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If one
accepts that the two Red Bulls were in a race of their
own today, then Fernando Alonso won the Grand Prix for
the other cars. Unfortunately, only one driver takes the
winner’s points, so the Spanish Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro driver had to settle for a great third place on
the podium at the end of an action-packed 53 laps of the
fantastic Suzuka track. His team-mate Felipe Massa had a
very short race, knocked out at the very first corner as
he was involved in a collision with Tonio Liuzzi in the
Force India and his F10 was too badly damaged to
continue.
Fernando is still second in the Drivers’ championship,
but the gap to the leader Mark Webber, who came second
today, has grown from 11 to 14 points. The Ferrari man
is now equal on points with today’s winner, Sebastian
Vettel, but is ranked second as he has one more victory
than the German. In the Constructors’ classification,
the Scuderia is still third, but here too, the gap to
the leaders has grown from 64 to 92 points.
The enthusiastic Japanese crowd certainly got good value
for money today, watching not just the race, but, in the
morning, qualifying too. In fact, the excitement began
before the start, as Di Grassi destroyed his Virgin
going out to the grid. Then, as soon as the lights went
out, Hulkenberg and Petrov collided, with the Renault
ending up in the barrier at the side of the grid. Going
into the first corner, Vettel led from pole, while
Kubica made a great start from third to tuck his Renault
in behind the German and ahead of Webber, so that
Fernando was in his grid position, fourth. Further back,
Felipe was hit by Liuzzi and both men spun off into the
gravel at Turn 1, so that the Safety Car made a very
early appearance, staying out until the end of lap 6.
Fernando was promoted to third when Kubica retired on
lap 2 and from then on, the Ferrari man was generally
around 2 seconds behind Webber with the McLaren duo of
Button and Hamilton behind him.
On lap 24, Vettel and Fernando made their one pit stop
to change tyres, so that Webber led for a lap until he
too came in, which left Button in the lead, the
Englishman eventually pitting much later than the other
front runners on lap 38. There were some good scraps
further down the order, with Rosberg holding off his
Mercedes team-mate, Schumacher for much of the race
until the younger man spun off the track. Delighting the
crowds was the Japanese driver Kobayashi, who first came
to prominence with a great drive here last year. The
Sauber man, on fresh tyres, charged up the order in the
closing stages to come home seventh.
Once Button had pitted, the old order resumed at the
front, with the two Red Bulls ahead of Fernando,
followed by Button who got the better of his team-mate,
as Hamilton had a gearbox problem. That would remain the
order to the flag, with Schumacher finishing sixth ahead
of the aforementioned Kobayashi, whose team-mate
Heidfeld was eighth. Barrichello was ninth and Buemi was
tenth for Toro Rosso, meaning that along with the two
Saubers, no less than four Ferrari engines finished in
the top ten. Next stop is Korea in two weekends time.
Stefano Domenicali: “First of all, I
want once again to offer our condolences for the deaths
of the soldiers yesterday in Afghanistan, which has
affected us deeply. Then I want to praise the team, who
worked in impeccable fashion on an unusual day, with
qualifying and the race following one after the other.
We knew that, at this track, Red Bull would be very
strong and as we saw this morning, other teams also
proved to be competitive. This third place is therefore
a great result, in line with our game plan and it keeps
us right in with a chance in the Drivers’ championship.
Unfortunately, the situation in the Constructors’ took a
knock because Felipe had to retire after the accident at
the start. I am very disappointed for our driver, who
despite a less than brilliant grid position had every
chance of having a good race. There are three Grands
Prix to go in this championship which is proving very
hard to predict: it will be vital to concentrate all the
time and give our utmost, day after day. As we have said
for a while now, the maths can wait until Abu Dhabi on
14 November. Finally, I want to congratulate our
customer teams, who brought home a further three Ferrari
engines in the top ten.”
Felipe Massa: “I think I was really
cursed today! This morning in qualifying, because of
traffic, I failed to get into Q3. This afternoon in the
race, I didn’t even manage to get through the first two
corners. At the start, Rosberg, who was in front of me,
got away poorly and at first I tried to move to the
left, but Sutil was coming there. Then I moved to the
right, but in so doing I found myself on the grass and
the kerb. At that point the car took off on its own, I
was unable to make it through the first corner and I
ended up colliding with Liuzzi’s Force India. It’s a
shame, because as Fernando showed, in the race our car
had a good pace and I could have fought for a points
finish. The main problem is still qualifying: again
today I struggled, even if traffic played its part. In
the race, the situation is better but we know how
difficult it is to overtake. These past two races have
been frustrating for me but we have seen many times this
year how quickly the situation can change: I will be
trying my very best in the remaining three Grand Prix.”
Fernando Alonso: “All things considered
this was a positive day for us. On a circuit that seemed
purpose built to show off the strengths of the Red Bull,
we managed to get on the podium, losing just three
points to the championship leader. We had a bit of luck
because Kubica’s retirement meant a potentially very
strong rival was out of the reckoning. I did not make an
ideal start, partly because of a problem with the
clutch, but then I soon made up a place over Button. In
the first part, we ran a defensive race, trying to keep
the McLarens at a distance, especially Jenson, who was
on a very different strategy to ours. Then when we
realised they were no longer a threat we tried to put
the Red Bulls under a bit of pressure, but there was
nothing to be done. Here they were perfect and when that
happens they are really hard to beat. However,
experience tells us that it is not always like this, or
they would have already won the championship. So we must
try and make the most of every opportunity. We are
trying to improve the F10 with every passing race: here
for example we had a new oil from Shell and other minor
aerodynamic updates. We will have further new parts in
the next few races: maybe not so big but put together
they could give us a few tenths which is always useful.
We come out of this weekend with our heads held high,
knowing that we must try and beat Webber in the coming
races to close down the gap to the top.”
Chris Dyer: “A very tough day for the
entire team, with qualifying and the race squeezed into
just a few hours. The day did not get off to an easy
start: Fernando did not get a perfect lap in qualifying
and Felipe had problems that kept him from making it to
Q3. At the start, we immediately lost Felipe and that is
very disappointing as he could still have had a good
race. Fernando drove a great race, obtaining the maximum
we could have hoped for in a Grand Prix where we did not
have the pace to beat the Red Bulls: he drove almost the
entire time as if it was a qualifying session. We can
claim to have limited the damage in the most effective
way possible and now we hope to be more competitive in
the coming races. From every point of view, the team
worked very well – car preparation, pit stops and
strategy – in what was definitely not an easy situation,
so to all of them my heartfelt congratulations.”
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