLaren it appears, prompting speculation as to tyre strategy for Q3 and tomorrow.
Sutil is first out for Q2, with Vettel, Webber and Button joining him almost a minute later.
Sutil crosses the line at 34.384 however, Button, Vettel and Webber are all on very quick laps.
Vettel posts 31.424 while Button can only manage 31.434 and Webber 31.576.
All eyes on Hamilton who goes quickest in S1 finally crossing the line at 31.139. Alonso goes fifth ahead of Massa, Sutil and Maldonado.
As before, there are no real improvements on the second lap, both McLaren drivers heading back to the pits. Kobayashi goes eighth only to be demoted by Petrov and Buemi.
As Schumacher appears to struggle, still no time from di Resta or Perez. Schumacher subsequently posts 32.116 to go seventh.
Maldonado is the only driver on track as the clock counts down to 3:40. While the leaders appear to have settled for what they've already done, one has to wonder why di Resta and Perez don't appear eager to come out.
Kobayashi leaves the pits at 2:22, followed by Petrov, Sutil, Senna, Barrichello and di Resta. Perez is out of his car, the Mexican either having a problem or, surely inexplicably, opting not to run.
Maldonado improves to ninth as the top seven have clearly decided not to run again… a brave move or ultimately highly costly?
Willed on by the crowd, Kobayashi improves from eighth to twelfth. However, though the phase is over there are still a number of drivers on track.
Senna goes ninth demoting Kobayashi to tenth as di Resta can only manage twelfth (32.746).
Quickest was Hamilton, ahead of Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso, Massa, Schumacher, Petrov, Senna and Kobayashi.
We lose Sutil, di Resta, Barrichello, Maldonado, Buemi, Alguersuari and Perez.
So, will Vettel take his tenth pole of the season, Webber his fourth or will McLaren maintain the form we've seen in the previous sessions.
The lights go green and Kobayashi is first out, much to the delight of the crowd. The Sauber driver is on the prime tyre. The Japanese driver is subsequently joined by Alonso, Massa, Webber, Schumacher, Vettel and Button, the 2009 champ the only driver opting for the softer rubber.
Kobayashi dives into the pit opting not to post a time, elsewhere, Alonso runs very wide in Spoon.
Hamilton goes quickest in the first two sectors, finally crossing the line at 30.617 as Button goes second (30.736) and Massa third (31.287). Vettel can only manage 30.825 which put him third, just ahead of his Red Bull teammate who posts 31.156.
With the clock at 4:00 only four drivers have posted a times, the other six all in their pits, some having gone out but not posting a time and others simply choosing not to go out and save tyres.
The clock counts down and nobody is showing any sign of going out, a total anti-climax and a bad advert for the sport.
Suddenly however, an engine fires up, then another, then another. One by one they pour on to the track, indeed, most drivers are sporting a brand new set of options. Only Kobayashi, Senna and Petrov stay put.
With the clock at 0:00 Schumacher and Hamilton fail to cross the line and therefore won't be able to post times or improve.
Hamilton and Webber are both on very quick laps, the German posts 30.466 to go quickest as Button posts 30.475 to go second. The Red Bull driver takes his tenth pole of the season while Hamilton is left wondering what on earth went wrong.
So, Vettel will start from pole, ahead of Button, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Webber, Schumacher, Senna, Petrov and Kobayashi.
Did McLaren screw up, they certainly appeared to in the case of Hamilton, or did Red Bull, and in particular Vettel, always have it covered.
Whatever, Vettel starts from pole yet again, his fifth consecutive pole, at a circuit where he has won the last two times out. So, with just one point needed tomorrow, would you bet against him? No, us neither.
Check out our Suzuka qualifying gallery, here.