Given the extreme weather conditions that hit the Suzuka circuit on Friday
and Saturday, the Japanese Grand Prix looked set to be a classic with the
teams and drivers struggling to find the right set-up and choose the right
tyres due to the lack of running. Despite all that, Michael Schumacher dominated
and made it look very easy. His 13th win of the season was stunning and his drive silenced all those questioning his motivation following his
performance in China. Michael led the race from start to finish and had plenty
to spare.
A few of the highlights:
Michael Schumacher was untouchable. The only driver that was remotely
close was Ralf Schumacher but he was lighter and was stuck in traffic
after his first pit stop.
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello had a bad qualifying session and struggled in
traffic. Still he made up many places before tangling with David Coulthard
and retiring.
Ralf Schumacher had a good day. He drove well and finished second
helping Williams nearly secure 4th place in the Championship.
Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya didn't perform as expected. He still managed
to finish 7th after starting 13th but from his superb performance here
last year, one expected better than 6th.
The BAR pair performed well and so did their Honda engine. 3rd and 4th
for Jenson Button and Takuma Sato almost secured 2nd place for BAR in the
Championship. From 26 points in 2003 to 116 in 2004 with a race still to
go. This is a great achievement.
Fernando Alonso once again showed that he can get the best out of the
Renault package. Finishing 5th while team-mate Villeneuve only managed 10th.
Renault's gamble on Villeneuve hasn't worked not that keeping Trulli would
have changed the result.
Renault still have a very small chance of beating BAR but that is very
unlikely as the gap to BAR is now 16 points with 1 race to go.
It was surprising to see Kimi Raikkonen struggle!. David Coulthard was
ahead of him until he retired. One wonders if Kimi's setup was so bad
causing him to only manage 6th!
Another fine drive by both Fisichella and Massa. This was the 5th race
in a row that a Sauber scores points. Sauber continues to improve which is
encouraging for the private teams.
Jarno Trulli showed some promise in the Toyota at the start of the race
but finishing 11th reminded us of his trend at Renault.
Olivier Panis ended his Formula 1 racing career on a low finishing 14th
with Nick Heidfeld in the Jordan finishing ahead of him. Good luck to
Olivier in his role as a test driver for Toyota.
The TV coverage was below standard. So much on-track action was missed.
Button letting Sato through, the Coulthard and Barrichello incident and
the Raikkonen and Glock incident to name a few weren't even shown on
replay. Focusing on Sato struggling with something around his helmet isn't
what we want to see for too long! Surely they can do better than
that.
Your
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What others are saying:
Michael was just unbeatable today. No one could come close to
him. While it was sad to see BAR lose out of first (hey - I can always hope!)
this result proves that BAR is NOT going to be beaten by Renault. Villeneuve
is going to need more time and Alonso doesn't seem to be on his game most of
the time. I was also hoping that Webber could capitalize on his good position
to score some points for Jaguar but it was not to be as once again something
went wrong and he had to bow out.
I agree with the TV coverage - a lot was missed. That plus the constant loss
of picture (this happens MUCH too often) plus the shots of things we didn't
need to see (Sato's helmet - the following of cars with no one around them
while position battles go unshown is something that puzzles me to no
end).
All-in-all a good race that wasn't marred by horrific looking crashes.
All we need is more shots of the battles for position and we are in good
shape! (Besides - whatever happened to listening to the Team Radio's??) - Ed
- USA
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