Japanese GP – Could Webber or Vettel have won it?
The Japanese Grand Prix returned to the Fuji circuit for the first time in a long time and you can see why there hasn’t been a grand prix there for that long - the weather and conditions are terrible for Formula One racing. Old footage of previous races show a common problem – a tendency for low fog and terrible visibility (even without rain).
What this meant was we had an extremely boring grand prix with lap-after-lap behind the pace car. But once the race finally started it quickly became one of the most exciting GPs this season.
Lewis Hamilton – Brilliant. His previous racing in the wet in F1 left question marks, but at Fuji he showed what a talent he is in both qualifying and the race. He’s almost guaranteed the title now.
Fernando Alonso – It’s been surprising to see Alonso crack so much under pressure this year given that he handled the pressure from Michael Schumacher in the previous two seasons so well. You have to say Alonso’s biggest rival is himself – the most damage to his championship has come because he’s lost his cool so many times this year. It will be interesting to see if he drives a lot better in the final round if Lewis manages to clinch the title in the next race (ie. once the pressure is off).
Heikki Kovalainen – What a super drive! The way he handled the pressure from Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the race shows just how far Heikki has come. He really could be as good as people said he was before the season started.
Mark Webber – Seemed quicker than Lewis Hamilton before he got hit by Sebastian Vettel behind the pace car.. Could he have won?
Sebastian Vettel – Despite making a terrible mistake by crashing into Mark Webber behind the pace car, Sebastian Vettel was definitely the driver of the weekend. He qualified his “Minardi” in the top 10 and would almost have certainly got a podium if he kept going. It was quite sad seeing him crying in the pits after crashing. Let’s hope it doesn’t hurt him too much psychologically because this guy is definitely on the cards for “driver of the future”.
Ferrari – Even if they weren’t told about the requirement to start the race on the extreme wet tyres, where was their common sense? This really screwed the race and the championship for their drivers.
Kimi Raikkonen – An inspired fightback, but it probably won’t count for much in terms of the championship.
Robert Kubica & Felipe Massa – Very exciting to watch and I’m happy Felipe managed to bring it home ahead in the end because Robert certainly seemed to pull more “questionable” moves out of the two (not to mention almost taking Lewis Hamilton out of the race earlier)…
