Japanese Grand Prix Thread !!!***Spoilers***!!!

Wasn't expecting Brundle to be presenting this. That was worth waking up for!

Good lap by Lewis, but I can't help thinking he's a little lighter than Kimi.

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Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld

GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.

Finally, saw the whole thing, YAY!

Why didn't Massa set another lap after he got the 3rd place, he well within the time limit? :s

I think Kimi is the lightest of the McLarens and Ferraris, but I suspect what someone else did either - they're going to try something a bit funky tomorrow, perhaps similar to Suzuka '97 or Sepang '99. To be honest, even if it wasn't the intention, it surely must be after qualifying. Massa needs to finish ahead of Hamilton tomorrow. 2007 isn't going to happen all over again.

Perhaps Ferrari did think it over though. Perhaps Massa is heavy and they're relying on Kimi to keep Hamilton in touch throughout the first stint. Personally, I just think, irrespective of fuel loads, Massa took a bit of a gamble on the 2nd lap and used up his tyres too early. Haven't listened to or read the interviews, so I've no idea what the teams have claimed.

Hamilton, as aggressive as he is, can't start playing games with Kimi tomorrow. Kimi won't take him out intentionally, but I'm certain that given the opportunity, he'll leave it in Hamilton's hands whether or not to have an accident.

Lewis will just let kimi go I am sure what is the point racing him.

wcc

McLaren could have played what they did in 1991, they left Berger to take the lead and open a gap, while Mansell, who had to win it, was stuck behind Senna who was holding him. The plan was to get Mansell nervous, thus inducting him to an error. Which was a total success when he went off at T1 trying to get past him.



The same strategy would work today, Ferrari is under pressure and they cannot afford any more errors, and they also need three 1-2 to win it. McLaren can play the game how they want now.

Well, if they arent going to do it, Lewis may as well just let Kimi go if he feels that the iceman is faster, and settle for 2nd which is good enough for him. Lewis just need three second places to win the title.

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I'm thinking Ferrari are going to be doing the holding up though, so Hamilton would be in the Mansell position (though the points would be inverted).

A bit like Schumacher at Sepang. Attempting to hold up the rival in order to unsettle the rival and let others attack him. If they do try it, it'll be very, very interesting. There's a nice long straight, so there's plenty of slipstreaming opportunities, and it's preceded by some slow corners where it's very easy to make mistakes. Hamilton will have to go on the offensive.

Of course it could just be a boring, bog standard GP, with Kimi just going for the win for the constructors championship.

Mansell also had brake problems, well so he said

The only reason why I think kimi is light is due to his quali problems then now he was nearly on pole, but saying that at the last race he semmed back on it.

I dont see any reason for Ferrari to do it with Lewis. hes not the man in this story who needs to go offensive and try to win it. Like I said, second place is enough for him. Lewis does not need to win anymore, and he has been talking since Singapore that he has learned with 2007 and may be playing the safest option - so i'm thinking that he'll settle for 2nd comfortably while one of the red cars, doesnt matter who for Lewis, wins the last races. It's Ferrari who needs to attack.

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all of this is already around their heads in the Mclaren garage
[en.f1-live.com]

Massa needs to do another good start and he can take 3rd place very easily, Kovalainen is useless and Alonso doesn´t have the machine to start better than him, so if he can start as previous GP's he can be very well positioned for the rest of the race...

but of course anything can happen, like that BMW starting better and loosing more, or Kovalainen as useless as he is, getting over excited when Massa gets his position and outbrake himself and take him out...

i don't think Kimi will hold Lewis, he will just go for the win, and i don't think Hamilton will fight him hard for it, he just doesn't needs to...

now that you talk about it , curious to see Fernando's behaviour in case Felipe doesn't overtake him during the start

however these kind of starts with till a long straight to go and a wider curve just like these from Hungary and Fuji are the best IMO, they seem to provide better chances of overtaking :P


however many ppl may not like this circuit but it seems to have a good flow, also the trackcams provide some good angles/ good speef feeling, also it seems to be possible to overtake in pratically whole circuit , so we should have an interesting gp i think , also i don't think Felipe will accept passively this situation , this should be real good to see



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2008 09:07PM by Rodrigo007.

@Bruninho
True. However Lewis also recently said how he hates not fighting for the 1st place, so it's definetely dilemma he'll have to deal with in just 10 hours.
So the question is will he tame his instincts in the race or will he throw the hesitance away. Remember the Mclaren mentality has always been winning races and thus the championship. Well the latter just taking care of itself.
So when or if "push comes to shove", what will he do?

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GPGSL career;
Current team: Team ShadowSubaru, Previous teams: MPR, Minardi
starts:100 Wins: 12, Podiums: 34, Fastest Laps: 14, poles: 12 Points: 708
winner of Belgian GP (s1), Australian GP (s1), Canadian GP (S1), Brazilian GP(s4, s5), Hungarian GP(s3), Italian GP(s3), French GP (s5,s7), Monaco GP (s4) and USA GP



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2008 09:08PM by BAR#10.

Bruninho Wrote:
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> I dont see any reason for Ferrari to do it with
> Lewis. hes not the man in this story who needs to
> go offensive and try to win it. Like I said,
> second place is enough for him.

It's not about stopping Lewis winning, it's about bringing Massa into play, and if he's on a fuel load representative of his grid position (though like I said, I just think he burned his tyres), it might well do.

I don't think Massa is on a big fuel load, at least not '5th place' big. He told the Brazilian press that he won't start on the front row because he simply messed up both his flying laps, going too easy on T3 (I think) on the first and then going too hot, on that same corner, the lap after.

So, basically, he has the pace, it's now a matter of controlling his emotions and performing under pressure. Tell you what, if he wins this race, he'll have proven once and for all that he is ready for a WDC. Should be an interesting race



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2008 11:48PM by mr.napa-br.

The best thing kimi can do for massa is win the race, it will take point off lewis.

Massa needs to pass a few cars and if kimi does take the lead and back them up it will allow others to come into play including people who are heavier so that wont work at all.

sure this will work as long as Felipe reaches in front of Lewis and kimi in front of Kovalainen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2008 03:14AM by Rodrigo007.

Brilliant lap from Lewis. Well done Kimi, Kovy and Alonso also. I'm hoping for the sake of a good race that Massa is stupidly heavy with fuel - he probably just messed up in Q3 though.
Kovy has an important job to do holding Massa up - he needs to maintain track position over Massa for as long as possible.

Great effort from Toro Rosso - again solidly impressive.

LOL @ Honda! Their muppet show continues.

Circuit is interesting in the dry - very technical, apart from on the start/finish straight you always seem to be turning a corner somewhere.

I know it's been said many times above but how great is it to have Martin co-presenting!! Such an improvement.

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Alonso seems very happy today

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Is Heidfeld a midget or is Louise Goodman a giant woman?

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Temperatures will play into McLaren's hands. If Lewis gets away first he'll have a great first stint.

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