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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.[1][2] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[2]

Ultimately, Bernd Mayländer would remain out on track until the end of lap nineteen, finally releasing the field to finally race in earnest.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2] Massa, meanwhile, would find himself whacking a spinning Alexander Wurz at the back of the field, although the Brazilian was able to continue.[2]

The race soon settled down with Alonso chasing Hamilton but unable to match the Brit's pace through to the first round of stops.[2] 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.[2]

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).[2] 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.[2]

Moments later and Alonso's race was over, the McLaren spinning into the barriers to bring out the Safety Car.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2] 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.[2]

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 Spain Fernando Alonso United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 B
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 B
3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella France ING Renault F1 Team Renault R27 Renault RS27 2.4 V8 B
4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen France ING Renault F1 Team Renault R27 Renault RS27 2.4 V8 B
5 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F2007 Ferrari 056 2007 2.4 V8 B
6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F2007 Ferrari 056 2007 2.4 V8 B
7 United Kingdom Jenson Button Japan Honda Racing F1 Team Honda RA107 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 B
8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Japan Honda Racing F1 Team Honda RA107 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 B
9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber F1 Team BMW Sauber F1.07 BMW P86/7 2.4 V8 B
10 Poland Robert Kubica Germany BMW Sauber F1 Team BMW Sauber F1.07 BMW P86/7 2.4 V8 B
11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Japan Panasonic Toyota Racing Toyota TF107 Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 B
12 Italy Jarno Trulli Japan Panasonic Toyota Racing Toyota TF107 Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 B
14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB3 Renault RS27 2.4 V8 B
15 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB3 Renault RS27 2.4 V8 B
16 Germany Nico Rosberg United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams FW29 Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 B
17 Austria Alexander Wurz United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams FW29 Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 B
18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR2 Ferrari 056 2006 2.4 V8 B
19 Germany Sebastian Vettel Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR2 Ferrari 056 2006 2.4 V8 B
20 Germany Adrian Sutil Netherlands Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team Spyker F8-VII-B Ferrari 056 2006 2.4 V8 B
21 Japan Sakon Yamamoto Netherlands Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team Spyker F8-VII-B Ferrari 056 2006 2.4 V8 B
22 Japan Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri F1 Team Super Aguri SA07 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 B
23 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Japan Super Aguri F1 Team Super Aguri SA07 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 B
Source:[3]

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Q1[]

Q2[]

Q3[]

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 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 4 1:25.489 1 1:24.753 1 1:25.368 1
2 1 Spain Fernando Alonso United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 2 1:25.379 2 1:24.806 2 1:25.438 2
3 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Italy Ferrari 3 1:25.390 3 1:24.988 3 1:25.516 3
4 5 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 1 1:25.359 4 1:25.049 4 1:25.765 4
5 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 6 1:25.971 5 1:25.248 5 1:26.505 5
6* 16 Germany Nico Rosberg United Kingdom Williams-Toyota 8 1:26.579 9 1:25.816 6 1:26.728 15
7 7 United Kingdom Jenson Button Japan Honda 9 1:26.614 6 1:25.454 7 1:26.913 6
8 15 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 5 1:25.970 8 1:25.535 8 1:26.914 7
9 19 Germany Sebastian Vettel Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7 1:26.025 10 1:25.909 9 1:26.973 8
10 10 Poland Robert Kubica Germany BMW Sauber 8 1:26.300 7 1:25.530 10 1:27.225 9
11 3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella France Renault 13 1:26.909 11 1:26.033 10
12 4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen France Renault 15 1:27.223 12 1:26.232 11
13 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Austria Red Bull-Renault 12 1:26.904 13 1:26.247 12
14 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Japan Toyota 11 1:26.711 14 1:26.711 13
15 18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16 1:27.234 15 1:26.948 PL
16 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Japan Toyota 14 1:27.191 16 14
17 8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Japan Honda 17 1:27.323 16
18 17 Austria Alexander Wurz United Kingdom Williams-Toyota 18 1:27.454 17
19 23 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Japan Super Aguri-Honda 19 1:27.564 18
20 20 Germany Adrian Sutil Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 20 1:28.628 19
21 22 Japan Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 21 1:28.762 20
22 21 Japan Sakon Yamamoto Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 22 1:29.668 21
Source:[4]
  • 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[]

Report[]

Results[]

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

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 67 2:00:34.579 1 10
2 4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen France Renault 67 +8.377s 11 8
3 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Italy Ferrari 67 +9.478s 3 6
4 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Austria Red Bull-Renault 67 +20.297s 12 5
5 3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella France Renault 67 +38.864s 10 4
6 5 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 67 +49.042s 4 3
7 10 Poland Robert Kubica Germany BMW Sauber 67 +49.285s 9 2
8 20 Germany Adrian Sutil Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 67 +1:00.129 19 1
9* 18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 67 +1:20.622 PL
10 8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Japan Honda 67 + 1:28.342 16
11 7 United Kingdom Jenson Button Japan Honda 66 Suspension 6
12 21 Japan Sakon Yamamoto Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 66 +1 Lap 21
13 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Japan Toyota 66 +1 Lap 13
14 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 65 Wheel 5
15* 22 Japan Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 65 Accident 20
Ret 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Japan Toyota 55 Tyre 14
Ret 23 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Japan Super Aguri-Honda 54 Hydraulics 18
Ret 16 Germany Nico Rosberg United Kingdom Williams-Toyota 49 Gearbox 15
Ret 19 Germany Sebastian Vettel Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 Collision 8
Ret 15 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 45 Collision 7
Ret 1 Spain Fernando Alonso United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 41 Accident 2
Ret 17 Austria Alexander Wurz United Kingdom Williams-Toyota 19 Collision 17
Source:[5]
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
  • * Liuzzi was given a 25 second time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.[5]
  • Button, Heidfeld and Sato were still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.[5]
  • Vettel was initially handed a ten place grid penalty for the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix but this was retroactively reduced to a reprimand.[2]

Milestones[]

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 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 107
2 Spain Fernando Alonso 95
3 Finland Kimi Räikkönen 90
4 Brazil Felipe Massa 80
5 Germany Nick Heidfeld 56
6 Poland Robert Kubica 35
7 Finland Heikki Kovalainen 30
8 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella 21
9 Germany Nico Rosberg 15
10 Austria Alexander Wurz 13
11 United Kingdom David Coulthard 13 ▲1
12 Australia Mark Webber 10 ▼1
13 Italy Jarno Trulli 7
14 Germany Ralf Schumacher 5
15 Japan Takuma Sato 4
16 United Kingdom Jenson Button 2
17 Germany Adrian Sutil 1 ▲5
18 Germany Sebastian Vettel 1
World Championship for Constructors*
Pos. Team Pts. +/-
1 Italy Ferrari 170
2 Germany BMW Sauber 92
3 France Renault 51
4 United Kingdom Williams-Toyota 28
5 Austria Red Bull-Renault 23
6 Japan Toyota 12
7 Japan Super Aguri-Honda 4
8 Japan Honda 2
9 Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 1 ▲1
EXC United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 166

Only points scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References[]

Images and Videos:

References:

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 '15. Stats 2007', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2007/japon.aspx, (Accessed 19/02/2020)
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 'Japan 2007: Fuji opens floodgates for Lewis.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 19/02/2020), https://www.crash.net/f1/race-report/60107/1/japan-2007-fuji-opens-floodgates-for-lewis, (Accessed 19/02/2020)
  3. 'Japan 2007: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2007/japon/engages.aspx, (Accessed 19/02/2020)
  4. '2007 FORMULA 1™ Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Limited, 2006), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2007/races/822/japan/qualifying.html, (Accessed 19/02/2020)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 'Japan 2007: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2007/japon/classement.aspx, (Accessed 19/02/2020)
  6. [Archived] '2007 Japanese GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2014), https://web.archive.org/web/20190410162902/http://chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=2007&gp=Japanese%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 19/02/2020) - Original
V T E Japan Japanese Grand Prix
Circuits Fuji (1976–1977, 2007–2008), Suzuka (1987–2006, 2009–present)
SuzukaCircuit2005
Races 197619771978–1986 • 19871988198919901991199219931994 • 19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
See also Pacific Grand Prix
V T E 2007 Formula One Season
Teams McLaren • Renault • Ferrari • Honda • BMW Sauber • Toyota • Red Bull • Williams • Toro Rosso • Spyker • Super Aguri
Engines BMW • Ferrari • Honda • Mercedes • Renault • Toyota
Drivers Alphabetically Albers • Alonso • Barrichello • Button • Coulthard • Davidson • Fisichella • Hamilton • Heidfeld • Kovalainen • Kubica • Liuzzi • Massa • Nakajima • Räikkönen • Rosberg • Sato • R. Schumacher • Speed • Sutil • Trulli • Vettel • Webber • Winkelhock • Wurz • Yamamoto
Drivers by Number Alonso • 2 Hamilton • 3 Fisichella • 4 Kovalainen • 5 Massa • 6 Räikkönen • 7 Button • 8 Barrichello • 9 Heidfeld • 10 Kubica • 10 Vettel • 11 R. Schumacher • 12 Trulli • 14 Coulthard • 15 Webber • 16 Rosberg • 17 Wurz • 17 Nakajima • 18 Liuzzi • 19 Speed • 19 Vettel • 20 Sutil • 21 Albers • 21 Winkelhock • 21 Yamamoto • 22 Sato • 23 Davidson
Other Drivers Badoer • De la Rosa • Doornbos • Fauzy • Gené • Glock • Karthikeyan • Klien • Kobayashi • Loeb • Montagny • Paffett • Piquet • Rossiter • M. Schumacher • Van der Garde • Zonta
Cars Ferrari F2007 • BMW Sauber F1.07 • Renault R27 • Williams FW29 • Red Bull RB3 • Toyota TF107 • Toro Rosso STR2 • Honda RA107 • Super Aguri SA07 • Spyker F8-VII • McLaren MP4-22
Tyres Bridgestone
Races Australia • Malaysia • Bahrain • Spain • Monaco • Canada • United States • France • Britain • Europe • Hungary • Turkey • Italy • Belgium • Japan • China • Brazil
See also 2006 Formula One Season • 2008 Formula One Season • Category
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