2010 Japanese Grand Prix

2010 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous←	2010 Singapore Grand Prix
Round	16 of 2010
Next→	2010 Korean Grand Prix
The 2005 layout of the Suzuka Circuit
Race Details
Date	10 October, 2010
Official Name	2010 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2010 F1日本グランプリ 2010 F1 nipponguranpuri
Location	Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.771 km (191.240 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:30.785
Fastest Lap
Driver	Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:33.474 on lap 53
Podium
First	Sebastian Vettel
Second	Mark Webber
Third	Fernando Alonso
Lap Leaders

The 2010 Japanese Grand Prix, formally known as the 2010 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix (alternately 2010 F1日本グランプリ or the 2010 F1 nipponguranpuri in Japanese) was the sixteenth race of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan, on 10 October 2010. The race would see Sebastian Vettel claim victory to enhance his bid for the Championship, as weather compacted the race weekend.

Indeed, a huge storm on Saturday would see qualifying postponed until Sunday (ie raceday) morning, the first time that this had happened since the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix. The otherwise unchanged but partially damp session would see Vettel beat teammate Mark Webber to pole position, while Lewis Hamilton initially claimed third before serving a five place grid penalty.

Four hours later the field assembled on the grid for the start, minus Lucas di Grassi who had crashed heavily on his way out of the pits and would hence be unable to start. Conditions were otherwise good and there was little to no chance of rain, with the entire top ten starting on the softer Bridgestone compounds.

The start itself would see Vettel sprint away to secure the lead, while the factory Renault of Robert Kubica pulled past Webber to secure second. The sister Renault of Vitaly Petrov also aced its getaway and vaulted past two entire rows, before getting caught out by a slow starting Williams-Cosworth of Nico Hülkenberg.

Indeed, having jinked to avoid another car, Petrov would clip the accelerating Williams, resulting in the Renault getting spun across the circuit and into the outside wall. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, would drop towards the back having had to avoid the collision ahead, before collecting Vitantonio Liuzzi at the first corner and sending both himself and the Force India-Mercedes into the gravel.

Four broken cars on the circuit ensured that the Safety Car was required to clear the circuit, with Vettel suddenly appearing with a huge gap behind him. Indeed, Kubica had suffered a wheel failure and stopped at the hairpin midway through the first lap, and hence meant that all five of the title pretenders would restart nose-to-tail.

At the restart Vettel would keep teammate Webber at bay to secure the lead, while Fernando Alonso fended off the attentions of both of the McLaren-Mercedes for third. Indeed, the two Red Bull-Renaults would scamper clear in the early laps after the restart, while Alonso, Button and Hamilton exchanged blows through to the first round of stops.

The stops would see status quo at the head of the field, although Alonso would escape from the two McLarens and get closer to the Red Bulls. Hamilton tried to go with him but lost third gear, hampering his pace, while Jenson Button was the last to stop and dropped to the back of the quintet, although he would quickly catch and pass the wounded Hamilton.

Elsewhere, Kamui Kobayashi made a succession of pounces to pass five drivers at the hairpin, and drew the ire of Jaime Alguersuari who hit the side of the BMW Sauber-Ferrari trying a late move to block. Adrian Sutil, meanwhile, would suffer an engine failure and dump oil at 130R, while Nico Rosberg pulled off at the Esses after a rear wheel came loose.

With that the race was run, with Vettel able to just keep Webber at bay to the chequered flag to claim victory, and a one-two for Red Bull. Alonso completed the podium having repulsed Button late on, while Hamilton was a distant fifth ahead of Michael Schumacher. A bruised Kobayashi was next ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, while Rubens Barrichello and Sébastien Buemi secured the remaining points.

Background

Weather Conditions
Practice 1	Cloudy
Practice 2	Cloudy
Practice 3	Rain
Qualifying	Sunny
Race	Sunny

Mark Webber had retained his lead in the Championship as a result of the Singapore Grand Prix, and would become the first driver to surpass 200 points in a single season courtesy of the new-for-2010 points system. His closest challenger appeared in the form of Fernando Alonso, eleven behind, while Lewis Hamilton was a further nine behind after slipping to third. Sebastian Vettel was next, a point behind the Brit, while Jenson Button was a further four behind in fifth.

In the Constructors Championship Red Bull-Renault had moved onto 383 points after a strong result, extending their lead to 24 points with four rounds to go. McLaren-Mercedes were their closest challengers, leaving Singapore on 359 points, while Ferrari had once again closed in, leaving on 319 points. Behind, Mercedes were out of the fight in fourth, and were hence in a fight for fourth with Renault for the rest of the season.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix is shown below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault	RS27-2010 2.4 V8	B
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault	RS27-2010 2.4 V8	B
7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
10	Nico Hülkenberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault	RS27-2010 2.4 V8	B
12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault	RS27-2010 2.4 V8	B
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes	FO 108X 2.4 V8	B
16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
20	Sakon Yamamoto	Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
21	Bruno Senna	Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
22	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari	056 2010 2.4 V8	B
24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
25	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth	CA2010 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault		1	1:32.035		1	1:31.184		1	1:30.785	1
2	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		5	1:32.476		2	1:31.241		2	1:30.853	2
3*	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		12	1:32.809		3	1:31.523		3	1:31.169	8*
4	11	Robert Kubica	Renault		11	1:32.808		9	1:32.042		4	1:31.231	4
5	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari		7	1:32.555		5	1:31.819		5	1:31.352	4
6	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		8	1:32.636		4	1:31.763		6	1:31.378	5
7	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		3	1:32.238		7	1:31.886		7	1:31.494	6
8	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth		4	1:32.361		6	1:31.874		8	1:31.535	7
9	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth		2	1:32.211		8	1:31.926		9	1:31.559	9
10	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes		6	1:32.513		10	1:32.073		10	1:31.846	10
11	22	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber-Ferrari		14	1:33.011		11	1:32.187				11
12	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		9	1:32.721		12	1:32.321				12
13	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault		13	1:32.849		13	1:32.422				13
14	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari		10	1:32.783		14	1:32.427				14
15	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes		15	1:33.186		15	1:32.659				15
16	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		17	1:33.216		16	1:33.071				16
17	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes		16	1:33.216		17	1:33.154				17
18	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		18	1:33.568							18
19	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth		19	1:35.346							19
20	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth		20	1:35.464							20
21	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth		21	1:36.265							21
22	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth		22	1:36.332							22
23	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth		23	1:37.270							23
24	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth		24	1:37.365							24
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Hamilton served a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	2
	______________	Mark Webber
Row 2	3	______________
	Robert Kubica	4
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 3	5	______________
	Jenson Button	6
	______________	Nico Rosberg
Row 4	7	______________
	Rubens Barrichello	8
	______________	Lewis Hamilton
Row 5	9	______________
	Nico Hülkenberg	10
	______________	Michael Schumacher
Row 6	11	______________
	Nick Heidfeld	12
	______________	Felipe Massa
Row 7	13	______________
	Vitaly Petrov	14
	______________	Kamui Kobayashi
Row 8	15	______________
	Adrian Sutil	16
	______________	Jaime Alguersuari
Row 9	17	______________
	Vitantonio Liuzzi	18
	______________	Sébastien Buemi
Row 10	19	______________
	Jarno Trulli	20
	______________	Heikki Kovalainen
Row 11	21	______________
	Lucas di Grassi	22
	______________	Timo Glock
Row 12	23	______________
	Bruno Senna	24
	______________	Sakon Yamamoto

Race

Results

The full results for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	53	1:30:27.323	1	25
2	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	53	+0.905s	2	18
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	53	+2.721s	4	15
4	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+13.522s	5	12
5	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+39.595s	8	10
6	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	53	+59.933s	10	8
7	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	53	+1:04.038	14	6
8	22	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	53	+1:09.648	11	4
9	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	53	+1:10.846	7	2
10	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	+1:12.806	18	1
11	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	+1 Lap	16
12	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	20
13	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	19
14	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	22
15	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	23
16	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	50	+3 Laps	24
17*	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	47	Wheel	6
Ret	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	44	Oil leak	15
Ret	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	2	Wheel	3
Ret	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	0	Collision	9
Ret	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	0	Collision	12
Ret	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	0	Collision	13
Ret	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	0	Collision	17
DNS†	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth
Source:

• * Rosberg was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.
• ^† di Grassi crashed before the start of the race and was unable to start.

Milestones

• Sebastian Vettel claimed his eighth career victory.
• Red Bull secured their thirteenth win as a constructor.
  • 128th win for Renault as an engine supplier.
• Vettel recorded the 130th fastest lap for an engine supplier.

Standings

There had been another shuffle to the Championship as the season rapidly drew towards its conclusion, although Mark Webber had established a small lead at the head of the field. The Australian racer would leave Japan with a fourteen point advantage over Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, with Alonso deemed to be ahead courtesy of four wins to Vettel's three. Lewis Hamilton was next having slipped 28 points off the lead, while Jenson Button was a dark horse for the crown in fifth on 189.

In the Constructors Championship Red Bull-Renault had again managed to extend their lead at the head of the hunt, opening out a 45 point lead with three rounds to go. McLaren-Mercedes were next as their main challengers, while Ferrari would need a strong race in Korea to remain in the hunt in third. Mercedes were next ahead of Renault, with nine of the twelve constructors having scored.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Mark Webber 220 — 2 Fernando Alonso 206 — 3 Sebastian Vettel 206 ▲1 4 Lewis Hamilton 192 ▼1 5 Jenson Button 189 — 6 Felipe Massa 128 — 7 Nico Rosberg 122 — 8 Robert Kubica 114 — 9 Michael Schumacher 54 ▲1 10 Adrian Sutil 47 ▼1 11 Rubens Barrichello 41 — 12 Kamui Kobayashi 27 — 13 Vitaly Petrov 19 — 14 Nico Hülkenberg 17 — 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi 13 — 16 Sébastien Buemi 8 — 17 Pedro de la Rosa 6 — 18 Nick Heidfeld 4 ▲8 19 Jaime Alguersuari 3 ▼1

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Red Bull-Renault 426 — 2 McLaren-Mercedes 381 — 3 Ferrari 334 — 4 Mercedes 176 — 5 Renault 133 — 6 Force India-Mercedes 60 — 7 Williams-Cosworth 58 — 8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 37 — 9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

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