2007 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix ***SPOILERS***

[Jack_Bauer]

The close race for the 2007 F1 World Drivers' Championship takes a step into the unknown this weekend with the Japanese Grand Prix at the recently remodelled circuit lying in the shadow of the spectacular Mount. Fuji. Whilst the fabulous Suzuka circuit will be sadly missed from the F1 calendar, hopes are high that the Hermann Tilke penned Fuji Circuit will live up to its billing and provide a good race.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton leads teammate Alonso by just two points at the moment so things really couldn't be much closer. With all the off-track dramas seemingly behind them for now the McLaren team will want to focus all their attention on the task at hand, something that Alonso looks keen to do by stating that he would be happy to stay at McLaren next season, despite wild rumours to the contrary.

Ferrari will be looking for a momentous milestone this weekend as they have the opportunity to claim the Scuderia's 200th Grand Prix victory. The history books will be far from Kimi Raikkonen's mind however as he knows that a failure to win here, or even just a very strong performance from both McLarens, will end whatever faint hope he still has of claiming his long-awaited first WDC title.

Ferrari were the quickest to adapt to the new circuit in opening practice by claiming the top two spots on the time sheets ahead of the McLarens. Hamilton and Alonso really found their feet in Practice Two though by comfortably setting the two fastest times of the day. The two Ferraris were surprisingly split by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, who will be looking to put on a good show infront of the company's home crowd in Japan.

Practice One

01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.119 26 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.498 27 laps
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:19.667 27 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:19.807 24 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.058 26 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.297 26 laps
07 A. Wurz Williams 1:20.411 24 laps
08 J. Trulli Toyota 1:20.483 32 laps
09 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:20.516 29 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:20.601 22 laps
11 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.068 24 laps
12 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.718 27 laps
13 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.728 26 laps
14 V. Liuzzi Toro Rosso 1:20.808 29 laps
15 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:20.828 28 laps
16 G. Fisichella Renault 1:20.851 23 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:21.186 15 laps
18 M. Webber Red Bull 1:21.437 18 laps
19 J. Button Honda 1:21.541 22 laps
20 S. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:21.854 18 laps
21 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.436 18 laps
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:22.902 17 laps

Practice Two

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:18.734 38 laps
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:18.948 34 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.483 36 laps
04 J. Trulli Toyota 1:19.711 35 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.714 29 laps
06 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:19.789 40 laps
07 G. Fisichella Renault 1:19.926 39 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:19.949 33 laps
09 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:19.969 40 laps
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.069 45 laps
11 M. Webber Red Bull 1:20.006 35 laps
12 A. Wurz Williams 1:20.233 37 laps
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.270 43 laps
14 J. Button Honda 1:20.336 44 laps
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.462 36 laps
16 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:20.736 37 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.889 33 laps
18 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.985 44 laps
19 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.997 38 laps
20 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:21.007 34 laps
21 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:21.305 38 laps
22 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:21.352 34 laps

[Lets Gekiga In]

Come on Kimi, you need to win your first driver's championship!

[nopassn]

I added the "***SPOILERS***" to it... just in case...

[Cotterik]

Why spoilers? what could it spoil? just practice times right?...

I would like kimi to win his first championship but nowhere near as much as I want to see Hamilton be the first british champion in ** years. He is making this country F1 mad. He is always on the news and it would be a great uplift for this country seeing as we never win anything other than the rugby

[Lets Gekiga In]

Originally Posted by nopassn

I added the "***SPOILERS***" to it... just in case...

Have you done that for the previous F1 GPs or if they were in Aussie land, China, Japan, or Malaysia in the past?

[nopassn]

Originally Posted by Cotterik

Why spoilers? what could it spoil? just practice times right?...

I would like kimi to win his first championship but nowhere near as much as I want to see Hamilton be the first british champion in ** years. He is making this country F1 mad. He is always on the news and it would be a great uplift for this country seeing as we never win anything other than the rugby

I'm sure qualifying and race results will be in here too...

Originally Posted by Lets Gekiga In

Have you done that for the previous F1 GPs or if they were in Aussie land, China, Japan, or Malaysia in the past?

nope, but someone should have... it should be done for any race, IMO... just so people who are recording it to watch later know, there may be a spoiler in a given thread - common courtesy, IMO...

[Jack_Bauer]

Lewis Hamilton secured a sensational pole position at the Fuji Speedway with a dramatic last gasp lap to beat his teammate and championship rival Alonso by just 7 hundredths of a second. Crucially in the title race both McLarens finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, meaning that the Finn's hopes of winning the title for Ferrari are slimmer than ever.

There was doubt in the build up as to whether there would even be a qualifying session at all as a thick mist descended onto the wet track from the surrounding mountains. At the last minute the session got the go ahead from the powers that be and the drivers tentatively left the pits. The first session remained incident free despite the conditions until the dying seconds when Ralf Schumacher attempted a bizarre passing move on a Spyker despite already being safe in the next round. His car was quite badly damaged and his race weekend effectively ruined by that moment of stupidity.

The rain is seen as a great leveller in terms of car ability, and something which really allows the drivers to show off their talents and make a name for themselves. Jenson Button and Sebastien Vettel were the two drivers in slower cars who really showed their true class in the greasy conditions. 7th and 9th in the Honda and STR respectively were brilliant performances. Button's performance will have thrilled the home Japanese fans on a day when the other Japanese cars and drivers struggled badly.

Seeing Alonso and Hamilton side by side down the long opening straight and diving down into Turn 1 is what we all want to see in terms of the title race, although the Tifosi would like to see Raikkonen squeezing into the mix as early as possible. It will be interesting too to see what the notoriously changeable Fuji weather is going to do. It could add a real random factor in the race to spice things up somewhat. Heres hoping...

Qualifying Result

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Raikkonen
4. Massa
5. Heidfeld
6. Rosberg *10 place penalty*
7. Button
8. Webber
9. Vettel
10. Kubica
11. Fisichella
12. Kovalainen
13. Coulthard
14. Trulli
15. Liuzzi
16. Schumacher
17. Barrichello
18. Wurz
19. Davidson
20. Sutil
21. Sato
22. Yamamoto

[Zytek_Fan]

I'll be able to watch this one, with the SpeedTV live (and only) broadcast of the race on at 9:00pm

[Zytek_Fan]

ugh! Pull the damn safety car off.

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

ugh! Pull the damn safety car off.

That's not gonna happen any time soon I'm afraid. The drivers are actually saying the track is getting worse. If they were to start racing properly now cars would be flying off into the barriers left, right and centre.

Ferrari have completely shafted themselves with their decision to start on intermediates. They'll be lucky just to score any points at all...

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer

That's not gonna happen any time soon I'm afraid. The drivers are actually saying the track is getting worse. If they were to start racing properly now cars would be flying off into the barriers left, right and centre.

Ferrari have completely shafted themselves with their decision to start on intermediates. They'll be lucky just to score any points at all...

Why the FIA continues to put Asian GPs in the Fall is beyond me. They know full well that the Fall is Monsoon season...

[ScionDriver]

Is it possible that they are only going to run long enough to run all the advertising contracts they have to and then red flag the race? It wouldn't surprise me and come on there seems to be no signs of things clearing up.

I say just cancel it. It wasn't going to be much of a race to begin with, if Alonso and Hamilton survived turn 1 the race was a foregone conclusion

[Zytek_Fan]

Please red flag it soon! It's so dull watching them go round and round behind the safety car.

[Jack_Bauer]

Safety car coming in! This should be, erm.... interesting!

[Zytek_Fan]

It's really dull...