2009 Japanese Grand Prix

 2009 Japanese Grand Prix

Racing data
15th of 17 races of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	XXXV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Date:	4th October 2009
Place:	Suzuka
Course:	Suzuka International Racing Course
Length:	307.573 km in 53 laps of 5.807 km
Weather:	sunny
Spectator:	~ 125,000
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 32.160 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 32.569 min (lap 50)
Podium
First:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Jarno Trulli	Toyota
Third:	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes

The 2009 Japanese Grand Prix took place on October 4th at the Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka and was the 15th race of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the Singapore Grand Prix , Jenson Button led the drivers' standings with 15 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello and 25 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel . Brawn- Mercedes led the constructors' championship with 42.5 points ahead of Red Bull- Renault and with 91 points ahead of Ferrari .

On the Wednesday before the race, Ferrari announced the driver duo for 2010 : Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso , who replaced Kimi Räikkönen , will compete for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton , Heikki Kovalainen and Adrian Sutil each contested their 50th Grand Prix at the Japanese Grand Prix.

With Fernando Alonso (twice), Barrichello, Kimi Räikkönen and Hamilton (once each), four former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

training

For the two training sections on Friday, Timo Glock was replaced by the Japanese Kamui Kobayashi due to a cold . The first free practice took place under wet conditions. Although it wasn't raining, the track didn't dry off completely. The fastest time was achieved by Heikki Kovalainen. Local hero Kazuki Nakajima finished second, Adrian Sutil third.

In the second free practice the conditions were even worse. After both Toro Rosso Ferrari drivers had driven out briefly at the beginning of practice, all drivers waited for better conditions because of the rain. In the last thirty minutes of practice, when the conditions were a bit better, 17 drivers took to the track. Sutil was the fastest pilot in these conditions. Vettel and Vitantonio Liuzzi followed in second and third place .

The third free practice on Saturday took place under dry conditions. Jarno Trulli set the fastest time ahead of Sébastien Buemi and Nico Rosberg . Mark Webber had an accident in the Degner curve during this training section , in which his car was so badly damaged that he had to skip qualifying.

Qualifying

In the first section of qualifying, Vettel posted the fastest time. Fisichella , Nakajima, Grosjean , Liuzzi and Webber, who could not compete, were eliminated.

The second stage of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix had to be interrupted twice due to serious accidents. The first interruption was provided by Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari , who drove into the tire wall in the Degner curve. The Spaniard was able to leave the damaged car on his own. When it went on again, Glock lost control of his vehicle in the Casio Triangle and drove head-on into a pile of tires. Qualifying was canceled to rescue the crashed Glock, which was recovered by the rescue workers. Then Glock was flown to the hospital for a check-up, which he was able to leave a little later. When qualifying continued, Vettel again achieved the fastest lap. In addition to Alguersuari and Glock, Kubica , Alonso and Rosberg were eliminated. Buemi caused another incident when he drove into the wall at the exit of the Spoon curve. He was able to drive on and bring the car into the pit lane, but there were various pieces of debris, including the like. a. his front wing, on the line. After that, not all drivers took the yellow flags into consideration and so Alonso, Barrichello, Button and Sutil were subsequently punished with a five-place penalty. Buemi was also moved five places back, as continuing to drive posed a risk to him and the other drivers.

There was also an interruption in the third part of qualifying. This time it was Kovalainen who lost his car on the Degner curve. He was able to leave the car unharmed, but qualification was interrupted. In the end, Vettel secured pole position in front of Trulli and Hamilton.

run

Sebastian Vettel maintained his lead at the start of the race

Since Glock was unable to start after his accident in qualifying, only 19 drivers took part in the Japanese Grand Prix. At the start, Vettel kept his lead. Trulli had to give up his second place to Hamilton. After Vettel was the fastest man in the first laps, Hamilton was able to keep the gap constant to a few seconds a little later. A little further back, a duel for eighth place developed between Kovalainen, Sutil and Button. But Sutil initially had no chance against the KERS equipped McLaren .

On the eleventh lap, Buemi had to give up due to a clutch defect. In the 13th lap, Sutil Kovalainen attacked in the chicane. Kovalainen didn't want to let Sutil pass and so the two collided. Although they were able to continue, they lost their good position. Button benefited from the collision and was new eighth. The first pit stops did not change the order of the top trio. Vettel was able to stay out the longest and maintain his lead even after the stop.

After Jaime Alguersuari's accident, the safety car had to go out on the track

Vettel expanded his lead over Hamilton every lap and was also heavier than the McLaren, which gave him another advantage. Hamilton, however, focused on keeping his position in front of Trulli. The second stops of the leading group began Räikkönen, who made his pit stop in front of fourth-placed Nick Heidfeld , but still overtook the German. Heidfeld's stop did not go optimally and allowed the Finn to gain position. Hamilton pitted again before Trulli. This time the Italian was able to overtake Hamilton through his later pit stop and take second place. Vettel kept his lead even after the stop.

After Alguersuari had a serious accident in the R130 , the safety car had to go out. Alguersuari was unharmed. The safety car phase brought the field together again in the final phase of the race. Rosberg used the safety car phase for his second stop and came back on track in fifth behind Räikkönen. Vettel maintains his lead at the restart and there were no shifts in the other points. Eventually Vettel won the race ahead of Trulli and Hamilton. The other points went to Raikkonen, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Barrichello and Button. This gave Vettel and Barrichello a theoretical chance for the world title.

While the race was going optimally for Vettel, his team-mate Webber followed the field and made a total of five pit stops. Nevertheless, it was Webber who took the fastest race lap from his teammate on the last lap.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	01	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-24	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	02	Heikki Kovalainen
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	03	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari F60	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	04th	Kimi Raikkonen
BMW Sauber F1 Team	05	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1.09	BMW 2.4 V8	B.
	06th	Nick Heidfeld
Renault F1 Team	07th	Fernando Alonso	Renault R29	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	08th	Romain Grosjean
Panasonic Toyota Racing	09	Jarno Trulli	Toyota TF109	Toyota 2.4 V8	B.
	10	Kamui Kobayashi
		Timo Glock
Scuderia Toro Rosso	11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso STR4	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	12	Sébastien Buemi
Red Bull Racing	14th	Mark Webber	Red Bull RB5	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	15th	Sebastian Vettel
AT&T Williams	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams FW31	Toyota 2.4 V8	B.
	17th	Kazuki Nakajima
Force India F1 Team	20th	Adrian Sutil	Force India VJM02	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	21st	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Brawn GP Formula 1 team	22nd	Jenson Button	Brawn BGP 001	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	23	Rubens Barrichello

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kobayashi drove the Toyota with the number 10 in the first and second free practice. Glock then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin	Weight in kg
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 30.883	1: 30.341	1: 32.160	01	658.5
02	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1: 31.063	1: 30.737	1: 32.220	02	655.5
03	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	1: 30.917	1: 30.627	1: 32.395	03	656.0
04th	Adrian Sutil 1	Force India-Mercedes	1: 31.386	1: 31.222	1: 32.466	08th	650.0
05	Rubens Barrichello 1	Brawn Mercedes	1: 31.272	1: 31.055	1: 32.660	06th	660.5
06th	Nick Heidfeld	BMW clean	1: 31.501	1: 31.260	1: 32.945	04th	660.0
07th	Jenson Button 1	Brawn Mercedes	1: 31.041	1: 30.880	1: 32.962	10	658.5
08th	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari (K)	1: 31.228	1: 31.052	1: 32.980	05	661.0
09	Heikki Kovalainen 2	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	1: 31.499	1: 31.223	no time	11	675.0
10	Sébastien Buemi 1	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 31.196	1: 31.103	no time	13	665.4
11	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1: 31.286	1: 31.482	-	07th	684.5
12	Fernando Alonso 1	Renault	1: 31.401	1: 31.638	-	16	689.5
13	Robert Kubica	BMW clean	1: 31.417	1: 32.341	-	09	686.0
14th	Timo Glock 3	Toyota	1: 31.550	no time	-	box	-
15th	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 31.571	no time	-	12	682.5
16	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari (K)	1: 31.704	-	-	14th	661.5
17th	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1: 31.718	-	-	15th	695.7
18th	Romain Grosjean	Renault	1: 32.073	-	-	17th	691.8
19th	Vitantonio Liuzzi 2	Force India-Mercedes	1: 32.087	-	-	18th	682.5
	Mark Webber 4	Red Bull-Renault	-	-	-	box	-

(K) = racing car with KERS

¹ Sébastien Buemi was moved five places back because he drove into the wall on the exit of the Spoon curve and then drove the damaged car back into the pits. Since, among other things, his front wing was on the route, yellow flags were waved in the relevant section . Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil were moved five places back because they ignored the yellow flags and drove too fast in this section of the route.

² Heikki Kovalainen and Vitantonio Liuzzi were both penalized five places down for a gear change.

³ Timo Glock had a serious accident in the second part of qualifying which damaged his race car. Since he needed a new chassis for the race, he should have started from the pit lane.

⁴ Mark Webber had to skip qualifying because his car was too badly damaged after an accident in the third free practice and a completely new chassis had to be built so that he had to start from the pit lane.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Weight in kg	Fastest lap
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	53	2	1: 28: 20.443	01	658.5	1: 32,572 (43.)
02	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	53	2	+ 4.877	02	655.5	1: 33,152 (38th)
03	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	53	2	+ 6.472	03	656.0	1: 33.259 (13.)
04th	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari (K)	53	2	+ 7.940	05	661.0	1: 32,999 (33rd)
05	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	53	2	+ 8.793	07th	684.5	1: 33,595 (43.)
06th	Nick Heidfeld	BMW clean	53	2	+ 9,509	04th	660.0	1: 33,600 (13th)
07th	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	53	2	+ 10.641	06th	660.5	1: 33.910 (17.)
08th	Jenson Button	Brawn Mercedes	53	2	+ 11.474	10	658.5	1: 33.251 (42nd)
09	Robert Kubica	BMW clean	53	2	+ 11.777	09	686.0	1: 33,334 (44th)
10	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	1	+ 13.065	16	689.5	1: 33.946 (28th)
11	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes (K)	53	2	+ 13.735	11	675.0	1: 33.801 (35.)
12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari (K)	53	2	+ 14,596	14th	661.5	1: 33,479 (33.)
13	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	53	2	+ 14,959	08th	650.0	1: 33.668 (36th)
14th	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	53	2	+ 15.734	18th	682.5	1: 34.294 (36.)
15th	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	53	1	+ 17.973	15th	695.7	1: 34.783 (26.)
16	Romain Grosjean	Renault	52	1	+ 1 lap	17th	691.8	1: 34.643 (39.)
17th	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	51	5	+ 2 rounds	box		1: 32,569 (50.)
-	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	43	2	DNF	12	682.5	1: 34.049 (34.)
-	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	11	0	DNF	13	665.4	1: 35.392 ( 05.)

(K) = racing car with KERS

World Cup stands after the race

The first eight of the race got 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Jenson Button Brawn Mercedes 85, 0 02  Rubens Barrichello Brawn Mercedes 71, 0 03  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 69, 0 04th  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 51.5 05  Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 45, 0 06th  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 43, 0 07th  Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 34.5 08th  Jarno Trulli Toyota 30.5 09  Fernando Alonso Renault 26th, 0 10  Timo Glock Toyota 24, 0 11  Felipe Massa Ferrari 22nd, 0 12  Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 22nd, 0

Item driver constructor Points 13  Nick Heidfeld BMW clean 15th, 0 14th  Robert Kubica BMW clean 9, 0 15th  Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes, Ferrari 8th, 0 16  Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 5, 0 17th  Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3, 0 18th  Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2, 0 19th  Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 0, 0 20th  Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 0, 0 21st  Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 0, 0 22nd  Luca Badoer Ferrari 0, 0 23  Romain Grosjean Renault 0, 0 24  Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0, 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Brawn Mercedes 156, 0 02  Red Bull-Renault 120.5 03  Ferrari 67, 0 04th  McLaren-Mercedes 65, 0 05  Toyota 54.5

Item constructor Points 06th  Williams-Toyota 34.5 07th  Renault 26th, 0 08th  BMW clean 24, 0 09  Force India-Mercedes 13, 0 10  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5, 0

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Officially: Alonso for three years at Ferrari" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 30, 2009)
2. ↑ "Kobayashi replaces Glock in free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2, 2009)
3. ↑ "Rain record for Kovalainen in Suzuka" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2, 2009)
4. ^ "GP Japan in Suzuka / 2nd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 2, 2009)
5. ^ "GP Japan in Suzuka / 3rd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2009)
6. ↑ ^{a b} "Webber has to skip qualifying" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2009)
7. ↑ "Alguersuari 'simply too fast on the move'" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2009)
8. ^ "Glock released from the hospital" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2009)
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} “Five drivers given grid penalties” (Autosport.com on October 3, 2009)
10. ↑ ^{a b} "'Scrap weekend' ends with scrap for Toro Rosso" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 4, 2009)
11. ↑ "Gear change and penalty for Vitantonio Liuzzi" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 3, 2009)

Web links

Commons : 2009 Japanese Grand Prix  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com