2017 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX: QUALIFYING *** SPOILERS ***

Toro Rosso confirms Gasly/Kvyat for US GP

Scuderia Toro Rosso to release Carlos Sainz after the Japanese GP | Scuderia Toro Rosso

Thanks Franz, and thanks to every singke member of @ToroRossoSpy team for all these years. Tomorrow will be an emotional one...

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Yeh he is doing kind of ok ..i guess

 

The Merc looked like it was glued onto the track ...very impressive.

 

So Andreas, your friend Stroll is 1.7 sec slower than Massa...i'm glad Felipe Sucks, otherwise the boy would be in serious trouble, lololo

 

Yes but to be fair..the session was stopped before Lance could get in another lap.

 

Stroll is consistently slower than Massa. His good results this year were more a question of luck.

 

Agree but he is moving in the right direction,i like his driving in the wet ,lets see where he ends up at the season end..

on another note Palmer lines up just ahead of Sainz ..might be interesting

 

And his best lap got ruined by Ocon IIRC in the chicane. I'm sure he would have qualified much higher.

Anyway, if it rains on Sunday Massa will go backwards as usual.

 

Peter, we all know in F1 it's both car and driver that make the difference. Nothing new. That doesn't diminish Hamilton's all-time record pole position totals.

 

So when the car and the driver both make the difference why are the usual suspects only pointing out Hamilton
This "dominated" team mate was still faster than the fastest Ferrari...I know that it is "bash the Seb" month but I hope they don´t want to tell me that Bottas is the faster driver compared to Seb -> the Mercedes is back to dominance and all this drivel about how the Ferrari is the best car this season did not even last two races...

 

There's no smoke without fire, I wouldn't say it's a Vettel bash month, but on the surface it seems of late with various circumstances, he has made it look like he has squandered some valuable WDC points.

Saying that, he also had a excellent drive from the back of the field, within that supposed bash month

 

And even then some "+44"-posters said it was nothing as he only overtook backmarkers and was not able to get by Ricciardo
Fortunately he had a crash at the in lap so people had something to talk about instead of the drive through the field because to some it would hurt to admit he can do something right....
When Lewis did that with the Mercedes in the past....well that was something different...genius at the highest level...with that dog of a Mercedes....brilliant...

 

Bottas is much close than Kimi is to Vettel and far closer than Kimi ever was to FA. Kimi is beyond his keep date.

 

Ferrari once again going backwards.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/132271/mercedes-explains-recovery-from-disaster

Mercedes believes that cooler temperatures in Japan, allied to changes made to its car ahead of the Formula 1 weekend, were key to it recovering from its Malaysia "disaster".

Just a week on from the German car manufacturer chasing answers for its lack of pace at Sepang, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas led the way in qualifying at Suzuka.

Hamilton said that the W08 had felt transformed this weekend, as the balance issues that blighted the team's weekend in Malaysia were gone.

"The car is a lot different this weekend and a lot more enjoyable to drive," explained Hamilton.

"Last weekend was a bit of a disaster but we still got pole, which was unusual."

Asked if the team understood why it was quicker this weekend, Hamilton added: "We have an idea.

"There's a lot of analysis that's gone in to understanding it, so I think we do understand, yes.

"It's not something we can particularly rapidly change, but we're in a cooler climate here, so that's definitely one thing that adds to it."

While the high-speed nature of Suzuka, plus cooler temperatures, have played to the strengths of Mercedes, team boss Toto Wolff says that changes were made to the car thanks to the lessons learned last weekend.

"The bad days makes you progress more, and there was some learning and we changed the car for Suzuka," said Wolff.

"We put it on the track and it was pretty solid, straight from the get-go.

"We learned a lot in Malaysia and looked at the data, analysed it. We found ways where we thought we could optimise the car's setup and it proved to be the right direction.

"Nevertheless it doesn't solve the underlying issue that there are big swings, not only for us but also for other teams.

"Others who were competitive in Malaysia were a second off today."

With warmer weather predicted for Sunday's race in Japan, Wolff said he was mindful that things could yet swing towards Ferrari.

 

Provisional Japanese GP starting grid
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Max Verstappen
5. Esteban Ocon
6. Valtteri Bottas
7. Sergio Perez
8. Felipe Massa
9. Stoffel Vandoorne
10. Kimi Raikkonen
11. Nico Hulkenberg
12. Kevin Magnussen
13. Romain Grosjean
14. Pierre Gasly
15. Lance Stroll
16. Marcus Ericsson
17. Pascal Wehrlein
18. Jolyon Palmer
19. Carlos Sainz
20. Fernando Alonso

 

compared to this......

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It's gonna be an interesting start....Max behind Seb. Max will attack him at the start. Seb will have either RB's on either side unless Ricci hangs back and watches the drama unfold between Max and Seb. Nonetheless, both RB's will pressure Seb during the race. Let's see how Seb does at the start (if slow) and where his head is at with regards to Max.

 

1st corner carnage wouldn't surprise me.

 

agreed....along with the Mary Kay's/Pink Panthers.

 

Ferrari has a different tactic this time, in bowling it would be called a split...Max has to be creativ to take out Seb and Kimi in one go starting 2nd and 11th

 

Another slow start from Vettel is going to make this too easy for LH. A slow start will see Vettel passed by a Red Bull possibly. Vettel has to win to have any chance of the title. LH does not need to win so to speak. He has had good starts overall but anything can happen. Warm temps will aid Vettel who must have a good clean start. He really must avoid contact but cannot have a bad start.

 

Ricci is a racer. A slow start by Vettel will be an opportunity he will not pass up. He says he likes them 'vulnerable'.

 

+1 slow start by LH or Vettel and this could be a carbon-fibre fun spot!!

 

Haha ...ohh no not another expensive fun spot.

We shall see if any common sense prevails from our WDC contenders this time.

 

The cans are not contenders yet I'm just as worried about them. If not even more.