IIDOTR - Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:00

No topic yet although race ended about one and half hours ago.

1. Michael Schumacher
Had one of his best races of the year
2. Kamui Kobayashi
Passes into hairpin, whoa!

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:04

1: Sauber - Not only did Kamui go on a mega-run, but Heidfeld did his usual thing to net Sauber a double points finish.
2: Kovalainen - Should be enough to get Lotus to 10th in the constructors - barring an anti-miracle, of course.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:06

1. Michael Schumacher: That was by far and away his best drive of the season and his points were deserved.
2. Sauber: Kobayashi starred again while Heidfeld picked up points in a crazy race.

Honourable mentions to Kubica up till his wheel failure for putting in another sterling weekend which deserved many points and Sakon Yamamoto for running 15th at one point.

razta · Post by **razta** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:10

This is a tough one to call.
MS - well.. as martin brundle called him "the Silver Barron"
Kobi - what a drive!

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:10

1. Kobayashi - Great turnaround after his poor drive in Singapore. Very much like one of the Mercades drivers in China (I think it was Rosberg) in that he kept making all of his overtakes at a corner nobody else even thought to try and overtake at.

2. Heidfeld - Drove like the Heidfeld of old. Rarely saw him on TV and never made any move of note but drove consistantly well to a great 8th place finish.

coops · Post by **coops** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:14

Kobayashi

Schumacher

It was supposed to be the other way round with Schumacher first but Kobayashi barged past with impunity.

MinardiFan95 · Post by **MinardiFan95** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:16

1. Heidfeld: Solid but quiet run to a points paying position in only his second race back.
2. Kobayashi: The hairpin is not a passing spot. WRONG!

Honourable mentions go to Kovalainen (almost securing 10th for Lotus in the Constructors Championship) and the Big Schu (good performance to finish 6th)

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:20

Bleu wrote:No topic yet although race ended about one and half hours ago.

Thanks, Bleu. I decided it would be a Red Bull 1-2 after qualy, and wasn't in the mood to getting up for that. I'll vote after I watch it.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:22

1.: Nick Heidfeld - Kobayashi was extremely impressive, but that was to be expected for his home race. But who considered Heidfeld for a good point finish?

2.: Sakon Yamamoto - Battled Trulli and Glock way longer than a HRT could have been able to, great first half of the race. Unfortunately, he dropped the ball a bit in Part II.

RA107 · Post by **RA107** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:28

1. M.Schumacher
2. Sauber

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:32

1. BMW Sauber Ferrari
Kobayashi had FIVE passes into the hairpin, and even though the first one was a bit dirty move, the other four were EXCELLENT! Only one was problematic from the remaining four: the second pass on Alguersuari, but HE hit Kobayashi from the inside, who left him space. Bravo. And Heidfeld silently finished behind Kamui. Excellent race for the team after Singapore!

2. Michael Schumacher
On this track he seemed to be getting back to his former self. A light at the end of the tunnel?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:48

1. Schumacher, best race of the year comfortably, he actually drove with his head screwed on for once!

2. Yamamoto, drove a decent race, running quicker than Senna for the first part and must have delighted his legions of Japanese fans!

Kamui just gets an honorable mention as he always seems to get votes!

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 10 Oct 2010, 09:51

I'm going for a Japanese double

Kobayashi - Immense overtaking lands him 6th position half way through the race. Idiotic strategy dumps him back into 12th, so he shrugs that off and does it all over again- Sutil and Rosberg's retirements helped but the points he earned are much deserved. Today was one of his 'full blown hero' days rather than his 'I'm going go out in Q3 and then drive over a rock or something on lap one' days. When he brings the car home, it's usually with some points!

Yamamoto- Looked like he was faster than Senna for most of the race, and held off a car that was much faster than him, being piloted by a driver much better than him for half the race, while at the same time getting out of the way on a track that is notoriously tough for backmarkers to judge. Finished squat last in the end, but his drive showed that at least 'he got game'.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 10 Oct 2010, 10:19

We might aswell name this the Kobayashi award of greatness.

1. Kobayashi: Seriously, no explanation needed.
2. Heidfeld: Not bad for someone more overrated than Hamilton or Button.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 10 Oct 2010, 10:26

1. Kobayashi - No explanation necessary
2. Schumacher - Very impressive, his best drive of the season so far.

Honourable mentions go to Kovalainen and Heidfeld.

Post by **mario** » 10 Oct 2010, 10:42

Whilst quite a few drivers had a terrible day, there were some fine drives out there as well, so I expect that there will be quite a few different nominations. So, for my $0.02:
1. Schumacher. Given that he has had a fairly bad season so far, today, perhaps, we saw a little glint of his former greatness. He pulled off a very clean move on Barrichello, and defended cleanly as well. He was faster than his team mate, and really pushed Rosberg much harder than might have been expected. Given that Schumacher's lap times improved massively once Rosberg dropped off the track (by two seconds a lap), and that Hamilton had to spend the last 15 laps nursing home a sickly car, Schumacher might have been in with a chance of passing Hamilton for 5th place if Rosberg hadn't slowed him up.

2. Kobayashi. After a difficult race in Singapore, where he ended up in a barrier, this was the sort of performance we wanted to see out of Kobayashi. He pulled off some very clean and clever passes, diving from quite far back in several cases to make them, and made them stick. Although he did clatter Buemi a bit first time around, the other passes were very clean (even if Alguersuari tried to punt him off the track), and pulled off passes when others couldn't find a way through. That said, the only reason that I haven't put him first, though, was for botching his lap in qualifying - had he not, he would have probably started in the top 10, and could have finished even higher.

However, somebody else who deserves a mention is Kovalainen - that 12th place of his is literally forth a fortune to the team, for securing 10th place in the WCC. He only finished one lap down (and was the only one of the new teams to only be lapped once), and he has really given the team a big boost in confidence. Yamamoto did surprising well too - although he finished last, for a while he was the leading driver for the new teams, and his fastest race lap is about half a second better than Bruno, which is notable.
Heidfeld did well too - although beaten by Kobayashi on his contrary strategy (although it did look like he let Kobayashi through), he withstood heavy pressure from Barrichello at the end of the race, and still managed to bring the car home for four points for Sauber. Considering that De La Rosa only managed to get 6 points in total, three more points would put Heidfeld ahead of De La Rosa, which wouldn't be bad for somebody only driving in the last five races with knackered engines...

LucaPacchiarini · Post by **LucaPacchiarini** » 10 Oct 2010, 10:45

Kobayashi latebreaking like it was a 125cc bike race.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 10 Oct 2010, 11:12

I think Kobyashi should be exempt from this category by now... after all, it is for drivers who give an unexpectedly good drive!

RAK · Post by **RAK** » 10 Oct 2010, 11:40

1) Heikki Kovalainen: That twelfth place is going to mean a lot come the season's end, if there aren't any minor-team points scores in the next three races.

2) Nick Heidfeld: I didn't expect him to be that quick over the qualifying/race. A good effort.

Honourable Mention - Kamui Kobayashi: The finishing place wasn't what surprised me - it was the way that he took so many drivers, particularly at the hairpin. If it hadn't been for a little bit of a strategic screw-up, he could possibly have made his way out of Rejectdom.

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 10 Oct 2010, 12:03

1. Schumacher-Surprised even me.

2. Lotus- Did quite well this weekend.

coops · Post by **coops** » 10 Oct 2010, 12:08

tristan1117 wrote:1. Schumacher-Surprised even me.

For all the PR guff I think he surprised himself.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 10 Oct 2010, 13:07

Isn't is odd how a 6th place for a 7-time WDC gets all the votes?

But yeah, Kobayashi and Schumacher get mine too.

Warren Hughes · Post by **Warren Hughes** » 10 Oct 2010, 13:09

1. Heidfeld
2. Schumacher

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 10 Oct 2010, 13:10

Kobayashi
Schumacher

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 10 Oct 2010, 13:24

There can really only be one this weekend:

One: Kamui Kobayashi - no explanation necessary, overtaking in the hairpin several times was good. But doing it on the outside... Great!
(Two: Sauber - still consistently improving, had a very good result with both drivers)

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 10 Oct 2010, 13:52

1. Kobayashi. He should start every race four or five places below where should have started from, it just makes him drive better.

2. Heidfeld. Solid performance on only his 2nd race back.

I haven't considered Schumacher because the improbability of him having a good race, even though he's in a lousy car and having a lousy season, is some way short of infinite.

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 10 Oct 2010, 14:31

When everyone else was going out of their way to make overtaking look impossible he was the only one I remember even trying a move in that corner. And it worked out for him every occasion he tried it (we'll give him a free pass on the sloppy first move as that was uncharted waters and because when he came to Alguersuari to pass him again Jaime tried to eat him).

Both my favourite drivers at the moment, Sutil and Kobayashi have picked up extra points through not being afraid to make moves, even if they have to give their car a few bumps and bruises along the way. We've seen that pulling moves and having considerable contact with cars isn't a barrier to making it to the finish line. Bits fall off, get dog ears, but the cars themselves seem perfectly happy to chug on. They're tank-like this year in more ways than one.

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 10 Oct 2010, 14:41

Only other driver I remember making moves into the hairpin is Emanuele Pirro in 1989. On the first time he punted another driver into spin and on the second time took himself out of the race

Regarding Pirro, he will be driver steward at Abu Dhabi this year.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 10 Oct 2010, 14:46

I actually thought Kovalainen would finish on the lead lap. He was there for about 40 laps.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 10 Oct 2010, 16:38

Kobayashi, for Spoon-ing everybody in the midfield without their consents

QuickYoda41 · Post by **QuickYoda41** » 10 Oct 2010, 17:33

1. the one and only Kamui Kobayashi - ok, maybe an expected points finish, but definitely surprising moves, amazing

2. Yamamoto - for being on the screen for some positive reason, and not even just once or twice 8-)

If it wasn't that little mistake which let Trulli through, I'd even put him in the 1st place despite Kamui's Hairpin-actions

Just misses nomination because of the Japanese Boys: Schumacher

(actually, from Heidfeld, it was just as I expected 8-)

)

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 10 Oct 2010, 17:36

Choose one of Schu/Heidfeld

& Yam for looking like a racing driver part of the time.

watka · Post by **watka** » 10 Oct 2010, 18:03

1. Sauber - I know we mention Kobayashi all the time, but his overtakes today were his best yet. They were so aggressive, but in the most part were fair, and he had less of a tyre advantage than Kubica did in Singapore when he was tearing through the field. Heidfeld was much improved from Singapore too.

2. Michael Schumacher - easily his best drive of the season (even if Rosberg was still beating him!), and looked far more comfortable with the tyres.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 10 Oct 2010, 18:39

1-Sakon Yamamoto - No, I'm not crazy. He managed to stave off Trulli and Glock for a while, even if he then fell to last.
2-Nick Heidfeld - By no means I was expecting he was going to finish 8th.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 10 Oct 2010, 19:07

1) Kobayashi - Bloody hell, these things pass each other!

2) Japanese TV - OK, they only did it 'cos it involved Yamamoto, but thank goodness we got some action further back when there was bog all else going on. Actually, they did a good job in general with showing the close midfield battles and that nice angle of Kubica so we could see the lack of right rear wheel just when everyone was going 'er, what happened?'
No endless unnecessary replays of the same things or poncy slo-mo shots either - good job all round.

Jack O Malley · Post by **Jack O Malley** » 10 Oct 2010, 19:12

1) KK + Quick Nick
2) Schumy

razta · Post by **razta** » 10 Oct 2010, 20:02

watka wrote:1. Sauber - I know we mention Kobayashi all the time, but his overtakes today were his best yet. They were so aggressive, but in the most part were fair, and he had less of a tyre advantage than Kubica did in Singapore when he was tearing through the field. Heidfeld was much improved from Singapore too.

2. Michael Schumacher - easily his best drive of the season (even if Rosberg was still beating him!), and looked far more comfortable with the tyres.

Schumi - and this is Planet-f1 (Anti-schumis) take on it.

Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 7, Michael Schumacher on Rubens Barrichello for P6
So why not Kobayashi's serial overtaking moves into the hairpin? To be fair, he was lucky to be on the track after mugging Alguersuari for 10th on Lap 12. But more of this later.

Schumacher's pass was sublime because:
a) Rubens and he have a certain amount of history
b) Barrichello would have known it was coming
c) Overtaking around Suzuka is hard enough without a willing overtakee, but around the outside into the final chicane...?
Amazing.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 10 Oct 2010, 20:03

Quick Nick just did the usual, drove into a decent points finish without much notice.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 10 Oct 2010, 21:53

i'm starting to expect these drives from kobayashi, so no nomination for him

1) schumacher: because we don't expect a decent performance anymore
2) yamamoto: because we don't expect anything at all from him

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 11 Oct 2010, 00:33

Kobayashi: Great overtakes!

Sauber: Koba/Heidfeld in points.