Japanese GP : Preview

Situated within a theme park is one of the most popular circuits on the calendar, Suzuka, a 5.8km rollercoaster ride that contains some of the most challenging corner sequences. Mistakes are often made and drivers’ races are ended sooner than they’d hope thanks to close barriers and deep gravel traps. Although last season’s race was relatively sedate, Suzuka has a habit of throwing up some chaotic races with high attrition. 1992’s edition saw Damon Hill win by more than a minute despite spinning twice, while 2000 saw only six finishers in a dramatic championship decider.

Grosjean somehow keeps his title dreams alive

The previous race at Sepang saw half the field retire in what was a hot, gruelling day for the machinery. Multiple engines failed including race leader Vaino Kimminen, who had overcut his teammate during the first round of pitstops before an early climax for his Climax. Tomas Gonzalez also blew an engine, which didn’t please CBA Racing’s team boss in his debut commentary gig, and during the final round of stops, it seemed as if Romain Grosjean had succumbed to a Climax failure, but it turned out to be a bit of bodywork catching fire and he was able to continue after the Tornado mechanics extinguished the flames. Had that happened at a different point, then the Drivers Championship would’ve been over, but Grosjean’s fourth win of the season puts him 24 points behind Kimminen with 36 on offer.

The star of the race was Alessandro Farina as he put in a superb drive to take his maiden podium in what has been a good, consistent debut season with only one retirement out of 16 races. A good set of outlaps during the third round of stops allowed him to jump Fernando Alonso for 2nd and despite older tyres, he was able to hold off the Spaniard for a well-deserved result. Despite dropping to 3rd, Alonso’s podium was still a very special one as he became the first driver in FF1M history to hit a century of podiums. With his career having started in 2000, that equates to over five podium finishes per season on average. Furthermore, there hasn’t been a single season where Alonso hasn’t been on the podium, and that includes his disastrous 2009 campaign where he was dropped with one race remaining. Elsewhere, there was joy for Willows as the terminally unlucky Stoffel Vandoorne finally broke his curse to score a point and the team’s first double points finish since the 2015 German Grand Prix.

Paddock News

The recently announced FFeM line-up for the 2017-18 season means that the final race of the FF1M season will witness a bit of a merry-go-round with Jean-Eric Vergne, Cooper Lee, and Vandoorne all set to miss the final race at Macau due to the two series clashing.

Lee’s exit has been confirmed with his replacement to be announced after the race and there are rumours that Vandoornes replacement will be announced even earlier. Vergne’s situation is less clear however. Another driver whose situation is unclear is Kimi Raikkonen, as rumours continue to persist that FF2M frontrunner, Mason Taylor, will replace the Finn for the final two races. Perhaps Raikkonen could race for Andrew Racing at Macau?

Meanwhile in the garages Megatron’s engineers have fitted new ICE and Control Electronics to their cars for the coming race. It’s Megatron’s third engine update of the season with one more free upgrade remaining though it remains to be seen whether they, or Climax, will use their full allocation.

Suzuka’s unpredictability to throw up a surprise result?

To highlight how difficult it is to master Suzuka, its 27 previous visits have seen 22 different winners. The most recent is Daniel Ricciardo, who inherited victory from Vaino Kimminen when the Finn made a mistake at the Esses in the closing stages on what would have been the Finn’s maiden victory in just his second race. Andrew Racing have gone well at the circuit in the past having won thrice and must fancy their chances for another win after a good season where Ricciardo and Vergne have been consistent points finishers. They have a rampant Tornado to see off however, and the Somerset team are still after Shake ‘n’ Bake’s points record from 2009.

Support Races

Suzuka will see the final meetings for the FF2M and FF4M Asia championship with both Drivers Championships still up for grabs. In FF2M, a maximum of 22 points are up for grabs and with Chuck Bucknum 19 points ahead of Charles Leclerc, it’s weighted heavily in favour of the Detroit native. He could even win the championship before the actual race itself if he secures pole position as qualifying offers two of those 22 points for the polesitter.

Meanwhile, the FF4M Asia championship enters its final race with the championship splitting into two for 2018. The drivers title is much more open here with Japan’s own Yozan Koharu and Australia’s George Wyse separated by just two points with 30 on offer. Both are guaranteed a place in FF3M next season with nine others vying for the one remaining place within the Asian region to join France’s Daniele Champres, Ireland’s Craig Rume, and Liechtenstein’s Maximilien Wieser from the European region, and USA’s Sarah Hollister from the PanAM region (Two PanAM places are still to be decided at Interlagos in a fortnight).

Coverage Details

Race Highlights will be available on Sunday afternoon. Premiering at 16:00 GMT.

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