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With category 5 typhoon Hagibis in the vicinity, the Japanese GP of 2019 at Suzuka has had a reschedule at this time. The current schedule is as below.



Suzuka is one of the fastest circuits with extremely high speed corners which include the "S's, "Spoon" and 130R.



The results of Practice 1 is

Here are some details about the only figure of 8 track in Formula 1.


It was built in 1962 when Soichiro Honda wanted an own test track for Honda. Though the original layout had 3 pass overs, it passes over only once.

The first F1 race was not held here till 1987. Since it was the last race of the season for many years, it was in focus since many a championship was decided during the Suzuka F1 race, including the first one when Nigel Mansell crashed during qualifying, ruling him out of the race and handing the DC to Nelson Piquet.






Results of Practice 2. All recorded their fastest times on the Soft tyres.

One correction, there will not be any FP3 session since all the track activities are cancelled for Saturday(Link)
Moreover, if they fail to run the qualifying session on Sunday morning due to bad weather, FP2 times will decide the starting grid position for race.

It will be a Merc 1-2 with Max in 3rd and LeClerc and Vettel 4th and 5th if there is no qualifying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFEzbZF6_Ho

The 2019 Japanese GP


The Circuit

• Commissioned by Soichiro Honda and designed as a Honda test track in 1962 by Dutchman John "Hans" Hugenholtz.
• One of the very few tracks to have a figure of 8 layout facilitated by an overpass on the back straight
• Famous for it's corners, the Spoon, 103R, Degner and the Esses
• It's a fast circuit with a top speed of 320 kmph.
• A total of 18 corners with 10 right turns and 8 left turns.
• Quite a narrow circuit with almost no tarmac run-offs meaning the margin for error is very small.
• An abrasive surface means that it is one of the hardest circuits on tyres.
• Cars spend 65% time on full throttle with 42 gear changes per lap

Car Setup

• Car setup calls for one that allows best traction, grip and quick changes of direction from the tyres.
• Only one of the corners is taken at less than 100kmph so a good high speed balance is essential.
• Drivers need a stable rear end and responsive front end for a fast lap.
• Smooth and precise steering inputs are what rewards a driver.
• The biggest challenge is sector One as a mistake in one corner will compromise all the seven Esses.
• The cars are setup with medium downforce and a stiff rear end.
• Along with a stiff suspension the front end is lowered for high speed grip.
• Brake wear is low as only 10% of the lap is spent braking.
• Power units are stressed here on account of the high speed corners and gearing up for the long fast sections out of the slower corners

2019 Tyre Choices


Race Day Weather


2018 Race
Hamilton lead from start to finish after a Mercedes one-two qualifying. However Vettel starting from ninth had a fantastic getway, pushing all the way till fourth, where a wall called Max Verstappen sent him spinning. Vettel then made his way up to P6 with an excellent recovery drive. The driver of the day was Daniel Riccardo who started from P15 to make his way to fourth. At the end Hamilton pulled ahead of Vettel by 67 points and Mercedes lead the constructors trophy by 53 points.

Drive on,
Shibu

Hey Shibu, nice report pre race, could you also slot in the race view time in India going forward, it’s nice to have everything in one place. Thanks bud.

Qualifying has now been rescheduled on Sunday morning. All activities on Saturday are cancelled.

Link

Ferrari one two in Japan.
Vettel drove a great lap to clinch the pole position away from Charles.
What happened to Mercedes? They were clear favourite here in Japan.

A front row lockout for Ferrari. Two drivers taken out during Q1 due to cross winds just before the start line.

Finally Mercedes are upstaged in Suzuka in the turbo era, Bottas looks confused in the post qualifying interview. Traditionally the front row driver wins the race here, good news for Ferrari fans :)

Historically a German has to take the pole in Suzuka if the qualifying is on Sunday and Seb lived up to expectations.

The talking points of the qualy is the Ferrari front row lockout and more so Vettel on pole. Hope the race goes well. Ferrari's race pace and their capability to control the race is going to be crucial.

I hope Mercedes let's their drivers race properly till the end rather than pushing Bottas out of the way for Hamilton.

Would be great to see Albon take the fight to Verstappen too.

Drive on,
Shibu.

Oh dear!! Tables were totally turned. Bettas unusually asserted himself throughout the race. Hamilton looked totally flummoxed after that.

The drivers totally lost it for Ferrari. The pace of the cars was awesome but the consistency and strategy of Mercedes as a team is hard to beat!

It was baffling to see Ferrari strategy of pitting LeClerc towards the end of the race in an attempt to get a point for fastest lap. He had a decent gap to Gasly behind him to cover off the time penalty which was coming his way. Now he has lost the place because of a post race penalty.

Also shocking was the action of LeClerc who didn't follow his team's instruction of asking him to pit after first lap incident. There was a clear safety concern there.

Ferrari could have easily been on top, not just this race but this season as well. Pretty much like last season.

True; Bottas did everything right in making the most of Vettel's false start. That said, oh, Vettel! The man is making life unnecessarily difficult for himself.

I guess Hamilton said this more than once on the radio, "what do I need to do to win". His tyres were pretty worn out towards the end of the race.

That hit on Hamilton could have been really bad. Very surprised that Ferrari allowed him to overrule their suggestion to pit.

Seb needs this season to get over quickly! I think he would be glad there are only 4 more races left in the year! That start, shows a man who is trying too hard! Seb did the perfect lap to get the pole, but I guess he got a little too worked up at the start and made that mistake. But he defended beautifully against Hamilton.

All said and done, I think Mercedes have an upper hand in race pace and in also they way they manage their tyres. In the race today, you could see the incredible pace Bottas had. Seb could not cut the gap down no matter what tyre he was on.
So Ferrari have to really work hard for 2020, else it will be the same story as this year, with Mercedes walking away easy with the championships.