I watched this race with my phone's result stream application and later at home cause I was working on Sunday.
The fact that you can't see what's happening but know what's happening is irritating, especially when I always make sure that I see every single Grand Prix. I saw it this time too but it's different to see it live from TV.
Earlier I have said that I haven't had time to write that much but let's hope it will change now that the Finnish Celebrity Big Brother is over. I worked there as the executive editor.
But enough about my work and more about the Japanese Grand Prix!
Let's start with my guesses I made in the preview and continue from there:
Pole position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
The race:
- Mark Webber, Red Bull
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
- Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus
Surprise: Sauber
The pole position was not made by Vettel but Mark Webber who I put as the winner. It wasn't that far off and I was happy for Mark.
Fastest lap was not correct cause it was made by the other Red Bull (Webber).
Then the race. I was so wrong when I said that Vettel is not going to win here. It actually looked for a while that I was going to be right, but for me, it clearly looked like Red Bull changed the tactics so that Webber wouldn't win and that Vettel would. They knew that Webber wouldn't let his teammate pass him. I was actually a bit pissed off to tell you the truth. Why can't they just let Mark win one race before he retires? Vettel is clearly going to be the champion again this year so what's the big deal? And if somebody says that Red Bull didn't do this to Mark then please spare me. This is my point of view and it's very hard to think anything else.
So Mark was second and Alonso was fourth. In third position I saw a Lotus but it wasn't Kimi as usual, it was Romain Grosjean! I am very surprised and glad for his sake. I just said a week ago that he has to step up and do something if he want's to stay in this sport. Then boom! One week after and he does this.
I also saw a vision of Sebastian Vettel getting hit in the beginning and maybe retiring. That was the reason why I thought that he wouldn't win. Anyways he got hit and damaged his front wing but it didn't wreck his race. It clearly looks like he is gonna secure his championship in India.
The surprise I said was Sauber and they did something that really DID surprise me. Both of the drivers took points in the same race for the first time this season. It was also Peter Sauber's birthday so congratulations to him for that as well.
What about the nice overtakings? Kimi Räikkönen overtook Esteban Gutierrez without DRS in a very difficult situation and Sebastian Vettel actually got to overtake somebody in this race! The "victim" was Romain Grosjean of course who had no chance against Vettel's maneuver.
Felipe Massa stood up for himself which was a good thing for him mentally but in the end Alonso overtook him anyway. Good that Alonso also actually overtook him and didn't ask the team to let him pass.
My biggest disappointment was probably Räikkönen's and Alonso's qualifying. Why can't these two ever get a good qualifying? But then in the race they both drive so good? I mean if these guys could get their qualifying to work they could both win more races. Maybe next year..
