JAPANESE GP 2009 RESULTS

Well, that was quite an exciting race. I say "quite" because it is not really exciting or great. I was expecting more based on what I saw during qualifying yesterday with all the crashes and spins and drama. There was a safety car today though and a heavy crash but still the results were no surprise. By that I mean the top 3 started and finished in the same position.

The start was exciting, yes more exciting than quite exciting, but that was it. Lewis had a good start overtaking Trulli into the first turn and almost taking Vettel with him but the run down to the first turn was too short for his KERS to be effective. On top of that, Vettel had an amazing start, defended his line well and just pulled away like he had an extra 200 horses on that Red Bull. He never looked back since.

Lewis took Trulli into that first turn and stuck to Vettel. All 3 of them had a pretty relaxed race all the way except for when Lewis' KERS gave some problems and switched off. Lewis couldn't restart the thing and it proved fatal in his bid to take Trulli later. Lewis' second pitstop exit was delayed by a couple of tenths. These 2 factors contributed to him unable to pass Trulli when Trulli was exiting the pits. Damn.

Alguersuari had a pretty big spin at 130R and whacked the tyre barriers pretty hard. It was a spectacular crash which brought out the SC with 11 laps to go. The field bunched up and upon the restart, again lewis couldn't take Trulli cos the KERS wasn't working. He also couldn't get near him as the Toyota was pretty much on the pace also.

The Brawns were pretty much in the midfield this race. Button just needing to take it easy and making sure he got some points not too far away from Barrichello which he did by finishing P8 behind Barrichello's P8. He was almost taken by Kubica though, the BMW Sauber looking quite fast hassling Button.

Kovalainnen again drove a "mising" race. By that I mean he was missing most of the time. The only time he stood out was when he was overtaken in the pits by Fisichella and wrestled his position back just after leaving the pitlane. It was a close fight and he won it.

Kimi was his usual self, sleeping from the start of the race and deciding to wake up and really race when the race was run to about 90%. He didn't do too bad though, finishing P4. Poor Mark Webber not only started from the pitlane but had to pit 5 times and finished 2 laps down. Taht was a nightmare race for him.

Overall, quite an exciting race but not exciting enough. I thought the way this track was laid out would give more overtaking opportunities and some brave driving. But in the end it was quite straightforward and by the book. Looking forward to Brazil which is also a damn good track which should produce some exciting racing.

If not for an exciting race, I'd stay up just to see Massa going round telling everybody how he was robbed by Piquet last year at Singapore.

Results
01 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:28:20.443
02 J. Trulli Toyota + 4.877
03 L. Hamilton McLaren + 6.472
04 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 7.940
05 N. Rosberg Williams + 8.793
06 N. Heidfeld BMW + 9.509
07 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 10.641
08 J. Button Brawn GP + 11.474
09 R. Kubica BMW + 11.777
10 F. Alonso Renault + 13.065
11 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 13.735
12 G. Fisichella Ferrari + 14.596
13 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 14.959
14 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 + 15.734
15 K. Nakajima Williams + 18.973
16 R. Grosjean Renault + 1 lap(s)
17 M. Webber Red Bull + 2 lap(s)
Did not finish
18 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 10 lap(s)
19 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 42 lap(s)