2006 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix

[Nazmacher]

Friday Practice Times

Session 1
01 A. Davidson Honda 1:45.349 18 laps
02 N. Jani Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.138 21 laps
03 S. Vettel BMW 1:46.585 20 laps
04 M. Ammermuller Red Bull 1:47.162 21 laps
05 A. Sutil Spyker MF1 1:47.773 21 laps
06 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:47.814 7 laps
07 C. Albers Spyker MF1 1:47.838 6 laps
08 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:47.918 13 laps
09 A. Wurz Williams 1:47.919 19 laps
10 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:48.042 11 laps
11 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri 1:50.479 9 laps
12 M. Webber Williams no time 1 lap
13 N. Rosberg Williams no time 1 lap
14 K. Räikkönen McLaren no time 1 lap
15 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso no time 2 laps
16 R. Doornbos Red Bull no time 1 lap
17 R. Kubica BMW no time 1 lap
18 D. Coulthard Red Bull no time 1 lap
19 F. Alonso Renault no time 1 lap
20 N. Heidfeld BMW no time 1 lap
21 G. Fisichella Renault no time 1 lap
22 T. Monteiro Spyker MF1 no time 4 laps
23 P. de la Rosa McLaren no time 1 lap
24 R. Barrichello Honda no time 1 lap
25 J. Trulli Toyota no time 1 lap
26 R. Schumacher Toyota no time 1 lap
27 J. Button Honda no time 1 lap
28 M. Schumacher Ferrari no time 1 lap
29 F. Massa Ferrari no time 1 lap

[Nazmacher]

Session 2
01 G. Fisichella Renault 1:34.337 8 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:34.408 10 laps
03 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:34.565 10 laps
04 F. Alonso Renault 1:34.863 5 laps
05 A. Davidson Honda 1:34.906 23 laps
06 S. Vettel BMW 1:34.912 30 laps
07 J. Button Honda 1:35.002 6 laps
08 P. de la Rosa McLaren 1:35.064 6 laps
09 J. Trulli Toyota 1:35.343 12 laps
10 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:35.367 5 laps
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:35.375 12 laps
12 M. Ammermuller Red Bull 1:35.433 25 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:35.528 10 laps
14 M. Webber Williams 1:35.866 5 laps
15 N. Rosberg Williams 1:36.176 10 laps
16 C. Albers Spyker MF1 1:36.180 4 laps
17 A. Wurz Williams 1:36.234 25 laps
18 R. Kubica BMW 1:36.299 5 laps
19 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:37.354 20 laps
20 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.441 15 laps
21 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.501 16 laps
22 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:37.596 6 laps
23 T. Monteiro Spyker MF1 1:37.702 9 laps
24 N. Jani Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.741 26 laps
25 R. Doornbos Red Bull 1:37.788 9 laps
26 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:38.533 18 laps
27 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:38.779 5 laps
28 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri 1:38.955 14 laps
29 A. Sutil Spyker MF1 1:43.914 14 laps

[fpv_gtho]

Wurz has been saying the team may have found something in those last few laps of FP2, so hopefully it does Williams well.

Any idea yet how Bridgestones latest wets are looking? From what i can see, Michelin still have the upper hand.

[Nazmacher]

what were the weather condts like for the second session?

[fpv_gtho]

I thought it started off wet before being dry enough at the end for dry tyres.

[Nazmacher]

Yeah... such a shame we (or I?) dont get to watch the practice session, rather difficult to follow weather conditions thru text... But I'll settle for drying r dry!

[Kitdy]

This should be a race to remember. I hope it will be as exciting as Hungary, Turkey, China and the like. Keep glued for Qualy!

[Jack_Bauer]

Q1 is over, and the guys who miss out are Yamamoto, Monteiro, Sato, Speed, Doornbos and Coulthard. Fine performance from Christijan Albers, sneaking into the next session. Incredibly he was only just behind the McLaren of Raikkonen who'll have to improve big time in the next session. Up at the front Ferrari led the way as they did in this morning's final practice session, with Massa on top ahead of Jarno Trulli who showed some good pace at Toyota's home GP. You get the impression both Renault and especially Ferrari have a LOT left in reserve for the rest of the session.

[Jack_Bauer]

Q2 over and Albers, Liuzzi, Webber, De La Rosa, Kubica and Raikkonen are the guys that miss out. An absolutely horrible session for McLaren with both drivers failing even to make it into the last session. We know the Michelin runners are suffering big time in comparison to the Bridgestones, but I don't think anyone would have predicted McLaren would be the ones feeling it the worst. Kubica misses out after almost sliding into the armco at the Degna curves, and Webber will disappointed to miss out given that he clearly has the best tyres as his teammate Rosberg shows by finishing a full 7 places ahead of him.

Up front again the Ferrari-Bridgestone combination are absolutely miles ahead of the competition. It's hard to see how anything other than an all red front row could happen in the final session....

[F1_Master]

Wow, sucks for Renault tomorrow. They start in Row 3 behind the Toyotas I believe.

Seems like this will help the Ferraris a lot, no?

[Jack_Bauer]

Q3 over and the performance of the Bridgestone tyres has placed both world championships into the hands of Ferrari. It remains to be seen how the pace will hold up over long runs as there has been such little running throughout the practice sessions, but certainly in terms of outright pace over one lap the Bridgestones are in a completely different league if the conditions remain dry.

As expected it was comfortably an all Ferrari front row, although Massa sneaking into pole ahead of Schumi is certainly something of a suprise given Schumi's dominance all day long long prior to that final session. I'm sure Michael won't be losing any sleep over it tonight though! The incredible performance of the Bridgestones was highlighted by the fact that Toyota managed to lock out the second row in the dying seconds, pushing both Renaults down onto row three. Last week the Toyotas were absolutely horrifically slow in China, yet now suddenly they're second fastest and it's clearly down to the tyre performance.

The Renaults were unsuprisingly the fastest of the Michelin runners with Alonso P5 and Fisi P6. They will be praying that their famous fast starts are in evidence tomorrow, as they will need to jump the Toyotas immediately from the off if they are to have any chance of holding onto the coattails of the red cars. Honda put in a very respectable showing on their home track with Button P7 and Barrichello P8, although they will be disgruntled with the fact that arch rivals Toyota stole their thunder big time today. Heidfeld and Rosberg close out the top ten.

If Renault weren't already on the back foot going into this race weekend, they certainly are now. We got a glimpse of their only possible chance of salvation as the session came to a close: the rain began to fall. In dry conditions it would be hard to see anything other than a Ferrari whitewash tomorrow, and Alonso and Renault would be struggling just to get ahead of the Toyotas to leave themselves a fighting chance for Brazil in a couple of weeks. However, if any rain falls during the race it could turn the whole race on its head, with the Michelin runners suddenly back on top. A race with sporadic showers throughout would be the absolute perfect scenario for the neutral fan to see a great battle (if you're listening God?! ).

Qualifying results

1. Massa
2. Schumacher
3. Ralf
4. Trulli
5. Alonso
6. Fisichella
7. Button
8. Barrichello
9. Heidfeld
10. Rosberg
11. Raikkonen
12. Kubica
13. De La Rosa
14. Webber
15. Liuzzi
16. Albers
17. Coulthard
18. Doornbos
19. Speed
20. Sato
21. Monteiro
22. Yamamoto

[Vaigra]

MS just had his first engine failure since Indy 2001, what a great time to have an engine failure...If Alonso goes on to win the race, he'll be 10 points up on MS and a points finish next week will hand him his 2nd world championship...Dammit, I really wanted a final race showdown and to see MS leave with his 8th WC. It's still possible, but the chances are extremely slim.

[Jack_Bauer]

Schumacher out of the race!!!!

First engine failure since Indy 2001 for him, and Alonso now leads the race! Could be the end of the fairytale finish to Schumacher's career. All Alonso has to do is bring the car safely home.

Just as I say that Webber goes spearing off into the tyre barriers right in front of Alonso! He's ok though.

[Jack_Bauer]

Well, all the talk in the build up to the race was that this would be the race that Michael Schumacher would place a stranglehold on his fairytale 8th WDC. In fact if he had won the race, which seemed almost certain, and Alonso DNF'd, always a possibility, then Schumi would've been lighting the cigars tonight before even the end of the season. But it's a funny old game, and with the most unlikely of engine failures from the previously bulletproof Ferrari engine Alonso was able to cruise through and take what in the end was a fairly comfortable victory.

Renault were on the back foot after yesterday's qualifying session and it seemed as though with the pace of the Bridgestone tyres they would be on a damage limitation exercise as Ferrari romped off into the distance with a comfortable 1-2 finish. From the start line everything seemed to be going to plan for Ferrari, with Massa leading from the start and dutifully puling aside to let Schumacher lead. Meanwhile Alonso was snarled up behind the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher, who clearly had been glory hunting in terms of yesterday's qualifying pace and didn't have the race pace to match. The apparent advantage of Brisgestone over Michelin did not manifest itself during the race as Alonso was able to stay on pace with the Ferraris and Ralf, and eventually pulled off a classic move into turn one to take third place.

From then on it seemed a question of whether Felipe Massa could fend off Alonso and protect his teammate. It proved not to be the case as a combination of stunning pace from Alonso in the first stint, and a bit of bad luck for Massa getting caught behind Heidfeld after his first stop meant Alonso was able to leapfrog the young Brazilian into second. Alonso and Schumacher were lapping on near identical pace throughout the second stint (both in a completely different league to anyone else on the track, testament to the total domination of these two sensational drivers all season long) and it looked likely that it would finish with a Schumacher victory and Alonso second. That in itself would have been a very creditable result for Renault, certainly the best they could possibly have hoped for given yesterday's mauling by Ferrari in qualifying. Then the unthinkable happened...

When people factor in the possible variables that could affect the outcome of a race a Ferrari reliability issue is usually right at the bottom of the list, somewhere alongside a plague of locusts or a rain of frogs, such is the rarity of a Ferrari engine failure. It was a crushing blow for Schumacher and Ferrari's title ambitions, and cruel luck on the man who had dominated the weekend from the word go. The fact that Alonso had already gotten past Massa and was comfortably ahead just compounded the misery for Schumacher.

After that it was simply a case of Alonso staying out of trouble and nursing the car home, which he did comfortably as Massa didn't appear to have anything left in his locker to come back at him. So it proved to be the most unlikely of victories for Alonso, gained through a combination of some brilliant pace and gutsy overtaking early on and some rotten luck for Michael.

Below that there was a solid performance from a higly emotional Fisichella (after the death of his best friend), winning some vital points for Renault in the WCC with a podium finish. A good performance from Button saw him leapfrog the Toyotas and gain a fourth place. The Toyotas just gradually slipped further and further back in terms of pace and position, as even Kimi Raikkonen managed to make it ahead of them into fifth from a lowly 11th place on the grid. Behind Trulli and Ralf there was a great battle between the two BMWs for the final point. Kubica at times was quicker than his more experienced teammate, but was erratic and scrappy, and the steady drive of Heidfeld took the spoils. There were interesting scraps below that between the Red Bulls, Spyker-Midlands, and Torro Rossos, largely spoiled when both Albers (spectacularly) and Coulthard were forced to retire, and a truly wretched weekend for Mark Webber was rounded off with a silly mistake and visit to the concrete safety barriers out of the final turn.

An honourable mention must go to the much maligned Takuma Sato for a brilliant performance bringing his Super Aguri home in 15th place in front of his adoring home fans. Nice one Taku!

So going to Brazil and final race of the season, the final race of Alonso's Renault career, and the final race of Schumacher's career full-stop, the advantage has swung firmly into Renault and Alonso's favour. It would take a complete reversal of fortunes of today's events for Schumacher to be crowned World Champion again, but this time Alonso can be safe in the knowledge that he doesn't have to go out and battle for the victory and can just play it ultra-safe. It would take a minor miracle for Alonso and Renault to throw it away now, but as the results of the last two races have shown minor miracles apparently aren't that rare after all!

1. Alonso
2. Massa
3. Fisichella
4. Button
5. Raikkonen
6. Trulli
7. Schumacher
8. Heidfeld
9. Kubica
10. Rosberg
11. De La Rosa
12. Barrichello
13. Doornbos
14. Liuzzi
15. Sato
16. Monteiro
17. Yamamoto
18. Speed
ret Webber
ret Schumacher
ret Coulthard
ret Albers

[acemotorsport]

so alonso only needs to get 1 point to win the title