( The new 'Schumi Jump'? )
Many of the drivers had never driven on the famous figure 8 circuit before and during Qualifying we saw plenty of drivers going off the track. Friday was wet and saw hardly any driving time done by the teams as everyone looked to wait for the dry Saturday sessions. This meant teams hadn't set up cars properly for dry running and drivers were used to going much slower than they now could. Most of the incidents on Saturday happened at Degna 1 and 2 with drivers admitting to pushing too hard while Timo Glock had a loss of concentration on the entry to the main straight and hit the tyre barriers. He received a leg injury during this crash and could not compete on race day. So after all we had seen in Qualifying and Practice everyone was expecting a race full of fireworks and incidents.
The race was uneventful in Suzuka standards. The grid was shaken up after cars completed their final Q1 laps under caution flags and Mark Webber continued his trademark bad luck by starting from the pit lane. The drive of the day would have to go to Vettel for absolutely dominating the race and over the entire weekend he seemed to be the one driver that nailed the laps consistently. The Toyota team also did an amazing job getting Jarno into P2 and this has been their 2nd podium finish in a row! Its also been great to hear all the drivers rave about the Suzuka circuit as I be live it's one of the best race tracks in the world. Fuji Raceway is really no comparison to Suzuka and I hope Formula One realizes this with Suzuka becoming the permanent home of the Japanese Grand Prix.
If one good thing can be taken from the race it was that Vettel is still in with a chance to win the WDC. While it might be a long shot all you have to do is look back to Kimi in 2007. Going into the last 2 races that year Kimi was 17 points behind Hamilton, Hamilton was worried about battling his then teammate Alonso for the title but Kimi ended up winning the WDC by a single point in the last race. This year Vettel is 16 points behind Button with 2 races to go and like 2007 the Button's closest challenger is his own teammate Barrichello. Button has been on a bit of a form slump lately and Rubens will be giving it 101% at his home track next race. On top of all of that the last race of year at Abu Dhabi is making its debut and no driver or team has any experience racing there.
The Constructors title will be tied up next race most likely as Red Bull are only still in contention by half a point. The only real battle in the constructors championship will be for 3rd place between Ferrari and McLaren. Based on form it seems McLaren will get there but with Massa possibly making a comeback for the final race it's going to be close.
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