2014 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

[KevC]

2014 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX




Suzuka
Race Date: 05 Oct 2014
First Grand Prix: 1987
Number of Laps: 53
Circuit Length: 5.807 km
Race Distance: 307.471 km
Lap Record: 1:31.540 - K. Raikkonen (2005)

UK Times
Fri 03 October 2014
Practice 1 02:00 - 03:30
Practice 2 06:00 - 07:30
Sat 04 October 2014
Practice 3 03:00 - 04:00
Qualifying 06:00
Sun 05 October 2014
Race 07:00

Previous Winners
2013 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Suzuka
2012 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Suzuka
2011 Jenson Button McLaren Suzuka
2010 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Suzuka
2009 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Suzuka
2008 Fernando Alonso Renault Oyama
2007 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Oyama
2006 Fernando Alonso Renault Suzuka
2005 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren Suzuka
2004 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Suzuka
2003 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari Suzuka
2002 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Suzuka
2001 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Suzuka
2000 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Suzuka

Alonso 2012 on board



Mansell 1990 on board



Facts from the last race
Lewis Hamilton is in the lead of the drivers’ championship for only the second time this year after winning the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s seventh win of the season means he has now won half of the races so far this year. It was his second victory in Singapore, where he last triumphed for McLaren in 2009.

For the third time this year Hamilton won from pole position and set fastest lap on the way. That was his fifth career ‘hat trick’, giving him as many as Fernando Alonso and three fewer than Sebastian Vettel. The record is held by Michael Schumacher, who has 22.

The only thing that kept Hamilton from a ‘grand slam’ was the two Red Bull drivers, who each led one lap of the race. In Vettel’s case, it was the first time he’d led a race all season, making him the ninth driver to do so.

Hamilton racked up his 29th win, 37th pole position and 18th fastest lap – the latter putting him level with David Coulthard.

Jean-Eric Vergne equalled the best result of his career so far with sixth place, which he also scored in last year’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Behind him Sergio Perez took seventh for Force India and Nico Hulkenberg backed him up in ninth. The team now have 117 points, beating their previous best of 109 which they scored two years ago. This is partly thanks to their strong finishing rate. They are the only team who are yet to see either of their drivers fail to be classified as finishers due to a technical problem.

Having taken a three-point lead in Singapore Hamilton’s chances of winning the championship has risen enormously. Assuming Mercedes deliver on their potential to take one-two finishes in all the remaining races, Hamilton now has a 62.5% of claiming the title – a figure which was less than 10% before the weekend began.



Penalty points so far
Marcus Ericsson 5
Jules Bianchi 4
Pastor Maldonado 4
Kevin Magnussen 4
Valtteri Bottas 2
Adrian Sutil 2
Jean-Eric Vergne 1

[iceman1]

The typhoon is coming. An earlier start to the race is being discussed because of the darkness.

[donald29]

Let hope they do that and we don't have a Malaysia 2009 farce!

Made be think though, would be funny if for some reason Abu Dhabi was red flagged and ended up being half points.

[phil1993]

If it curves Westwards just a little, it's going to be a case of shutting up shop.

Latest plan may be to move the race to Sunday morning. Problem is that pack-up needs to happen very quickly due to worsening weather throughout Sunday evening and into Monday. There's little turn around time before everyone needs to get to Sochi, which isn't straightforward as many have to go Tokyo > London > Moscow > Sochi.

[KevC]

https://twitter.com/takiinoue/status/517948222669877248

[MJawad12]

FIA head of communication confirms to @bbc5live the race will start at the expected time of 15.00 on Sunday. There will be no change.

[iceman1]

@tgruener: #F1 Charlie Whiting just told us: If weather reports are correct, there will be no race today. More and more rain expected. Too dangerous.

[MJawad12]

@adamcooperF1 : The organisers, ie Honda, did not want to move, even by an hour. Officiially it is their choice not the FIA's, not Bernie's

[iceman1]

Start behind the SC!

[sermilan]

This doesn't look promising.... good morning, guys!

[iceman1]

There goes Ericsson!

[MJawad12]

Red flag !

[iceman1]

If we don't restart, half points will be awarded. As a result, Nico Rosberg will lead the championship by 0.5 points going to Russia next weekend.

[François]

10 minutes before they all go around for two laps and realize it's still not possible to race.

[iceman1]

It stopped raining.