First of all let me appologise for the totally messed up schedule since the time difference is huge and physically I wasn't there while mentally I was.
Suzuka weekend was an interesting one. And, yes, I hope you have missed my blogs since I couldn't update you with Sepang one (it will go live just after this one). So let's get right into what happened in Japan.
1. Lewis on his knees
Let me take a moment to appreciate gratitude shown by Lewis after the race. Here I am not only talking about his words that he owns everything to the team as they were meticulous but mainly his after race actions. Yes, he just fell on his knees in front of his car and bowed his head. This moment became even more emotional since we've heard the team's radio at the very end of the race when Lewis' racing engineer said: "I think that was engine".
Yes, Lewis got some real problems at the very end of the race where he had an amazing start and a few good restarts (SC and VSC). Max who had such an amazing start with a few good moves as well could even overtake three-time World Champion if he had a few more laps. Red Bull number 33 definitely had better pace, I mean he had been regaining about 2 seconds from each of his final laps. Well, that is not a surprise since Mercedes has installed the fourth engine in Spa (X races ago) to keep burning the same amount of oil for more races than Ferrari.
By the way, Lewis added one more pole to his career statistics and finally made it on Suzuka (since it was the only track in current calendar where he had no poles yet). As well as he set a new track record here (1.27.319) which wasn't beaten since 2006 (Schumacher, yes) I bet. So Mercedes was lucky enough to bring their car back to life (they were even faster on softs than everyone on supersofts in FP3) and to get some really good points on the tracks no one expect them to while Ferrari were loosing more and more.
2. Ferrari on its worse
On the contrary, Ferrari problems became kind of a surprise for everyone. Third time in row. Who expected Seb not to fight against Lewis in all three asian races. After struggling almost the whole weekend and being fast just on Friday while everyone expected that the higher temperature must work better for the red cars Seb had to retire in the very beginning of the race having technical problems.
The sequence of misfortune for both Ferraris kept going after Kimi crushed in FP3 causing second red flags in a row and got the gearbox change and 5-position grid penalty. He also couldn't make a good start and even lost a few positions being out in a "spoon" turn at the beginning but at the end of the day managed to finish P5 still. Though it does't make sense at all since Ferrari is not fighting for Constructors Cup anymore being so far from Mercedes (145 points) and he is not an opponent for Lewis nor on the grid nor in the Championship.
Sadly for Seb the time when everyone expected problems for Mercedes became the time when Ferrari became the one to struggle the most.
3. Valtteri is back?
Yes, that is THE question. As Mercedes got their pace back (finally) at Suzuka being so weak in Singapore and Sepang (here I mean the condition and not the race points) and made the updates work (at least a few of them) Valtteri is still struggling to make it closer to his teammate. After Malaysia Valtteri had to admit that all the races after the summer break weren't his best time. Having such problems pilots usually start complaining about the car, the updates, the tyres, the team and whatever but Valtteri admitted that it was just his fault as his piloting style is not that much suitable for Mercedes and he needs to change it. Wow.
As Mercedes was back on top of FPs Valtteri managed not only to set the best time in FP3 (and in the race too) but to crush his car causing more red flags on Suzuka and got the 5-place grid penalty as well. So qualifying P2 and starting P7 Valtteri almost overtook Daniel at the very end of the race which smiley Australian described as "we were almost holding hands". But it wasn't a double podium for Mercedes while it was for Red Bull.
Although, Lewis again asked the team to put him in front of Valtteri as it was a few times throughout this season and Valtteri showed himself as a perfect team player nevertheless it was too obvious for everyone else. Here I must shortly mention close situation in Force India where Checo was not happy with Esteban in front and asked the team about overtaking. As he received the negative answer he claimed that youngster was too slow and had to pick up his pace. Just saying.
4. Bulls are getting stronger
From race to race we can see how Red Bulls climb higher. Firstly Christian Horner claimed that they are going to become closer to Ferrari at the end of the season but in fact they are closer to Mercedes now and better than Ferrari (no offends to any Ferrari fans). Double podium in Malaysia and double podium in Japan and we are getting used to see on the podium not just Daniel but Max as well - as a winner at Sepang and as a challenger to Lewis at Suzuka.
As Max was challenging Lewis and Daniel was challenged by Valtteri the team was happy enough with second race without DNFs for them and with Renault engine itself. Thanks God.
5. Carlos says goodbye to Toro Rosso while Jolyon says goodbye to Formula 1
While the main team becoming more and more stable Red Bull youth team Toro Rosso keeps undergoing some huge changes. After Daniil was replaced by debutant French driver Pierre at Sepang for both Malaysia and Japan another emotional announcement came by. Carlos who was about to go on loan to Renault next season is leaving the team right before Austin which means both Pierre and Daniil are to race in the United States. It also means that Jolyon is not staying in Formula 1 anymore as there is no any place in other teams (except William short list which Jolyon is not in).
Both these situations are emotional enough. Unfortunately the last race for their teams didn't end up well for both pilots as Carlos crushed his car twice this weekend: firstly in FP1 causing red flags and getting 20-position grid penalty and secondly in the race causing yellow flags and safety car and had to retire and Jolyon got 20-position grid penalty and finished just P12 not gaining any points. Farewell to Jolyon and good luck to Carlos and his new team in Austin.
6. What's more
What is more about this weekend is that we saw very diverse rain conditions from normal on slicks to rainy on wets on Friday and back to normal on slicks on Saturday. As the whole FP2 was too rainy we saw just five pilots showing times on wets with HUGE aquaplaning for brave Esteban and Lance but many different boats on the pit-lane :)
We also were unfortunate enough to see Fernando going to the back of the grid at Honda home track getting 35-position penalty in front of amazing Japanese crowd. We were also unfortunate to see how Pierre, Lance, Marcus and Pascal were denied a chance to show better times and were out in Q3 after Roman crushed and caused red flags.
Still, we were fortunate to see Esteban making a great move and pretending to grab a podium for a while driving P3 after starting P6 which was amazing for the youngster. Marcus' crush, more yellow flags, virtual safety car, tough fight in the middle of the grid between Felipe, Kevin, Roman, Nico and Pierre, Nico's retirement because of the stuck DRS and Lance's retirement because of understear problems, curbs and edginess pushed hard - that what was the race about out of the Mercedes-Ferrari fight ruined by Red Bulls.
I hope you enjoyed this race as well as this blog. And, yes, Lewis might become a champion in Austin but let's talk about this later!
I will see you in my old-new blogpost on Sepang coming by. Stay tuned :)
