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ONLINE AROUND THE WORLD ON F1 GP MONDAYs >> Issue 211 >> MONDAY OCT 6 2014 F1 >> MotoGP WEEK.com DARK DAY Lewis wins at bleak Suzuka, but no joy as Bianchi badly hurt MotoGP Suzuki confirms its 2015 squad follow us: 1

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Luca Martini, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 24mm, 1/100 sec f/4 OPENING SHOT

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Patrik Lundin, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 4.2mm, 1/30 sec f/2.2 OPENING SHOT

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Mark Sutton, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 500mm, 1/1000 sec f/5 OPENING SHOT

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Luca Martini, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 17mm, 1/100 sec f/5.6 OPENING SHOT

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Mark Sutton, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 500mm, 1/1000 sec f/4/5 OPENING SHOT

Japanese Grand Prix October 5, 2014 Photographer: Luca Martini, Sutton Images Camera: Nikon D4 Shot at 500mm, 1/400sec f/4 OPENING SHOT

F1 >>> news bianchi stable after crash Jules Bianchi continues to receive treatment in Japan for severe head trauma after his major accident at Suzuka. The Frenchman was breathing unassisted on Monday following the accident, which saw his Marussia MR03 strike a recovery vehicle side-on at Turn 7. The vehicle was in a track run-off area to attend to Adrian Sutil s Sauber, which had run off at the same point on the previous lap. No Safety Car had been deployed for the Sutil incident, though one was scrambled immediately news came that Bianchi had suffered a heavy collision. The race was red-flagged shortly thereafter. According to the FIA, Bianchi was unconscious as he was transported by ambulance to the nearby Mie General Hospital. Once there he underwent CT scans that revealed a severe head injury before he underwent surgery. Post-op he was transferred to an ICU. Sky Sports has reported that Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci, Williams driver Felipe Massa and Lotus s Pastor Maldonado maintained a vigil for the 25-year-old that ended only after he emerged from surgery. There were also reports that Fernando Alonso and other drivers attended the hospital during the course of the night. There is no word on how long Bianchi s recovery might take, or when he might be able to travel back to Europe. There is no word on whether Marussia will run one of its test drivers at Sochi in Bianchi s place. It named Alexander Rossi to the role after he ended a similar deal with Caterham in July, and last week nominated Will Stevens as a tester. The Brit was originally thought to have been in line to drive in FP1 at Suzuka but the team ran its regular drivers instead. Rossi at least has some F1 experience, but the likelihood of running such an inexperienced driver in the race would mean that a tester would is unlikely to be required for FP1 Friday. The race was held in difficult conditions, and started behind a Safety Car before being red-flagged. Rain continued through most of the race, though it was light enough for drivers to switch onto Intermediate tyres almost as soon as the Safety Car pulled off. However there was criticism of the reluctance of the race promoters to consider bringing forward the start time of the race, in light of the expected arrival of Typhoon Phanfone, which as expected impacted on the track from Sunday morning. According to reports, FIA officials twice suggested that the race start be brought forward four hours to 11am local time, but the promoters stuck to their original time. There is expected to be a full investigation into the Sutil and Bianchi incidents, to determine how it came to be that a Safety Vehicle was active in a run-off area, without a Safety Car being deployed, in wet conditions. 8

F1 >>> news WEEK.com MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Lambden publisher@gpweek.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Formula 1: Phil Branagan Paolo Filisetti (F1 Tech Editor) Mike Doodson Kate Walker Sean Kelly MotoGP: Michael Scott Phil Branagan Social Media: Ernie Black Photography Sutton Motorsport Images www.sutton-images.com Keith Sutton keith@gpweek.com: Mark Sutton, Patrik Lundin, Luca Martini Publisher Chris Lambden publisher@gpweek.com Published by: Grand Prix Week Ltd 61 Watling Street, Towcester Northants NN12 6AG United Kingdom ADVERTISING: n Mark Sutton mark@sutton-images.com n SE Asia, Australasia GPWEEK (Australia) publisher@gpweek.com SEB's BLOCKBUSTER SMS One text message on Friday night has changed the course of Formula 1 s Silly Season and unleashed the biggest driver move in five years. Sebastian Vettel sent Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner the message, asking him to come to his hotel room, late on Friday night, to advise that he had signed a deal with Ferrari for 2015 and beyond. GPWeek understands that the exit of the German from the team with which he lifted four consecutive World Drivers Championships was triggered by an exit clause on his contract. It is believed that Vettel had the option for a free exit if he was lower than third place in the WDC on September 30. Horner made the unusual move a confirming Vettel s move to Ferrari before either the driver or the team could when he spoke to the media on Saturday. Obviously Ferrari have made him a very attractive offer, he said. If somebody s heart is not there, it doesn t matter what you have on a piece of paper, he said. It has to be right for both sides. He has reached a stage in his career where he fancied a new challenge, that is his prerogative and, like in any relationship, if somebody s heart is not in it then it is time to move on. I think the lure of Ferrari, a window has opened there with whatever is going on and he has decided the timing is right for him. That is his choice, and he has been around long enough to know his own mind. He doesn t have a manager and doesn t have people that surround him. He has made this decision and we respect that. n Richard Partridge gpweek@ntlworld.com Ph: + 44 1273 232 566 Mob: + 44 7771 567 644 Accessible via the GPWEEK APP CLICK on the appropriate provider (right) 9

F1 >>> news fernando: Mclaren, sabbatical, or... With the news that Sebastian Vettel will join Ferrari at the end of the year, speculation that Fernando Alonso would be on the move hit fever pitch at Suzuka on Saturday. Reports suggest that the Spaniard has signed a multi-year deal with Honda, which would, presumably, see him at McLaren in 2015. But when Alonso spoke to journalists, he cast some doubt on what deal, if any, had been done. I have not yet decided completely, he said. You know I have a plan in my head, I ve had my mind set for the last two or three months. I have a privileged position because I can more or less choose where I want to go when I want to go. I ve gained that respect in so many years especially in the last five with Ferrari. Some of the movements we see now is because of what I ve decided. So let s wait a little bit and clear completely my last doubts and I ll tell you where I ll go. One alternative suggestion is that Alonso has signed with Honda but will take a sabbatical year before returning to F1 in 2016. Another quite intriguing rumour and that is all it is suggests that Alonso s long-time F1 manager Flavio Briatore is interested in a return to the sport and may be talking to cash-strapped Lotus about a buy-in. Lotus is, of course, scheduled to get Mercedes engines for 2015. Could Fernando be part of such a project? Intriguingly, one of Sutton Images photographers happened to snap Alonso's business manager Luis Garcia Abad chatting with Federico Gastaldi, Lotus F1 Team Deputy Team Principal (below) at the weekend. Discussing the weather, no doubt? 10

F1 >>> news F1 >>> news DAN times TWO FOR RED BULL Christian Horner had no hesitation in promoting Daniil Kyvat to Red Bull Racing as soon as he knew that he was losing Sebastian Vettel. The 20-year-old Russian will join Daniel Ricciardo at RBR next season, following the same path from Scuderia Toro Rosso that the Australia followed last year, and which led to Vettel joining RBR in 2009. It has been our philosophy for several years now to back youth, to grow our own talent and that is exactly what we did with Sebastian, he said. There were question marks when we signed him, and question marks when we signed Daniel Ricciardo, but we have demonstrated that it works. Daniil is a very exciting talent and it is an exciting new dawn for Red Bull Racing. Horner was asked whether he considered a straight swap and pursue Fernando Alonso for his team and answered, The reality is, not really. Fernando is a wonderful driver, but our philosophy and policy is to invest inwardly, invest in youth and give youngsters a chance. The question now remains who will join Max Verstappen at STR next season. Ironically the 17-year-old, who became the youngest driver in the sport s history when he drove in FP1 last Friday, could become the senior STR driver should the team recruit a driver new to F1 to join him. Among the candidates are Carlos Sainz Jr and A service driven insurance broker for the fast moving world www.ellisclowes.com +44 (0)20 7220 0130 Authorised and regulated by the FCA Registered Lloyd s of London Broker Registered in England and Wales Company no. 07202991 11

Briefly F1 >>> news»» Sebastian Vettel is not the only person on the move. Last week Italy s Autosprint magazine reported Riccardo Adami was leaving Toro Rossi. The race engineer worked at Faenza for some time, even before Vettel was there in 2007/ 08. In another shock Kenny Handkammer, Vettel s chief mechanic at Red Bull Racing, left the team last week. Both are rumoured to be going to surprise, surprise Ferrari»» Will Stevens had an awkward weekend. The 23-year-old was named as Marussia s latest test driver last week and was down to drive in FP1 on Friday. But he was withdrawn from the role at the last minute, and it seems that he is in further negotiation to fill the role later in the season, perhaps as soon as at Sochi this Friday.»» Reports from Belgium suggest that the country s GP could have a rosy future. Newspaper L Echo reports that the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps track could have a new three-year deal with Bernie Ecclestone, extending the race s future to at least 2018.»» Bernie Ecclestone has denied reports that his return to the F1 Board has been delayed. The 83-year old described the reports, which suggested that he had had certain conditions placed on his activities once he returns to the Board of F1 s parent company Delta Topco, were complete and utter rubbish. max effect, min fuss Max Verstappen has three more opportunities to get mileage in a Formula 1 car this season. The 17-year-old became the youngest driver in history to participate in an F1 event when he drove a Toro Rosso in FP1 at Suzuka. The second-generation driver completed 22 laps and ended the session 12th fastest, 0.4 behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat, in spite of losing the last six laps of the session with a Power Unit failure. STR is keen to run its star rookie again this season, though he will skip the maiden Russian GP because of a Formula 3 commitment in Europe. STR boss Franz Tost confirmed that his new driver would drive in the last three FP1s of the season. We want to run him in Austin as well as in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi - this is how we want to prepare him for next season, Tost told the BBC. We all know that this race track is quite difficult to learn so we gave him the opportunity to go out. He has to learn the tracks so when he comes next year he can just go out and knows all the tricks you need to know here.»» Not strictly F1-related but Ferrari has lodged a patent for a motorcycle design. The design, which appears to feature a narrow-angle V-twin engine, is thought to be a method a dampening vibrations. Ferrari has never produced its own motorcycles but Fiat Chrysler Chairman Sergio Marchionne is thought to be in favour of expanding the famed brand s reach. 12

F1 >>> news HONDA SHOWS OFF ITS V6 Here is the first view of Honda s 2015 Formula 1 Power Unit. Honda released an image of its V6 last week and over the Japanese GP weekend, played audio of the unit running at its stand at Suzuka. Technical details of the Unit remain hidden, but it appears similar in concept to Renault s PU. Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai confirmed that the unit is still under development at the company s newly completed Milton Keynes facility. Working toward Honda s F1 participation starting in the 2015 season, development of the power unit is entering its prime phase at our R&D facility in Sakura (Tochigi, Japan), where we transferred our automobile motor sports development earlier this year, Arai said. In addition to conducting simulations, we have moved onto the next stage where we conduct full-fledged bench tests of the engine while connecting the turbocharger and energy recovery systems. In the meantime, our racing operation base in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, has become fully operational. At this time, we are unveiling an image of our power unit that is under development. The whole team is concentrating on this development, getting ready for the forthcoming start of F1 participation in six months. Please stay tuned for further updates. ANDREA DE CESARIS Grand Prix racing lost one of its true characters at the weekend with the death in a traffic accident of Andrea de Cesaris. The Italian was riding in motorcycle in Rome when he was struck by another vehicle. Italian media has reported that the 55-year-old was killed instantly. After stepping up from Formula 2 as a 21-year-old to drive for Alfa Romeo in two GPs in 1980, de Cesaris rode his Marlboro Italy backing into a seat at McLaren in 1980. After a single season, he returned to Alfa for 82 and 84, before stints at Ligier ( 84-85), Minardi ( 86), Brabham ( 87), Rial ( 88), Dallara ( 89-90), Jordan ( 91), Tyrrell ( 92-93) and Sauber ( 84). He drove in 208 GPs and never managed to win one, but he did score five podium finishes. His best chance of winning came at Spa in 91, when driving for Jordan. After starting from 11th he moved through the field to second place and was closing in on leader Ayrton Senna when his Ford engine blew up with three laps remaining. That race that is perhaps best remembered for the F1 debut of his Jordan teammate for the weekend, Michael Schumacher. Following his retirement de Cesaris became a Monaco-based currency trader and part-time windsurfer. 13

F1 >>> news IT's HARD BEING GREEN The future of Caterham F1 remains unclear after a bizarre week of occurrences involving some of the team s assets. Last week, a number of items were removed from the team s Leafield, UK headquarters by the Sheriff s Office and immediately advertised for sale. In spite of the carefully structured media release that actions against 1MRT, the entrant and owner of CaterhamF1 were unfounded and unsubstantiated rumours it soon became apparent that some substantial items had been removed. Then Manfredi Ravetto, the team s principal, addressed the media at Suzuka in an attempt to address the situation. At first, his explanation appeared to indicate that nothing of concern had happened at Leafield. It is absolutely true that bailiffs have been to Leafield, he said, but what is also true is that since they were in Leafield not a single screwdriver has been removed for the very simple reason that our solicitors got all the paperwork done in order to prove that it is a matter of totally different companies. We managed to explain to the bailiffs that we have nothing to do with the claims. Our opposition was successful and therefore, contrary to rumours that have been spread around, no server was switched off and no additional parts or equipment has been removed. At first he described the items that had been removed as more memorabilia than race critical parts but when further questioned by the media, admitted that a test car, a simulator, steering wheels and drilling equipment, wheels and tyres and yes, memorabilia had been removed from the premises. Meanwhile, the team has pledged to get to the end of the season 14

THE MOMENT... Another time, another drenching Japanese Grand Prix Fuji in 1976 was the scene of James Hunt's championship-winning drive, despite a puncture, to third. (Sutton Images archive 1960-2014. Over 900,000 images available online for search and print order)

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MOTOGP >>> news double spaniards for suzuki Suzuki has unveiled its 2015 MotoGP racer and confirmed Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales as its riders. Fresh from his maiden podium finish for Forward Yamaha at Aragon, Espargaro joined Moto2 star rookie Viñales at the announcement, the latter stepping up to MotoGP after only one year in the intermediate category. At the same time, Suzuki announced some details of its new racer. The GSX-RR (right) features a new inline four-cylinder engine (codenamed the XRH-1) similar to Yamaha s M1 unit. The bike will use Dorna s control engine management system with free software, prior to standard software being introduced for the 2016 season. Former Yamaha MotoGP manager Davide Brivio will be the Team Suzuki MotoGP manager. The announcement means that Randy de Puniet will not race for the team next year. The French veteran, who has conducted much of the testing on the bike, is expected to make a wildcard appearance at November s Valencia championship finale. petrucci gets pramac call-up Danilo Petrucci will join Pramac Ducati next season. The Italian has raced for the IodaRacing team for the last three seasons, two of them on a Ioda/Suter bike and this season on an Aprilia ART. He scored a career-best result of 11th in the chaotic Aragon race last month. Petrucci, 23, will join Yonny Hernandez on a pair of Italian V4s next year. There has been no announcement whether either Pramac rider will inherit works status, as has been enjoyed this season by Andrea Iannone this year. Iannone will move to Ducati Corse to partner Andrea Dovizioso next year. Hernandez has raced a year-old GP13 this season. I am very happy to have reached an agreement with Pramac Racing, a team that has helped to promote the development of young riders, he said. I am also proud and extremely motivated for the chance to ride a Ducati. I will try to give everything to make the most out of this opportunity for which I thank Pramac Racing. I also wanted to thank Giampiero Sacchi for giving me the opportunity to start racing at the highest level in MotoGP. 17

Briefly MOTOGP >>> news»» Forward Yamaha looks set to keep its Yamaha M1 frames next year. The team was developing its own units, in light of the probability of losing access to the same frames used on Yamaha s official M1, but it now appears that the Open team will maintain its links to the works bikes.»» Jack Miller avoided any penalty for and alleged brake test during Aragon Qualifying. Miller was unhappy about some riders following him during the session and there were some strong words after the session, but his points remain intact.»» With his win at Motorland Aragon Maverick Viñales looks to be within reach of bettering the record for the number of points scored by a Moto2 rookie. Viñales now has 204 points. The record score of 251 points was set in 2011 by, inevitably, Marc Marquez.»» Niccolo Antonelli will ride with the Ongetta- Rivacold team next year. It will be Antonelli s fourth year in Moto3, and he will race with the support of the VR46 Riders Academy.»» Reports suggest that Moto3 s only female competitor, Ana Carrasco, may not be seen on track again this season. Spanish publication El Mundo reports that the 17-year-old has split with the Dutch RW Racing team, after a part-season that has seen her finish no higher than 20th. The report also says that Carrasco has a deal to race for Aleix Espargaro's RBA Team next year. the doctor gives us the (good) news Sighs of relief were heard around the world last week when Valentino Rossi declared himself fit after a fall at Aragon. The Doctor had to see doctors after falling from his Yamaha on the fourth lap of the 23-lap race. His Yamaha went within millimetres of hitting Dani Pedrosa s Honda and ran off the track, flinging the veteran onto the tarmac. Rossi visited Alcaniz hospital for a CT scan on Sunday, forward gets that baz sheen Loris Baz has been named as the man to join Stefan Bradl next season. The 21-year-old Frenchman, who has raced for Kawasaki in the World Superbike Championship, was at Aragon last weekend, and was believed to have been finalising details with the team. It s a pleasure to welcome Loris Baz in our team, said Forward Racing team owner and had a follow-up check at the MotoGP Clinica Mobile the next morning. I m fine, everything is OK, and this is the most important thing, said Rossi. I did not injure myself too much except for a big bump to the head. Last night I had a little headache but today I m fine, I m 100 percent. Giovanni Cuzari. He is a young rider who has proved to be fast in World Superbikes and we would like to give him the possibility to show his talent also in MotoGP. I m very happy to start this new adventure with Loris and bring this new rider in the premier class, continuing our mission of talent scout team alongside of Yamaha. laverty for aspar Eugene Laverty has been confirmed as an of wins on his record with a lot of different Aspar MotoGP rider for 2015 season. manufacturers, which says a lot about his Laverty, 28, will ride an updated Honda capacity to adapt. in the Open class for the Spanish team. No Laverty has raced in the Superbike World teammate has been named by Nicky Hayden Championship since 2011. Previously he is assumed to have a contract with the raced in World Supersport, finishing second team, so it appears that the Irishman will in the championship twice. His only GP replace former 250cc world champion Hiroshi experience came when he rode in the 250cc Aoyama in the two-bike team. class in 2007-08 with a best result of 13th Eugene Laverty is a rider we were already place, and as a Wildcard in the 125cc British in contact with last year, we tried to sign him GP in 2004. then and even though we didn t manage it at Ironically, it appears that he will not face his the time he is a rider we have been interested brother in the premier class. Michael Laverty in for a long time, said team principal Jorge has race with PBM in the last two MotoGP Martinez Aspar. seasons but that team is moving to the British I think he is a rider with great potential, Superbike Championship next season. Laverty he has produced some incredible races in could stay with the team but is believed to Supersport and Superbikes, and he has a lot have other offers to race in the BSB as well. 18

MOTOGP >>> news MOTOGP RACE It is difficult to imagine that the 799 500cc or MotoGP races that preceded Aragon s 2014 event had as much drama, incident of controversy. Let s get the simple part done first. Jorge Lorenzo won, ending his 2014 drought and a hoodoo that has seen Yamaha never win on the demanding circuit. Valentino Rossi crashed, and ended the race in the medical centre being treated for concussion. Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa crashed too but jorge tops the 800 era both remounted, made a pit stop and not only finished the race, but finished in the points (!) And for the first time, an Open bike was in victory lane on merit, not for having taken the honours in the class-within-a-class. The reason behind many of these happenings was rain. When it started to sprinkle, then drizzle, then properly rain during the race, riders started to come to pitlane for their wet bikes, led by Aleix Espargaro. Rider after rider pitted, until only the two Repsol Honda men, well clear of the field and seemingly negotiating their pitstop order with hand signals, remained. Then Pedrosa crashed, followed shortly after by Marquez. Both men had seen winning chances slip through their fingers. Through the murk came Lorenzo, followed shortly after by Espargaro. But as impressive as his ride and tactical nouse were, he had to fight elbow to elbow quite literally with the Ducati of Cal Crutchlow for the position. Even if he was on the older (and far less developed) GP14 the Brit reminded everyone of his speed, and it was a deserving podium before he decamps to Honda. The man he will replace next season, Stefan Bradl and Yamaha Tech 3 pair Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro completed the top six. Ducati s progress was no illusion. Andrea Iannone put his GP 14.2 on the front row of the grid and led early, until he ran off the road in the tricky conditions. In spite of hitting the floor for the second race in a row Marquez, unbelievably, left for the Far East with an increased points lead. He is now 75 points ahead of new secondplaced man Dani Pedrosa, with Rossi third. Lorenzo is a further 10 points in arrears, guaranteeing an exciting battle to determine who is the second-best motorcycle racer in the world. 19

CLICK HERE MOTOGP >>> news To learn more about AGT Lighting Solutions Which Garage Would You Want to Work In? AGT REA Racing uses only AGT Induction Lighting in their garage! Working in the garage with American Green Technology s induction lighting is like working in daylight! MOTO2 RACE yellow is the new black www.agtus.org Come visit us at any MotoGP race in the Moto2 garage area and see for yourself! sales@agtus.org Maverick Viñales is proving that he has the talent to take the Moto2 fight to Tito Rabat but time may be against him. The two were engaged in a big battle for the lead half-way through the race, but when Rabat, Marc VDS teammate Mika Kallio and Dominique Aegerter engaged in a two-lap overtaking free-for-all, Viñales sensed his chance, zoomed away and waited for the counter attack. Inevitably it came from Rabat, but by the end of the race Viñales was still 1.28s clear to take his second win of the season. While Rabat had to be content with second, Kallio dropped like a stone, back to seventh, giving Tito a 33-point gap heading to Japan. A fraught Qualifying session gave an insight into what was coming in the race. On one of the longer tracks on the calendar the top 21 men were split by a second, and track position was king. For a while it appeared that the two VDS bikes would be the class of the field until Vinales asserted his authority on the yellow HP-backed machine. Johann Zarco took third on his Air Asia Caterham bike, ahead of fellow Suter rider Tom Luthi. Franco Morbidelli was next ahead of a fading Aegerter, Kallio and Jordi Torres. 20

MOTO3 RACE the romano empire MOTOGP >>> news On the first lap of the Aragon Moto3 race Romano Fenati (right) was in 19th place. On the 19th lap, he was in first and he kept the spot, and took the win, a lap later. Fenati was in sparking form on his Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM, taking his fourth win of the season in a typically combative race. In tricky conditions, a number of riders hit the deck, including Jack Miller. The Australian was side-by-side with Alex Marquez early in the race, but the KTM ran one tyre width wide, onto the dry line, and suddenly was tumbling out of the race. Miller remounted and returned to the pits and the race, only to fall again later in the race. As a result, Miller lost the points lead for the first time this season. In Miller s absence Marquez, teammate Alex Rins, Danny Kent and Jakub Kornfeil (below) engaged in a thrilling battle, only to have the black Sky bike come steaming through. At the end of the race, Fenati won his fourth chequer of the season by 0.057s. Behind Marquez, Kent took a strong podium finish on his Husqvarna ahead of Rins, Kornfeil and Bastianini, who rode three race fastest laps. Marquez now heads the points on 206 ahead of Miller (195), Rins (188) and Fenati (165). Miller is confident that the next three tracks will suit him and his KTM but Marquez, Rins and Honda will have other ideas 21

OPINION OPINION MIKE DOODSON There was some serious beardscratching in the TV pen at Suzuka after qualifying on Saturday when the BBC's lady interviewer started to grill Fernando Alonso about a possible return to McLaren next year. No doubt F1's favourite Spaniard didn't even realise that he was doing it, but the moment he started unconsciously raking the chin-fluff, he couldn't avoid acknowledging, albeit not in so many words, that she was on the right track with her question. It was all rather charming, and certainly justified the BBC's choice of a female interviewer for such encounters, because I can say from personal experience that when his inquisitor happens to be male it takes a lot more effort than that to melt Nando's famous Asturian grumpiness. Alonso made much of the fact that while, yes, he was parting company with Ferrari, he now had the luxury of deciding where to take his talents in 2015 and would be making up his mind about things in due course, blah-blah. Arriving in Japan, he certainly held all the cards, for he is widely recognised to be the most complete driver in F1 and one for whom all the major teams would be ready to roll out the welcome mat, not to mention the $20 million or so that would be expected to go with it. Unfortunately for the man who is walking away from Ferrari, the guy who will be replacing him chose to blurt out the news of his own departure from Red Bull on Saturday morning. Sebastian Vettel handles his own management no omni-present agent, no lawyer at his side in the garage so no sooner had he texted his decision to Christian Horner than he released the information to the press. Even though we news-hounds have been speculating for weeks about just such a move, it came as jolt to learn that Seb would be invoking an early-break provision in his contract to depart the organisation that has supported his career for the past 15 years and delivered four world championships in as many years. When Red Bull almost instantly announced that Daniil Kvyat would be moving in to Vettel's seat next year, one of the only two logical destinations for Alonso was closed. Either he moves back to McLaren or he takes a sabbatical year away from the sport, a tactic which is seriously unadvisable for a man who is already 33 years old and who readily admits that he has his eye on a couple more titles before he retires. Writing (as I do) before any official confirmation about the recruitments of Vettel or Alonso arrives either from Ferrari or McLaren, I note that there is still plenty of speculation whirling around about how the moves will be handled. It is surely safe to imagine that Vettel sees himself filling the role in red that his hero Michael Schumacher occupied when he moved to Maranello in 1996. There must be doubts, though, whether Marco Mattiacci and James Allison have the talents to lift the Scuderia out of its current swamp that Jean Todt and Ross Brawn exercised almost 20 years ago in helping Schumacher to five successive titles. Alonso, of course, has already spent (squandered?) five years at Ferrari attempting to do exactly what Vettel now has in mind, with just 11 victories and three runner-up WC positions to show for it. At least he knows the set-up at Woking, and he commands great respect there among the engineers. Hanging over his return, however, is the dark shadow of the altercation with McLaren strongman Ron Dennis that he himself triggered in 2007, and which led to the $100 million fine that was levied on the team by the FIA's then-president, Max Mosley. While Dennis was anxious at Suzuka to deny that Alonso had been signed, he made no attempt to deny that negotiations were in hand. He stepped down from his previous close rôle in the management of the team after the 2007 scandal, but resumed a supervisory position this year. Although he is a proud man, and regards himself as having been blackmailed by Alonso seven years ago, the experience and consistency of the Spaniard make him an irresistible asset for new engine partner Honda. And although Alonso has never gone so far as to admit contrition for what happened in 2007, he has shown that since then he has acquired a level of maturity which is rarely to be found in a driver whose dedication to winning remains at the same level that he offered when he made his F1 debut in Melbourne back in 2001. It remains to be seen, of course, how closely Dennis will want to retain his links with the racing team when Alonso moves in. There has been a suggestion that he might call upon his friend and former driver Gerhard Berger to accept a position alongside the excellent Eric Boullier, but any such appointment might lead to the impression in the paddock that he, Dennis, had accepted that Alonso was too much for him to handle. That, I am sure, is not an image that he, a major shareholder in the group, would be willing to offer the world. Assuming that Alonso does re-join McLaren in due course, there would have to be an accommodation with Dennis that enables them both to work together comfortably. But I see no reason why the two of them should not reach such an arrangement, which would be in their own interests. It will, of course, depend on Alonso becoming convinced that Honda's new-for-2015 powerplant has the potential to win races. If that doesn't work out, Alonso's only escape route would lie with Mercedes. If the Hamilton/Rosberg conflict should flare up again, then if Toto Wolff's threats from Spa are to be believed, one or the other them would have to be defenestrated from the team. All most unlikely, of course. But does anyone fancy a resumption of the Hamilton/Alonso sparring partnership which kept us all on our toes last time they were together? has fernando bet his career on mclaren? ABOVE The Alonso/Dennis relationship was pretty much a disaster in 2007. Will bridges have been mended? 22

OPINION all change please, all change OPINION KATE WALKER Anyone shocked by the news that Sebastian Vettel has elected to take premature leave of his Red Bull contract can t have been watching much Formula One this season. For a four-time world champion to be blown away by a recently promoted team mate who was widely expected to slip comfortably into the size number two shoes once worn to death by Mark Webber is something of a humiliation. And one thing competitive animals (also known as racing drivers) hate even more than losing is losing to a team mate they expected to trounce with ease. The minute it became clear that Daniel Ricciardo s Melbourne podium appearance was not a fuel flow fallacy, Vettel s Red Bull departure was on the cards. And by the time Seb had suffered the indignity of seeing the ex-toro Rosso upstart standing on the top step of the podium three times - by which point Captain Pointy Finger had managed only two podium appearances, both on the bottom step - it was time to put the exit strategy into play. And what an exit strategy! After weeks of (false) rumours that the Japanese Grand Prix weekend would see Honda announce that they had signed Fernando Alonso for 2015, Vettel only went and stole the Spaniard s thunder, and with it any chance Alonso had of staying with the Scuderia until he had evaluated McLaren-Honda s progress and weighed up his best options for 2016 and beyond. Whether or not Vettel will be able to do a Schumacher and restore Ferrari to their formerly winning ways remains to be seen. But the German racer has time on his side, much as Schumacher did when he made the move from Benetton. As a quadruple world champion at the tender age of 27, Vettel can afford to spend a couple of years helping Maranello develop a winning car. All that he needs is to secure one more world title with a different team and his place in the history books will be assured. Of course, as a racer, as a fighter, Vettel wants to collect as many trophies as he can. But five world titles split between two teams is enough to confirm his status as one of the F1 greats. In contrast, Alonso - acknowledged by all and sundry to be the most complete driver on the grid - has but two titles to his name, and no chance of adding to his tally until 2015 at the earliest, nearly a full decade since his last championship with Renault. And at 33, Alonso is on the downwards slope towards retirement. However strong his desire to win, in his heart of hearts the Spanish racer knows he does not have the time to turn a losing outfit into a winning one. Which is why the widely rumoured move to McLaren for 2015 would be something of a gamble. While rumours of difficulties with the Honda power unit started circulating in force this weekend, it was a year ago at Suzuka that whispers of bureaucratic inefficiencies hampering the engine project first started doing the rounds of the paddock. Alonso was not deaf to the chatter then, and he will not be deaf to it now. And then there s McLaren s recent form to consider. While Woking had a competitive car in 2012 - arguably the best of the field in the early part of the season - they threw away their championship chances with a series of botched pit stops and poor pit wall decision-making. In the two years since, the MP4s designed by McLaren Racing have been rather lacklustre, in contrast to the excellent machines being churned out by McLaren Automotive. Red Bull aero whizz Peter Prodromou may have made the move to Woking, but there is no guarantee that his arrival will be the magic bullet the team need to return to their winning ways. The wisest thing for any title-seeker to do is to wait, watch, and wonder. Alonso s best bet right now is to hope that intra-team relations in the Mercedes garage collapse to such an extent that either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg elect to throw in the towel at the end of this season - contracts be damned - and offer himself to Brackley as a world champion keen to collect trophy after trophy for the Silver Arrows. 23

OPINION HUBRIS, and how it prolonged the championship OPINION MotoGP MICHAEL SCOTT Clichés are clichés for a good reason. They reflect the truth. One of them has dogged Marquez throughout this season, gathering momentum as he scooped up win after win... the only person who can beat him is himself. He s done so twice now, at the past two races. And while two successive race crashes (his first since Mugello, back on the second of June last year) thwarted his hopes of securing his second championship in front of his home crowd at Aragon; he is still on target for another record. He has two more races to make himself impregnable, and should he do so he will knock the previous youngest-ever World Champion Freddie Spencer down another place, winning his second title still at a younger age than the American hero of the Golden Age. Marc s Misano crash was the first evidence of vaulting overambition perhaps since his Moto2 days. A quirk of the track for once favoured the Yamahas, and Rossi in particular had found electronic and machine setting that meant he was even able to overtake the Honda on the straight. This is normally unthinkable, but here the Yamaha s usual higher corner speed for once translated into a faster corner exit. Marc slipped off trying to keep up, perhaps fooled by his own perception of invulnerability. The Aragon error was a very different affair. You could see it in a variety of ways: ranging from an example of pure hubris overcoming common sense to one of raw courage in the face of increasingly overwhelming odds. Doesn t matter... the result was the same, and had not his closest title rival, Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, succumbed to the same delusion, Marc would have made it a lot harder to amass the points advantage he requires to create another little bit of youthful history. Both the factory Honda riders admitted it was their mistake, making the wrong decision in very tricky circumstances. All had started the 23-lapper on slick tyres, with the drizzle already spotting. It stayed that way for most of the race, then started to rain harder round about two thirds distance, first just at one point but as the laps counted down more heavily and over the whole track. Open-class hero Aleix Espargaro was the first to pit, and his reward was second place. But the Honda riders did the mental arithmetic differently. Lap times were not much slower than they would be on wet tyres, at first anyway, and with just five laps to go, the loss of 25 seconds (Dani s estimate) would be impossible to make up. The longer they continued to tip-toe around the worse the penalty of stopping became. At the same time, the track got wetter, the puddles got bigger, and their slick tyres got colder. The likelihood of crashing grew geometrically. In hindsight, both looked increasingly silly, as their speed dropped, and the ultimate crash became increasingly inevitable. Had it worked the other way, each would have looked heroic. The margins between hero and zero can be very small. In the end, Lorenzo, who had gambled on stopping, took his first win of the year; but in truth there was only one winner Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, who had not been obliged to make any decisions at all. By luck, the tension of the World Championship battle had just become at least one race longer. 24

F1 >>> JAPAN Dark day A definitive victory for Lewis Hamilton was overtaken by the terrible late-race crash involving Jules Bianchi at yet another gloomy, Safety Car-dominated, typhoon-season Japanese Grand Prix

F1 >>> JAPAN A bleak pre-typhoon Phanfone raceday at Suzuka ended in calamity following the appalling accident which befell Jules Bianchi in the closing stages and saw it stopped a few laps early. Bianchi s accident came as the weather closed in again and drivers, faced with darkening skies and disappearing grip, wrestled with decisions over a late-race stop for full wets. Nothing seemed likely to change the result at the front. Mercedes had dominated the entire weekend, wet or dry, and with Lewis Hamilton the better in the conditions and Nico Rosberg having settled for a damage-limitation second, the only question remained over the places. Lewis had followed his team-mate through the first stops, for Inters, but was less-affected by increasing oversteer slowing his team-mate. The pass, when it came, was clean and definitive DRS on the straight, then sweeping around the outside into Turn 1 as Nico defended the inside: Fairly straightforward, really, said Lewis. I had a lot more pace than Nico. This is not a very easy circuit to follow but fortunately I was able to get quite close and particularly in the last corner and I think perhaps he had a small oversteer moment out of the last corner and I didn t. Obviously the DRS enabled me to get alongside. I was fairly confident with the balance of the car so I put it there and stuck it out. And after that it was really about trying to... you know the whole approach changed after that because before I was attacking, attacking and after that, I kind of took different lines and managed it differently. As qualifying hinted, Red Bull had sacrificed a little for next-day wet set-up, while Williams hadn t, and so the blue cars worked their way forward, but not as fast as the white ones went backwards. In laps and out laps, and the timing of the switch to Intermediates all played a part but, as the drama on the far side of the circuit was taking place, Sebastain Vettel had sacrificed third place with a late dive for fresh Inters, emerging in fourth, behind team-mate Ricciardo. Was Daniel trying, as he has successfully done before, looking to stretch his rubber to the end? The question was cut short by the red flag and, with the countback to the previous lap, Sebastian took the final podium spot. As with all the drivers, post-race comments were muted and all sharing one concern: "Everything that happened with the racing on track is secondary today, one of us is in a bad shape and we don't yet know how he is, said Vettel. Jules had a bad accident and we hope to have some very good news, very soon. Not knowing what's going on feels terrible, I think all the drivers really feel with him, as we know how difficult and slippery it was today; we hope for the very best." Perhaps the biggest and most valuable move in the race was Jenson Button s decision to stop for Inters before anyone else and, as team boss Boulloier pointed out, his fifth spot might just have been better: "More important than anything else, on behalf of everyone at McLaren I want to say how shocked and sorry we were to hear the news of Jules' accident. Our hearts go out to him, of course, to his family, and to all at Marussia. "As far as today's race was concerned, Jenson was the first driver in the field to stop to fit intermediates, and, having done so, thereafter he drove very well all afternoon. Indeed, he may well have finished third had things panned out better for us at the end of the race in terms of safety car and pit-stop timing. "Even so, the 10 points he scored for fifth place may well be useful to us in our efforts to move up the constructors' championship table. By contrast, Kevin had a disappointing afternoon. From early in the race his car began to develop electronics issues, which we attempted to ameliorate by replacing his steering wheel in an unscheduled pit-stop. "After that he was always going to be playing catch-up and, although he pulled off some good moves, especially his overtake of Daniel, he was never going to be in with a chance of scoring points here today. Having maximized their Qualifying performance, the Williams duo struggled in the wet, but still scooped points for sixth and seventh. Again, team boss Smedley was short and succinct with his post-race evaluation: "Our first concern is for the wellbeing of Jules, we hope that everything is okay. In the race we made some good strategy calls and as a result we extracted what we could and finished in a decent position. DECISIVE Hamilton's pass for the lead was clean and impressive, DRS-aided, then round the outside into Turn 1. The conditions were difficult at the start and equally at the end as it got dark. However, our thoughts and hopes are with Jules, his family and friends, and the Marussia team." The one regular name missing from this story so far is that of Fernando Alonso. With the race stopped after just two laps earlier on, his car simply switched off on the rolling laps as the race re-formed behind the Safety Car. And for team-mate Raikkonen, it was little better unable to get decent temperature into his Inters he just fell away to finish 12th. And so another wet Japanese Grand Prix ended, this time in disaster. With the event at perhaps the best circuit in the series constantly scheduled for typhoon season, will F1 ever wake up and make a change? Based on history, both here and at places like Malaysia, don t get your hopes up 26

QUALIFYING F1 >>> JAPAN FORMULA 1 Round 14 JAPANESE GP Qualifying Pos # Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:33.671 1:32.950 1:32.506 13 2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.611 1:32.982 1:32.703 13 3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:34.301 1:33.443 1:33.128 16 4 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:34.483 1:33.551 1:33.527 16 5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.497 1:33.675 1:33.740 16 6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:35.593 1:34.466 1:34.075 17 7 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.930 1:34.229 1:34.242 16 8 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.150 1:34.648 1:34.317 17 9 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:35.517 1:34.784 1:34.432 17 10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:34.984 1:34.771 1:34.548 16 11 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:35.155 1:34.984 14 12 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:35.439 1:35.089 13 13 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:35.210 1:35.092 13 14 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:35.000 1:35.099 13 15 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.736 1:35.364 14 16 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.308 1:35.681 14 17 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:35.917 9 18 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:35.984 10 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:36.813 6 20 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:36.943 8 21 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:37.015 9 22 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:37.481 8 Note - Kvyat qualified 13th, drops 10 grid places for an engine change. Mercedes bigger gap than expected On a day of big surprises, one involving the future of a fourtimes champion, there was even a surprise in store in qualifying. While a Mercedes front row is the default option for 2014, no-one, not even the team themselves, expected the margin to be that comfortable. Had Williams not taken a modest step forward with some new aero bits and pieces, it would have been even bigger. And what about Red Bull? At a circuit on which the team has traditionally shone, and expected to be close to Mercedes this time, thanks to its Newey car, RB were nowhere sixth and ninth; Ricciardo and Vettel. Has the world champ switched off already? His Q3 laps were mistake-ridden and a solid fourtenths slower than his team-mate. Both cars from three teams Toro Rosso, Force India and Sauber, were eliminated in Q2, so two cars from each of five teams made it to Q3. With the big wet expected for Sunday, there was no real need to conserve tyres and ultimately, how many would edge towards a slightly wet set-up with Sunday in mind? The answer to that would have to wait 24 hours, but in the meantime, the intra-team contests would be interesting. After some neck-and-neck practice sessions (other than Lewis having a sizeable off at Turn 1 in P3), the big winner on Saturday afternoon was Nico Rosberg. He was particularly quick in the middle sector and, when it was all done, had pole by a couple of tenths. Lewis, as he has done before, overdrove Q3 and cost himself those tenths under brakes into the hairpin. Advantage Rosberg. For his part, Lewis didn t blame the lock-up, rather modestly just suggesting that Nico was quicker. Hmmmm, Someone has been in Lewis ear! Nico was extremely quick today, he said. I did the best I could. My guys did a fantastic job to rebuild the car after I binned it so a big thank-you for their hard work. Yeah, just today, I wasn t really feeling it. Don t know why. It was still fast but Nico was fantastically fast today. But tomorrow s the day when you get the points so I m looking forward to all the different tricky weather that perhaps will come. The next pairing saw Valtteri 27

QUALIFYING F1 >>> JAPAN Bottas again qualify ahead of Felipe Massa, and a shade closer to the Mercs than before thanks to those updates: We probably would have still been in the same position (without them) but with not as good a lap time, so we definitely made gains since the last race It s positive to see the whole year, actually, always when we plan for some updates and we put them on the car and it always works so that s a good sign for the future and those updates should also help us in the future races this year. Fernando was fifth again! I ve often ended up fifth in qualifying, but I think that today s result can be seen in a different light as I enjoyed myself a lot out on track, both in the quick parts and the slower ones. So far, this weekend has been very positive as I had a good feeling from the car right from the first lap of free practice. Unfortunately, the typhoon expected tomorrow is creating a bit of tension, because over the past two days, we haven t done any wet running and having to do the opening lap of the race itself in the rain always complicates matters "Currently, we don t know how much rain we can expect, so all we can do is prepare for a difficult race, because Suzuka is a circuit where, even in the dry, incidents can occur and it s easy to make mistakes. Before qualifying, Red Bull team boss Horner reckoned third row was the best the team could expect. Ricciardo delivered; Vettel didn t. Daniel was pleased to bounce back after his frustrating P2 crash the day before: I'm happy with how we bounced back in qualifying after my mistake yesterday, I thought we would be better here, but I think sixth is realistically what we could do today. If it rains tomorrow then we should be looking a bit better." And team boss Horner suggested that Red Bull was a team looking to Sunday: "On face value, sixth and ninth aren't exactly stellar grid positions but, with the decision on set-up that we made for tomorrow's race due to the inevitability of rain at some point, hopefully that will pay dividends tomorrow. We will see in 24 hours. The other member of the Top Ten Club was McLaren, with its drivers ultimately split by mere hudredths. Eric Boullier summed up the team s day: "Today we were able to build on the positive developmental work we did yesterday in FP1 and, in particular, FP2, and the result was a workmanlike P7 for Kevin and P8 for Jenson. Kevin was unhappy with his Q3 lap, feeling that he made a couple of errors that cost him a couple of tenths or more. Nonetheless, he has given another very good account of himself, all the more so when you consider that rookies usually struggle to get to grips with the myriad complexities of Suzuka. "Jenson, too, was less than fully satisfied with his Q3 performance, posting a lap 0.075s slower than Kevin's. Having said that, from their P7 and P8 grid slots, both Kevin and Jenson are well placed to score world championship points in tomorrow's race, whether or not it's rain-affected, as in truth we expect it to be." Not a likely huge guide to race-day, then, considering the forecast. Either way, no-one was going to beat Mercedes, but the rest seemed wide open. th QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION th 28

F1 >>> JAPAN Regulation 1-2 Rain or shine, the race at Suzuka was for third. Dominance in the dry in qualifying was reflected, even more so, in the race, with the Williamses falling away and any challenge from the Red Bull duo coming from too far back. Lewis reflected the concern among the entire grid when he spoke post-race: "Our first thoughts go to Jules it overshadows everything else when one of our colleagues is injured and we are praying for him. Next to this, the race result doesn't seem significant at all. Nico and I had a tough battle, we were pushing really hard. I had a big moment at Turn 1 when I was too late getting off the DRS as I was just pushing so hard, but fortunately I was able to get back on track. The conditions were difficult throughout but I had more pace than Nico today and could follow him quite comfortably in the early stages. This is not an easy circuit for following another car or for overtaking, but he made a mistake out of the last corner and I was able to pass. The whole approach then needed to change to look after the tyres and make sure I stayed in the lead until the end of the race. But like I said, that's not what matters today; our thoughts are with Jules." Rosberg concurred on all accounts: "My thoughts are with our colleague Jules and his family and team-mates, and we are hoping for some positive news. Today was a really tough race with the wet conditions. I struggled a lot with the balance of my car on the intermediate tyres, so I had to push hard to keep Lewis behind me. I had a lot of oversteering, which is why the rear end of my car was very nervous. That was really strange and I didn't have the necessary confidence in the corners; we need to look into that in the next few days. It meant that Lewis was quicker today and deserved the win. It was damage limitation with losing only seven points to him. For the team it was a good result with another one-two." 29

F1 >>> JAPAN Best of the rest A move up to third and fourth was a strong race-day result for Red Bull, but there was little joy afterwards: "Right now we're all thinking about Bianchi and that's the biggest concern for us, said Daniel Ricciardo. We heard he had a pretty big crash and it's not nice when we don't know if the driver is okay. The race was tricky, it wasn't going too badly and the set-up we had for yesterday paid off. We tried a few different things with the strategy, but Bianchi is my main concern at the moment." Sebastian Vettel had gambled on a late-race tyre stop when the Safety Car appeared, but the subsequent red flag, with the race result taken back to the lap before, meant that he held on to the last podium spot: Yeah, obviously we didn t know what happened. The Safety Car came out and I think we were aware that Adrian went off in Turn 7 and obviously it was difficult to see what happened after that. From a racing point of view, the Safety Car comes out and we saw that there was quite a good gap and so we decided to pit and lost only one position. Obviously, as it turned out with the red flag, we thought initially we were not on the podium, but as the rules are similar to... I think a little bit of confusion. I don t think it really matters. I think the most important thing, as we re all probably thinking, is that we hope the best for Jules, obviously currently not in the best shape but we hope that we get some very good news very soon. 30

F1 >>> JAPAN Dry weather fans That the Williams car is at its best in the dry became even more clear on race day, as the Williams duo were unable to match the McLarens or Red Bulls for wet weather speed. Ultimately, sixth and seventh was a solid reward for plugging on "It was not an easy race for us today, reported Valtteri Bottas. However we still got some points which is good. The car wasn't great in the wet but we made the most of the strategy and extracted what we could. We are missing pace in the corners and so conceded a lot of time. It was a surprise to see the Red Bull so quick, in the dry we would have fared better. I really hope Jules is okay after the incident and that it is nothing serious." Felipe Massa expressed similar concern: "The race was very difficult today, I suffered at the start with aquaplaning and towards the end it started to get dark as the rain fell again. The Red Bulls were too fast for us today, especially on the intermediate tyre, so there was no chance we could defend. My main focus at the moment is that Jules is okay though." 31

F1 >>> JAPAN Wet weather fans After a difficult Saturday, Force India made progress, both drivers scoring points after solid drives: "Up until the final laps my race was going pretty well: I had good pace and a good feeling with the car, reported Nico Hulkenberg after finishing eighth. We made some progress early on, pitted late and we were able to jump a few cars in the first stop. I can't say it was a very eventful afternoon for me; I was on my own for most of the time. The conditions were pretty difficult right from the start: visibility was pretty poor, even if you were in the first half of the pack. It was probably the same for everyone because it's always a challenge in the wet. When the final Safety Car came out we decided to pit again as I had already been out on those tyres for a long time and I needed new rubber to finish the race. I am happy to get points after a difficult Saturday; we made up for it today. Suzuka is a difficult track to race on in the wet because there are lots of places where you can aquaplane and have a moment. I didn't see what happened in the accident that ended the race, but I hope Jules is OK." Sergio Perez, 10th, concurred: "The conditions were very difficult today. When we started the race I could not even see the car ahead of me. To begin with, it was just a race to avoid aquaplaning and trying to keep the car on the track because the visibility was very poor. Our strategy was working quite well, but I think we were unlucky to make our final stop, which dropped me down a couple of positions. Like everybody my thoughts are with Jules and I hope we hear some good news soon." 32

F1 >>> JAPAN Quiet achiever Perhaps the unseen drive of the day was that at the end is a great achievement. of Jean-Eric Vergne. Confined to a back-row Today, in such racing conditions, it was start thanks to a sixth engine change, JEV really difficult not to make mistakes, while drove through the filed to score points, in an driving as fast as possible, trying to be quick, impressive ninth: but I believe that myself and the team did an "I was very happy about my race until I excellent job." was informed about Jules' accident. Getting Team Principal Franz Tost summed up the some news about him is all that matters at day: the moment. As for myself, starting from the "Our drivers' performance in the Grand Prix back of the grid and ending up in the points seems secondary today, as we all await news of Bianchi's condition. We scored another two points, which is quite positive for the team. Jean-Eric Vergne started from the back of the grid because of our sixth engine change, which meant for him a 10 grid positions penalty. However, he showed a very good performance, driving a fantastic race, catching up and finishing in the ninth position. Without the red flag I reckon he would have finished in an even better position but nevertheless to score points is really a great result for him and the team. Daniil Kvyat was also always within the points but unfortunately we called him in just before the Safety Car was deployed, so he lost some positions. Even though he managed to overtake Raikkonen, this was not enough to score the points that he deserved. 33

F1 >>> JAPAN Looking for positives Despite being out of the race from virtually the start, Fernando Alonso, as usual, had some salient comments after the race: "It was a real shame losing the opportunity to take part in this race because, with nothing to lose in terms of the championship, I could have taken a few more risks and maybe aimed for the podium. I still don't know what caused the unfortunate technical problem, only that suddenly, the car lost all its electrics, maybe down to a short circuit caused by the rain. Now, in the four remaining races, the priority is still to pick up as many points as possible, because we are still aiming for third place in the constructors' classification. On that front, it could be good that we can count on using this engine which did hardly any distance today, thus not having to use a new one which would mean starting one of the remaining races from the pit lane. However, the only good news we want right now relates to Jules Bianchi. I hope that we hear very soon that he's alright." For his part, Kimi probably wishes his car had failed on the rolling laps too. It wasn t a good day: "Overall, this was a very disappointing weekend. I had set-up problems right from the first day and again today in the race I didn't manage to drive the way I would have liked. After the start behind the Safety Car, the track conditions were pretty atrocious and visibility was very poor, but my car was handling okay. Then, when the rain eased, I fitted the intermediate tyres, but after a few laps, they were no longer up to temperature and they began to give me problems at the front end, which meant I had to slow down. Now, we will try and resolve this problem as quickly as possible and aim to improve, starting with the very next race, but more importantly right now, let's hope we get some good news about Jules Bianchi soon." BELOW Fernando's main contribution came in qualifying fifth again... 34

FORMULA 1 Round 14 JAPANESE GP F1 >>> JAPAN Pos # Driver Team Laps Time Grid 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 1:51:43.021 2 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +9.1 secs 1 3 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +29.1 secs 9 4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +38.8 secs 6 5 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +67.5 secs 8 6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 +113.7 secs 3 7 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 +115.1 secs 4 8 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 +115.9 secs 13 9 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 44 +127.6 secs 20 10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 11 11 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 43 +1 Lap 12 12 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 10 13 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 15 14 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 7 15 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 16 16 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 22 17 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17 18 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 21 19 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 19 20 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 41 Accident 18 21 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 40 Accident 14 Ret 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2 Electronics Points Drivers: Hamilton, 266 Rosberg 256, Ricciardo 193, Vettel 139, Alonso 133, Bottas 130, Button 82, Hulkenberg 76, Massa 71, Perez 46, Raikkonen 45, Magnussen 39, Vergne 21, Grosjean 8, Kvyat 8, Bianchi 2. Manufacturers: Mercedes 522, Red Bull 332, Williams 201, Ferrari 178, Force India 122, McLaren 121, Toro Rosso 29, Lotus 8, Marussia 2. 35

TECHNICAL F1 >>> JAPAN Anyone who thinks Merc are sitting on their hands needed to watch qualifying at Suzuka... TECHNICAL PAOLO FILISETTI Technical Editor Passing from Singapore to Suzuka in terms of kind of track it is like talking of another planet the Japanese track is one of the most technical on the calendar and features almost every kind of corner that a driver may encounter in his career. Together with Spa, Suzuka forms the university of F1 tracks. That said, it is important to note that this time the real performance of the cars was only possible to be seen and measured in qualifying, due to the terrible weather conditions that disrupted the race. Our analysis however allowed us to note some elements that affected the performance of certain cars in the race, notably the two Red Bulls. In qualifying the most striking outcome was the gap that the two Mercedes were able to build against their competitors. The W05 hybrid in fact was able to set lap times around two seconds faster than any other car. After the Singapore race, we were almost sure that in Japan the dominance of the Silver Arrows would have been more evident, but honestly it was a shock to see that the pace of these two cars was dramatically faster than any direct competitor, Red Bull included. Notwithstanding their clear dominance this season, Mercedes brought to Suzuka huge changes to the car in fact a revised diffuser, different rear bodywork and monkey seat, were among the changes we were able to note in the pit lane. These developments are not just related to the current performance instead it is an introduction to some elements that will be refined before becoming part of the 2015 project. In the remaining races, included the last one in Abu Dhabi, new parts will be introduced and will be available to both drivers, of course. Besides Mercedes, one of the main protagonists of this weekend was Red Bull. The Milton Keynes- SUZUKA QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS T1 TIME ANALYSIS RANGE 32,914(ROS) 34,016(RAI) QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS T1 SPEED ANALYSIS RANGE 285,0Kmh(ROS) 290,5 KMH(MAS) T1 SPEED 1 HAM ROS 34.5 ALO RAI 34 33.5 33 VET HAM ROS 291 ALO RAI 286 281 VET 32.5 T1 276 SPEED 1 BOT RIC BOT RIC MAS MAG MAS MAG BUT BUT 36

TECHNICAL F1 >>> JAPAN based team in fact adopted a qualifyingstrategy in favour of the race, taking into consideration the variable weather conditions that would be featured during the race. The team decided in fact to sacrifice part of the qualifying performance, by adopting a wet set up useful in the race. This obviously reflected in the lap times set by Ricciardo and Vettel, but it is even more visible in the sector analysis, where the two RB10 showed not just slow sector times, but also low top speed due to the particular set-up chosen. The difference in terms of top speed cost them a gap of 14kmh from the fastest cars, notably the Williams of Bottas and Massa. Another interesting data outcome concerned the Ferrari F14T, which demonstrated itself once again to be in deep trouble at such a kind of track, in dry conditions. In fact the negative performance seen during qualifying could have been easily overturned during the race, notably by Alonso, if an electric problem had not stopped him after just two laps. The Italian car, that showed some encouraging signs in Singapore, is still suffering in terms of lack of top speed performance and stability in the fast corners. At this stage of the season, new developments (apart from those expected to specifically suit some features of the track of the remaining races) are unlikely to be seen. The Italian team is trying to limit damage till the end of the season, even though a track like Sochi next week could represent an interesting opportunity for a better showing. Even though the layout of the Russian track looks faster compared to Singapore, we can see that there are many similarities between these two tracks, hence the F14T could be more competitive. One element in favour will be the brakes. Even though he ambient temperature of Sochi is not comparable to Singapore, the brake temperature could be generally high. Apart from two long straights, there will be a series of corners featuring an array of short accelerations and braking, that could easily raise the disc and pad temperatures. Of course this isn t a dramatic problems for some teams, but it is pretty certain that many cars will feature increased brake cooling inlets, hence partially spoiling their aero efficiency. Expect some interesting experiments by Red Bull and Mercedes, notably related to their front end and to their rear wings. We will keep you updated in one week s time. Arigato for now! QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS SECTOR T2 Time analysis RANGE 41,494(ROS) 42,423(VET) QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS Sector T2 Speed analysis range 302,0 kmh(ric) 316,9Kmh (BOT) SPEED 2 ROS 42.5 ALO T2 42.2 RAI 41.9 ROS HA M 41.6 41.3 41 VET T2 HAM 317 ALO 314 RAI 311 308 305 302 VET SPEED 2 BOT RIC BOT RIC MAS MA G MAS MAG BUT BUT 37

TECHNICAL QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS Sector T3 Time analysis RANGE 18,038(ROS) 18,306(RIC) T3 QUALIFYING SECTOR ANALYSIS Sector T3 Speed analysis range 231,7Kmh(ROS) 248,2 kmh(ham) FINISH LINE F1 >>> JAPAN ROS 18.4 ALO RAI 18.3 ROS 275 ALO 273 RAI HA M 18.2 18.1 18 VET T3 HAM 271 269 267 265 VET FINISH LINE BOT RIC BOT RIC MAS BUT QUALIFYING ANALYSIS Speed Trap RANGE KMH 300,9(RIC) 315,1(BOT) Top Speed MA G MAS BUT RACE ANALYSIS ResulZng drag level(cx) DRAG MAG HAM ROS 316 ALO RAI 312 308 304 300 VET Top Speed BOT HAM MAS BUT MAG RIC BOT RIC ALO VET MAS BUT MAG RAI ROS 38

Artem Markelov christened the Sochi circuit two weeks ago with his Russian Time GP2 car F1 fires up there in four days time... PARTING SHOT