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2008 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Team Quotes - Sunday 12 October
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro scored eight points in the Japanese Grand Prix, thanks to a third place for Kimi Raikkonen and a seventh for Felipe Massa. With this result, Ferrari has retaken the lead in the Constructors' classification, while Felipe has reduced the gap to the leader of the Drivers' championship to five points.
Stefano Domenicali: "A bitter sweet taste after this race in Fuji. On the one hand is the regret at not having been able to exploit our great potential: today we saw that this weekend we had everything in place to come away with everything. For one reason or another, from the less than perfect qualifying yesterday, to the chaos at the start today, we never managed it. On the other hand there is satisfaction from retaking the lead in the Constructors' classification and for the slight gain made by Felipe in the Drivers'. Today, our Brazilian drove an amazing race, with an incredible climb up the order, some great passing moves, showing great maturity. Kimi drove a good race, taking a nice third place which puts an end to a bad run for him which had been going on too long, and brings home important points for the team. His car was not quite right after the collision with a McLaren at the first corner and then he was nearly always having to fight in traffic. Indeed, a backmarker at the crucial moment before his second stop meant he lost the chance to rejoin the track in second place. I want to congratulate all the guys in the pit crew. After what happened in Singapore they were definitely under pressure but they worked very well. Now we head immediately for Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. Our aim remains the same: we will continue to work hard and with determination to get the best possible result."
Luca Baldisserri: "Definitely a difficult race, affected by what went wrong at the start. A shame as we had a great potential, as we went on to demonstrate during the race. In particular, Felipe put on a great performance, with incredible lap times. Kimi did his own race but was struggling a bit in the second stint, unable to stick with Kubica. He would however, possibly have managed to pass him at the pit stop, if he had not got stuck in traffic on his in lap. His six points are still very important for the Constructors' classification. The F2008 proved to be very competitive at this track and I think that will also be the case in China. We will give it our all for the final two races."
In the Japanese Grand Prix the BMW Sauber F1 Team claimed its eleventh podium of the 2008 season. Robert Kubica finished second in Fuji, coming from sixth on the grid. It is the seventh podium for the Pole this year and his third second place. Nick Heidfeld, who started from 16th, improved to tenth in the dramatic race, which saw the championship contenders dropping back right after the start. In the Constructors' Championship the BMW Sauber F1 Team is third, 13 points behind leader Ferrari.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "This was a really strong performance from Robert. In the first corner chaos after the start he took the lead. Later in the race he had to let Fernando Alonso go, but defended successfully against Kimi Räikkönen. It was our team's eleventh podium of the season, and Robert has now been on the podium seven times in 2008. Nick also did a good job by improving from 16th to tenth, but couldn't score points today. We are now looking forward to exciting final races in China and Brazil."
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "Contrary to all the prophecies, this was an exciting race. Robert had the best result at the start as he managed to take the lead, thanks to a little bit of luck and lots of guts. He was in the lead until the first pit stops, but after that we weren't able to match the pace of Fernando Alonso. In the third stint Robert defended his position from the attacks by Kimi Räikkönen in a clever and fair way, and claimed his well earned seventh podium of the season. That was really a brilliant performance by Robert. Nick managed to move up to tenth with a one-stop-strategy, but unfortunately, because of coming from 16th on the gird, more than this was not possible."
Just two weeks after taking victory in Singapore, Fernando Alonso delivered another magnificent performance to win today's Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway. Teammate Nelson Piquet also had a strong afternoon taking fourth place.
Both drivers enjoyed strong starts, gaining ground at the first corner with Fernando in second behind Robert Kubica, while Nelson joined him in the top eight. As the first round of pit-stops shook out, Fernando emerged in the lead of the race and Nelson rose through the field to run in 6th.
Fernando continued to lead the race, showing remarkable pace and consistency to build a lead of 13 seconds over Kubica ahead of his second pit-stop on lap 43 where he took the soft option tyres for his final stint. He held his advantage for the rest of the afternoon and comfortably retook the lead as the second round of pit-stops unfolded. Nelson also continued to make progress, rising to fourth after his second pit-stop, where he remained through to the finish.
After a second consecutive victory, the ING Renault F1 Team has strengthened its hold on fourth position in the constructors' championship and will look to continue this rich vein of form into next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director ING Renault F1 Team: I am very happy as this is a superb result for the team, Fernando, Nelson and Renault. The victory is well deserved: Fernando and Nelson had great drives, our strategy worked wonderfully and after our difficult start to the season I want to thank all the members of the team for their efforts. We had said that we could come back to the top and we confirmed that here today.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Winning the last race was very welcome, but it's much more satisfying to win here in two ways: firstly it was a more straightforward race that showed our true capability, and secondly because both cars achieved a good result today. Congratulations to the team and to both our drivers.
AT&T Williams brought both FW30s home in today's Japanese Grand Prix but were unable to add any points to the team's Constructors' total. Nico Rosberg lost position at the start, but a one stop strategy, combined with some assertive overtaking manoeuvres, elevated him to P11. Kazuki Nakajima suffered a disappointing Formula One debut in front of his home crowd. Caught up in a first corner incident, a subsequent unscheduled stop relegated him to the back of the field from where he was unable to recover position putting him in fifteenth place at the end of the race.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: We had poor starts on both cars. Kazuki then lost his front wing on the first lap and that put him at the back of the pack after an unscheduled stop. From that point on, it was difficult to make any progress with Kazuki. Nico was fuelled long and was the heaviest out there but he lost a lot of time behind slower cars on their first stints in the opening stages. His pace was respectable though so a better start would have left him fighting for the top of the one stopper positions. Our starts were great at the beginning of the season, but now they are poor. It is something that the engineers will put a lot of effort into resolving before the final two Grands Prix.
Christian Horner: After a nasty looking accident, thankfully David isn't injured. Contact at the first corner put his car in the air and then the rear suspension broke, which turned his car acutely left and into the barrier. Mark lost a huge amount of time at the start, but thereafter, on a risky one stop strategy, drove a very good race to claim a Championship point. He came within two laps of getting another, but unfortunately Massa was too fast to hold back. It was a very good drive on a one stop strategy.
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: That was a difficult race. It was a very bad start for both drivers. David had an accident and had to retire and Mark nearly stalled at the start, which put him at the back of the field. He did a very good job after that and overtook a lot of cars to give a very impressive performance today. Congratulations again to Renault for another win.
Tadashi Yamashina - Team Principal: "Jarno did a very good job today, as did the whole team in our home country. We were expecting both cars to finish in the top six, but unfortunately Timo retired early on. When he went off, the shock on the monocoque caused the seat fixation to work loose. We tried to keep him in the race but there was no way to recover from that, which was a shame. Today we had lots of Toyota fans who had come here to watch and encourage our team. I appreciate that and thank them all very much."
Franz Tost: Another really good race for one of the Red Bull teams. Bourdais had a very good start and was a front runner right from the beginning, going on to have his best ever race for us. Vettel struggled a bit at the start, completing the opening lap eleventh. Then he put in a strong performance so that in total we have picked up another five points which strengthens our position in the Constructors' championship. Now we are looking forward to racing in China in a week's time, where we will do our best to continue this positive trend.
At the conclusion of an eventful Japanese Grand Prix, the Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finished in 13th and 14th positions respectively.
Having both adopted one-stop strategies, the Honda drivers made excellent starts from the penultimate row of the grid, which enabled them to benefit from the mêlée at the front going through Turn 1. By the end of the opening lap Jenson had climbed seven places to be in 11th position, with Rubens in 14th place.
Jenson began the race on the Bridgestone option tyre and suffered from graining in the early part of the first stint. Rubens took the prime tyre for the opening stint and was able to make better progress.
Jenson pitted on lap 37. He switched to the prime tyre and rejoined the race in 14th place. Rubens followed him into the pits a lap later and emerged from his stop just ahead of his team-mate having taken on the option tyre. They remained in these positions until the end of the 67 lap race.
Sum up Honda's race for us today?
Ross Brawn, Team Principal: "Given that our car is not well-suited to this track, and our current package, this was always going to be a difficult race for us, especially from our grid positions. We took a gamble starting Jenson on the option tyre, looking for a good start and end of first stint performance. Jenson did indeed get a good start off the line, making up seven places, but then the tyres quickly grained and he lost all of that advantage. This was the risk associated with this strategy. Rubens also had a good start but appeared to be experiencing problems with the car balance after he was struck from behind by the Force India car of Fisichella. As our focus has already switched to 2009 I'm afraid we anticipated a tough time until the end of the season, but we will reap the benefit of this decision later next year."
The Japanese Grand Prix race weekend that started so full of promise ultimately ended in disappointment for both Force India Formula One Team drivers.
Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella made electric starts away from their respective starting positions of 19th and 20th, both staying clear of the chaos of the first corner. Adrian continued his strong progress, scything his way up to 10th position before a sudden tyre failure on lap nine on the long pit straight led to his retirement.
Giancarlo too pushed through the field and was enjoying a tight battle with the Williams of Rosberg for 12th position. His race was also to come to a premature end however following a problem with the gearbox of his VJM01 on lap 21.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: 'Today was a shame for the team as I think we had every chance of doing very well. Adrian had a good first lap and on a two stop strategy it was looking promising for the rest of the race. Unfortunately he picked up a puncture, which was the end of his race. Giancarlo was also putting in a strong performance despite some contact in the first corner, which damaged his nose and gave some understeer as a result. He was on a one stop strategy, but had a gearbox failure just before the mid point of the race. While it was a great shame for the team, it's good to see a strong race pace once again.'
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: 'This weekend has been another mixed event for us. Adrian was driving an excellent race and there was high potential there for him to score points, as he did last year, but then our luck ran out. Giancarlo too was very strong and unfortunately had a mechanical problem. We have however proved yet again that we are strong contenders and can fight hard with the other teams, all we need now is a bit of a break.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji in 12th place; he was pushed into a spin by title contender Felipe Massa (Ferrari) on lap two and dropped to the back of the field. A subsequent drive-through penalty - for a first-corner incident - left him unable to challenge for a points finish. Heikki Kovalainen retired from third place due to an engine failure on lap 17. At the top of the drivers' championship, today's result does little to change the overall standings: Lewis still leads with 84 points, five ahead of Felipe who finished seventh to collect two points. Heikki is sixth with 51 points.
Lewis pitted on lap two (8.2sec), following the incident with Massa, and lap 40 (8.4sec). After 16 out of 18 races, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes lies second in the constructors' championship with 135 points; Ferrari leads with 142 points.
Ron Dennis: "Well, today was a very challenging day. We were a bit surprised that Lewis was given a penalty in respect of the first-corner incident, simply because we've all seen similar first-corner incidents that triggered no such penalty. Drivers miss braking points, they run wide; these things happen. As for Heikki, he was in a very strong position, fuelled significantly longer than the cars around him, when he suffered an extremely rare engine failure. All in all, then, as far as the championship is concerned, I guess things could have been worse; but there's no getting away from the fact that it was a disappointing weekend. However, Lewis is still five points clear in the drivers' championship, with two races to go, and I know that our whole team will dig deep from here on in."
Norbert Haug: "A chaotic start and one lap later Felipe ruined Lewis's race when he first ran wide and then cut the chicane short and pushed Lewis into a spin. The next grand prix will be held already next weekend and neither Felipe nor Ferrari benefited too much from today's result. Despite Felipe's action, Lewis still leads the drivers' championship. We will investigate the engine failure on Heikki's car tonight and tomorrow in Brixworth. Unfortunately this failure happened today when Heikki had a chance of winning; he was third, had the speed and was on the superior strategy. I am sorry for him and the team, it's bad that things like this happen even if you previously performed reliably for two years. But we will work hard to make sure that such a failure will not happen again."
Fernando Alonso has won the sixteenth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship after using a medium-medium-soft tyre strategy in a thrilling Japanese Grand Prix.
Alonso crossed the finish line 5.284 seconds ahead of BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Robert Kubica who used the same tyre strategy. Kimi Raikkonen also used this strategy to finish third. Nelson Piquet drove from twelfth on the grid to fourth whilst Jarno Trulli finished fifth.
Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais finished sixth, but was subsequently given a 25 second penalty, which meant he was reclassified in tenth place. Sebastian Vettel therefore finished sixth and seventh was taken by Felipe Massa. Mark Webber took eighth and scored the final championship point.
Lewis Hamilton made a poor start from pole and lost the lead, before locking-up whilst braking into turn one. He was issued with a pitlane drive-through penalty for this incident. Hamilton passed championship rival Massa on the first lap, but contact between the two drivers resulted in Massa also being issued with a drive-through penalty. Hamilton finished twelfth.
Leaving Fuji, Hamilton leads the drivers' championship with 84 points from Massa on 79. Kubica is third on 72. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro now lead the constructors' championship with 142 points, ahead of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes on 135. The BMW Sauber F1 Team are third with 128. Today's fastest lap time, 1min 18.426secs, was set by Massa on lap 55 using the medium tyre.
Bridgestone's Potenza Formula One tyres are in use next weekend in the Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix, when Bridgestone's hard and medium compound Potenza tyres will be in action.
Shoshi Arakawa - Bridgestone Corporation, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO: Congratulations to Fernando Alonso for his victory here at the Fuji Speedway in what was an eventful race for everyone. We are proud that our Make Cars Green tyres added to the excitement. Bridgestone, as the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, will continue to support all of the teams and drivers with our full efforts and we will promote the Make Cars Green campaign globally.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: Today we saw a very exciting race and congratulations to Fernando Alonso and Renault for surviving the first lap and pushing very hard with their strategy to take their consecutive win. We must also thank Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen for giving us an enjoyable battle for second place. There was not a great amount of rubber on the track and the medium compound enabled most drivers to set their fastest lap time today. Both compounds worked largely as we expected at Fuji. We could clearly see the tyre wear characteristics as a result of the Make Cars Green markings on the tyres and this was an interesting new aspect for fans. Regarding Adrian Sutil's tyre, it appears that he sustained a puncture, possibly from debris on track, as the data showed pressure loss before the tyre came apart.
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