The Official 2009 Japanese Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

Abit early, but meh. F1 returns to Suzuka



The track has been resurfaced, and some 'free out of jail cards' in turn 1/2 now..





Discuss...





Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2009 10:55PM by mortal.

i'm sooo happy we're back here! fuji is so meh, this is more ooooo :D

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Fuji wasn't bad, the 2 races there where far from bad, it's a nice track. But not as nice as Suzuka, they should both be on it imo, but it will never happen sadly.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2009 12:45AM by Iceman-Kimi.

Drivers that have been there before are going to have a big advantage as in the past it was always said this was a hard track to learn.

I really hope it rains to add some spice to the race as it can be very hard to pass here.

The last time this track was used it produced a fantastic race.

Aarrgh Iceman-Kimi, I was planning to start back-to-back threads but you thwarted me! Damn!

Anyways...

SUZUKA!!! Man, I've missed watching F1 at this place! So great to have it back!

Without meaning to sound cheesy, F1 will be the winner this weekend, whatever happens.

The resurfaced track looks seriously nice. And the layout hasn't been modified since the last GP here, thank God.

Really difficult to tell who'll have the advantage here, but it should be between the RedBulls and the KERS crew, and I think Force India will be much closer to the pace again as well.

Whatever happens I can't wait for this one!!

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The mother of all race tracks... even if T1 looks booooring

Alonso and Rosberg to kick some ass
Kubiça to run off 5 times.... 8 during the weekend.....

The KERS cars are going to destroy everyone on the run up to 130R. That is all.

Yup, the best race track on F1 is back finally. I don't care how boring a race can be in this track, it's fricking Suzuka! Will be interesting to see what times they do here...the track record still belongs to Kimi with the mp4/20. 1:31.540 if I'm not mistaken.

yep you are Joe, this is the unofficial record





thou Massa set the official one as he got pole but his lap time was slower

*off topic*
can't help it, sorry lads, but this is amazing, must watch for Schumi fans!

Disappointing that they added the half-tarmac run-off to Turn 1, but the resurfaced track should provide for good overtaking hopefully.

Also, we haven't had a Red Bull or Brawn car on pole since Nurburgring, so it will be interesting to see if that can change here. I wouldn't be surprised if a Toyota got on pole though on a low fuel load.

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X (@ed24f1)

That new asphalt is quite black :P

y2cwr2005 Wrote:
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> The KERS cars are going to destroy everyone on the
> run up to 130R. That is all.

Not especially. At higher speeds KERS is ineffective. The car has already reaching terminal velocity. The corner before 130R is relatively high speed, so KERS will have minimal effect exiting it. KERS will be more effective exiting the chicane on the run down to the front straight.

KERS is not about top speed or long straights. It is about slow corners into decent sized acceleration zones. Monza is good because it has a whole bunch of slow corners, not because of it's high speeds.

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theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

some maths regarding the championship.

Jenson leads Rubens by 15 points and Vettle by 25.

For vettel to stay in the hunt he has to finish,

3rd with jenson out of the points.
2nd with jenson no higher than 7th
1st with jenson no higher than 5th


For button to win the title he has to finish,

at least 4th with Rubens out of the points
3rd with Rubens no higher than 8th
2nd with Rubens no higher than 6th
1st with Rubens no higher than 4th

constructors

Brawn lead RedBull by 42.5 points

Brawn will win the constructors title if RedBull fail to score at least 7 points more than them.

i think that covers it?

Good to be back. However, im not liking the new surface of the track and they messed up turn 1 aswell.

It depends, if the green bit is artificial grass, then you still lost time once you hit it, so it shouldn't be so bad.

That surface really looks fantastic doesn't it, and its great to be back such a fantastic track. While Fuji held its own challenges it was nothing compared to Suzuka.

And with the older tracks now getting upgraded to give drivers these run off areas it was to be expected that Suzuka would suffer the same fate.... I miss drivers pushing right on the edge - one mistake and you are in the gravel....

Yay love this track, so happy its returned and I hope we are in for a good race!
I remember back in 2005 when Kimi took Fisi around the outside into T1, would be awesome to see someone else try it!

Im hoping and predict for a vettel win here!

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> KERS will be more effective exiting
> the chicane on the run down to the front
> straight.

It might be useful exiting spoon corner as well. Usually it's hard to follow other cars there and using KERS might be enough to negate that problem and have a go into the final chicane.

Joe_Satriani Wrote:
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> DaveEllis Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > KERS will be more effective exiting
> > the chicane on the run down to the front
> > straight.
>
> It might be useful exiting spoon corner as well.

Yes, and probably coming out of the hairpin as well.

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X (@ed24f1)

micky-cannonball Wrote:
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> Good to be back. However, im not liking the new
> surface of the track and they messed up turn 1
> aswell.

How can you 'not like' a new surface?

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