**Official Japanese Grand Prix Thread 2008 **

[Turkeyneck]

Don't the lights at the end of the pit lane flash blue to warn people exiting there is a car approaching down the straight?

I still don't think SB did any thing wrong though & messa should have waited for an easier chance to pass.

[ioan]

Since giving that quote, Ferrari and Raikkonen have changed their opinion.

Their official press release says:
"His car was not quite right after the collision with a McLaren at the first corner" (Stefano Domenicali)

and:
"the car was not quite right as I was hit by one of the McLarens" (Kimi Raikkonen)

I've watched the replay so many times and I can't see where Lewis was supposed to have hit Kimi.

OK, he clearly made a mistake when he said that both hit him.

[jens]

Everyone wants to talk about three incidents, penalties, unfairness of FIA and no-one wants to cover the rest of the race... and racing.

Well, Räikkönen's highly-praised race pace wasn't quite visible today. I don't know, how much did Turn1 affect his performance, but I do think the lower temperatures today hindered Ferrari's and Toyota's pace a bit. Although I think with a Ferrari it still could have been possible to challenge Alonso more. After qualifying I hoped Toyotas could give some competition to Alonso and Kubica and fight for podium, but today's cooler conditions made the task a bit more difficult for Jarno. So overall I'm quite satisfied with P5.

A shame Sutil retired. He managed to make most out of the chaos in Turn1 and rose into Top10, so it would have been exciting to see, where he could have ended.

Red Bull is a bit thought-provoking . They complain about the engine, but Renault has found giant steps in their performance, showing that engine may not be the that bad at all. On the other hand Toro Rosso with the same chassis has had some clearly better performances recently. It looks like Red Bull has managed to make quite a competitive chassis, but obviously not a top drawer (both STR and RB are losing quite clearly to their engine supplier) plus I'm wondering whether Red Bull Racing hasn't managed to sort out the car as well as Toro Rosso, which seems strange especially as A-team should be in better position in this area. The design team of RB has done a decent job, but what about the level of engineers at the A-team?

And no pitstop blunders by Honda and their new lights system. :

[christophulus]

Unfortunately I can't comment on the start much because ITV kept going on about the incidents! I did hear that Button had got "upto around 10th place" but it appears that he didn't stay there, and that was pretty much it commentary-wise..

Once again Raikkonen seemed to be asleep until he was coming in to pit for the second time, and well done to Kubica for keeping him behind. I really can't figure out what's wrong with Raikkonen, all we know now is that he won't be #1 next year.

Red Bull and Honda appear to have given up on this year and are looking forward to 2009, but Honda said that in 2008 and it didn't exactly help them a lot! I can't see Alonso leaving Renault now they've made a massive improvement, and he seems happy there, so I suppose Honda are stuck with Button + Barrichello again?

Finally - green stripes on the tyres? What a rubbish idea! I couldn't tell the difference between hard and soft tires. Thank goodness they're gone next year

[donKey jote]

Apparently most of the improvements on the R28 come from tinkering with the front and rear suspension, plus a bit from the new front wing, plus some new frog oils giving the engine 5-6 more donkeys.

[alfa155btcc]

So glad Hamilton, did not get in the points, shame Massa could not have got more.

[ShiftingGears]

Where in the rules does it say that, or anything like it?

They don't, ioan just invented it.

[truefan72]

Yes, I certainly am a hypocrite. I am going to put you on my ignore list now.

join the club

[F1boat]

The penalty was harsh, but that is life, they both made mistakes today and paid for them. I say the stewards were even handed today. Maybe harsh, but not biased at all.

I agree. To Macca fans the only way in which FIA will be unbiased will be to allow McLaren to cheat and steal and Hamilton to overtake people using shortcuts - because he is a pure racers and mcLaren and pure racing team.
Appaling.

[truefan72]

I've added some images illuastratinog your point quite well

Four contraversial incidents to comment on:

Hamilton / Raikkonen / Kovalainen at the start

I've watched the start many times now and it's clear that while Lewis made an absolute hash of things, forcing Kimi to drive towards the very edge of the track, Hamilton was a clear 2 or 3 meters ahead when Kovy pushed Kimi off.

There's no excuse for the boneheaded start Hamilton made, but it was the wrong McLaren which got the blame for Kimi leaving the track.

Even so, how many times at the start of pretty much every race do we see people pushed wide - especially down the order? And yet this is the first time I can remember a driver being penalised for it.

and more evidence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H5KReYtyew
:20 krk and LH eqaul
:22 hamilton ahead kimi could have braked
:24 LH well clear of kimi, kimi could have braked, but kovy was there
:25 Haliton well haead of kimi, kvy pushing Kimi off track
(notice massa, who took the same line as kimi but decided to break )

Massa / Hamilton

Pretty clear-cut, this one. Massa made an optimistic dive down the inside, cutting the chicane with all four wheels. This alone mandates a penalty under the new post-Spa rules, never mind the fact that he also went on to cause an avoidable collision.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...a_1008273c.jpg

Massa / Bordais

I can't believe Sebastien is the one suffering over this when he clearly was the victim of Massa shutting the door on him. I hope Toro Rosso are to appeal but I doubt they'll get very far as we now now that 25-second penalties can't be appealed

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/117176

Massa / Webber

Not so black and white this time. Massa clearly had all four wheels off the circuit, but you could argue that it was a fair move as Webber had moved over to defend his position.

So four incidents, three of them involving Massa.

yeah, decided to watch the start of the race again after you mentioned that and clear as day, it was kovy who if anyone, pushed kimi off track.

of course the stewards got it wrong and decided to punish hamilton for nothing