2007 Japanese Grand Prix

2007 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous←	2007 Belgian Grand Prix
Round	15 of 2007
Next→	2007 Chinese Grand Prix
Fuji Speedway
Race Details
Date	30 September, 2007
Race Number	783
Official Name	XXXIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix XXXIII フジテレビ日本グランプリ
Location	Fuji Speedway Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.563 km (2.835 mi)
Distance	67 laps, 305.721 km (189.966 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:25.368
Fastest Lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:28.193 on lap 27
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Heikki Kovalainen
Third	Kimi Räikkönen
Lap Leaders

The 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, formally known as the XXXIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix (XXXIII フジテレビ日本グランプリ in Japanese) was the fifteenth round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The race, which was the first Grands Prix to be held at the Toyota owned facility since 1977, would see Lewis Hamilton claim victory for McLaren-Mercedes.

Qualifying had been staged on a soaked but drying circuit, and would see Hamilton edge out teammate and rival Fernando Alonso for pole position by 0.070s. Fellow title protagonists Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa would share the second row for Ferrari, while Nico Rosberg was the best placed Toyota engined driver in sixth.

The rain returned with a vengeance on raceday, with the race having to be started behind the Safety Car if it was going to start at all. Indeed, there was so much water on track that everyone bar the Ferraris would start on extreme wet Bridgestone tyres, the Scuderia having gambled that the rain would ease off early on.

That gamble backfired spectacularly, as both Räikkönen and Massa had to pit for extremes, with Räikkönen even spinning while catching the field, while Massa stopped a second time. Vitantonio Liuzzi, meanwhile, would lose a lap after an issue on the grid put him in the pitlane, resulting in him being given permission to unlap himself by the FIA as a means of testing the conditions.

Ultimately, Bernd Mayländer would remain out on track until the end of lap nineteen, finally releasing the field to finally race in earnest. Hamilton duly eased away from teammate Alonso as the field slithered into the first corner, while Sebastian Vettel danced his way past Nick Heidfeld for third.

Heidfeld was left to collide with a lunging Jenson Button a few moments later, allowing Mark Webber to slot into fourth despite the fact that he was battling food poisoning. Massa, meanwhile, would find himself whacking a spinning Alexander Wurz at the back of the field, although the Brazilian was able to continue.

The race soon settled down with Alonso chasing Hamilton but unable to match the Brit's pace through to the first round of stops. The Spaniard was the first to stop with McLaren switching him to a one-stop strategy, although that would dump him back down to seventh behind a battling quartet of Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki Kovalainen, Robert Kubica and David Coulthard.

Hamilton pitted on the following tour and managed to get out of the pits ahead of the group, briefly handing the lead to Vettel, who became the youngest ever driver to lead a race aged 20 years, 89 days). Alonso's bid for victory was ended with that one-stopping queue ahead, with the #1 McLaren soon falling behind Heidfeld and Vettel after the German rookie's stop.

Moments later and Alonso's race was over, the McLaren spinning into the barriers to bring out the Safety Car. This allowed those yet to stop to dive into the pits once the pits opened, although not before Kubica had given Hamilton a scare with a penalty earning whack for the lead.

In the midst of the SC Webber, running in second, would be removed from the race by Vettel, who smashed into the back of the Red Bull-Renault having been blinded by the spray. Once their debris was cleared the race resumed, with the race quickly sprinting past the crucial 75% distance mark that meant that those that finished could earn full points.

Late changes to the field saw Räikkönen charge through to third to complete the podium behind Kovalainen, as Hamilton swept across the line to secure victory. Fourth went to Coulthard ahead of Fisichella, Massa rose as high as third before making a fourth trip to the pits late on and hence finished fifth, while Kubica and Adrian Sutil secured the remaining points.

The results of the race meant that Hamilton established a twelve point lead over Alonso with two races to go, while Räikkönen would slip seventeen off the lead. Elsewhere, Sutil secured his and Spyker-Ferrari's maiden points finish, while Kovalainen picked up his maiden podium finish.

Background

Victory for Kimi Räikkönen moved the Finn back into title contention leaving Belgium, although Räikkönen still faced a thirteen point deficit with three races to go. That made him the "dark horse" for the title, as Lewis Hamilton continued to lead the charge ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard had, however, managed to close the Brit's advantage to just two points as the European season came to an end, with fourth placed Felipe Massa set to fall out of the fight if he failed to outscore Hamilton in Fuji.

With McLaren-Mercedes having been excluded Ferrari had a clean shot at claiming the Constructors Championship in Spa, and they duly took it, a one-two leaving them on 161 points. BMW Sauber hence had to settle for second in the Championship with three rounds to go, leaving most of the intrigue in the fight for third. That was to be contest by Renault and Williams-Toyota, with Red Bull-Renault and Toyota realistically too far back to challenge.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Fernando Alonso	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
3	Giancarlo Fisichella	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
4	Heikki Kovalainen	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
5	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
7	Jenson Button	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
11	Ralf Schumacher	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
12	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
15	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
16	Nico Rosberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
17	Alexander Wurz	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
19	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
20	Adrian Sutil	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII-B	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
21	Sakon Yamamoto	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII-B	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		4	1:25.489		1	1:24.753		1	1:25.368	1
2	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes		2	1:25.379		2	1:24.806		2	1:25.438	2
3	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		3	1:25.390		3	1:24.988		3	1:25.516	3
4	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		1	1:25.359		4	1:25.049		4	1:25.765	4
5	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		6	1:25.971		5	1:25.248		5	1:26.505	5
6*	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		8	1:26.579		9	1:25.816		6	1:26.728	15
7	7	Jenson Button	Honda		9	1:26.614		6	1:25.454		7	1:26.913	6
8	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		5	1:25.970		8	1:25.535		8	1:26.914	7
9	19	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		7	1:26.025		10	1:25.909		9	1:26.973	8
10	10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber		8	1:26.300		7	1:25.530		10	1:27.225	9
11	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		13	1:26.909		11	1:26.033				10
12	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault		15	1:27.223		12	1:26.232				11
13	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault		12	1:26.904		13	1:26.247				12
14	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		11	1:26.711		14	1:26.711				13
15	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		16	1:27.234		15	1:26.948				PL
16†	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota		14	1:27.191		16	—				14
17	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		17	1:27.323							16
18	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota		18	1:27.454							17
19	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda		19	1:27.564							18
20	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari		20	1:28.628							19
21	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		21	1:28.762							20
22	21	Sakon Yamamoto	Spyker-Ferrari		22	1:29.668							21
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * During Friday morning practice Williams changed Nico Rosberg's engine, resulting in a 10 place grid penalty.
• ^† Ralf Schumacher didn't set a time in Q2 due to a collision with Sakon Yamamoto at the end of Q1.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lewis Hamilton	2
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 2	3	______________
	Kimi Räikkönen	4
	______________	Felipe Massa
Row 3	5	______________
	Nick Heidfeld	6
	______________	Jenson Button
Row 4	7	______________
	Mark Webber	8
	______________	Sebastian Vettel
Row 5	9	______________
	Robert Kubica	10
	______________	Giancarlo Fisichella
Row 6	11	______________
	Heikki Kovalainen	12
	______________	David Coulthard
Row 7	13	______________
	Jarno Trulli	14
	______________	Ralf Schumacher
Row 8	15	______________
	Nico Rosberg	16
	______________	Rubens Barrichello
Row 9	17	______________
	Alexander Wurz	18
	______________	Anthony Davidson
Row 10	19	______________
	Adrian Sutil	20
	______________	Takuma Sato
Row 11	21	______________
	Sakon Yamamoto	22
	______________	Vitantonio Liuzzi*

• * Vitantonio Liuzzi opted for a dry set-up for the race which meant he started the race from the pit-lane.

Race

Results

The full results for the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	67	2:00:34.579	1	10
2	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	67	+8.377s	11	8
3	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	67	+9.478s	3	6
4	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	67	+20.297s	12	5
5	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	67	+38.864s	10	4
6	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+49.042s	4	3
7	10	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	67	+49.285s	9	2
8	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	67	+1:00.129	19	1
9*	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+1:20.622	PL
10	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	67	+ 1:28.342	16
11†	7	Jenson Button	Honda	66	Suspension	6
12	21	Sakon Yamamoto	Spyker-Ferrari	66	+1 Lap	21
13	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	66	+1 Lap	13
14†	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	65	Wheel	5
15*	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	65	Accident	20
Ret	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	55	Tyre	14
Ret	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	54	Hydraulics	18
Ret	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	49	Gearbox	15
Ret‡	19	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	46	Collision	8
Ret	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	45	Collision	7
Ret	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	41	Accident	2
Ret	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	19	Collision	17
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
• * Liuzzi was given a 25 second time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.
• ^† Button, Heidfeld and Sato were still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.
• ^‡ Vettel was initially handed a ten place grid penalty for the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix but this was retroactively reduced to a reprimand.

Milestones

• First Grand Prix to be held at the Fuji Speedway since the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix.
• Fourth career victory for Lewis Hamilton.
  • Hamilton also secured his maiden Hattrick.
• McLaren secured their 156th win as a constructor.
  • Mercedes registered their 61st win as an engine supplier.
• Maiden podium finish for Heikki Kovalainen.
  • This was also the 90th podium finish for a Renault chassis.
• Maiden points finish for Adrian Sutil.
  • Also the first and only points finish for Spyker as a constructor.
• Hamilton recorded the 75th fastest lap for a driver issued with #2 as their race number.

Standings

Victory for Lewis Hamilton moved the Brit a significant twelve points clear in the Championship hunt leaving Japan, meaning he could potentially claim the title in China. Indeed, should the Brit outscore Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen in Shanghai, then Hamilton would become the first rookie to win the F1 Championship since the inaugural 1950 Championship. However, it was still a three-horse race for the crown, with Alonso having the experience of winning two World Championships, while Räikkönen was the dark horse in third.

In the Constructors Championship Ferrari had enhanced their title winning advantage, leaving Fuji with 78 points in hand over second placed BMW Sauber. The excluded McLaren-Mercedes would have been a clear first on 202 points had they not been thrown out of the Championship, and so could have claimed the crown in China. Elsewhere, Renault had all but secured third ahead of Williams-Toyota, leaving them to fend off Red Bull-Renault and Toyota in a fight for fourth.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 107 — 2 Fernando Alonso 95 — 3 Kimi Räikkönen 90 — 4 Felipe Massa 80 — 5 Nick Heidfeld 56 — 6 Robert Kubica 35 — 7 Heikki Kovalainen 30 — 8 Giancarlo Fisichella 21 — 9 Nico Rosberg 15 — 10 Alexander Wurz 13 — 11 David Coulthard 13 ▲1 12 Mark Webber 10 ▼1 13 Jarno Trulli 7 — 14 Ralf Schumacher 5 — 15 Takuma Sato 4 — 16 Jenson Button 2 — 17 Adrian Sutil 1 ▲5 18 Sebastian Vettel 1 —

World Championship for Constructors* Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Ferrari 170 — 2 BMW Sauber 92 — 3 Renault 51 — 4 Williams-Toyota 28 — 5 Red Bull-Renault 23 — 6 Toyota 12 — 7 Super Aguri-Honda 4 — 8 Honda 2 — 9 Spyker-Ferrari 1 ▲1 EXC McLaren-Mercedes 166 —

Only points scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

• * Includes points scored by McLaren-Mercedes before their exclusion prior to the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.

References

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