quoteJapanese GP – Allison: “To learn what lessons we can”
It’s in Asia, it’s name starts with an “S,” and it also boasts a Big Wheel overlooking the track, but that’s where the similarities between Formula 1’s last appointment in Singapore and its next one in Suzuka begin and end.
While Singapore is a tricky, twisty street circuit, Suzuka is one of the finest examples of a true road course, with fast flowing turns, mixed in with a few idiosyncratic corners like the never-ending hairpin and the final chicane. “In Singapore, I think Mercedes probably had a bit more pace in hand, so that brought the front of the grid a bit closer together than normal,” says Scuderia Ferrari’s Technical Director, James Allison. “Also, it’s a track where the engine has a smaller effect compared with nearly all of the other tracks this year, so that provided another opportunity for the field to close up a bit. And finally, the nature of the corners at Singapore are also sensitive to the amount of mechanical grip that you can get from your package. That’s certainly an area where Ferrari has been working recently and it allowed us to have a rather better weekend.”
In another words, Japan is likely to be a more probing test for the F14 T. “Suzuka is a track where the importance of having horsepower is just a little bit less than the average for the year, so while power is not super important here, it’s not unimportant either,” continues Allison. “But it’s a track where a good handling chassis with a high amount of downforce is rewarded very strongly. Cars which score well on both those points will of course be right up at the front. But it gives some space to prosper to a car which is sweet handling and reasonable on downforce. Suzuka is one of the all-time great circuits, with some of the most challenging corners, one of the biggest tests of the car in the whole year, because it doesn’t just ask of the car that it can go well in the fast “S” complex in the first sector of the track, but there are also slow corners, long straights and all manner of ways to reveal the weakness of either the car or the driver. A team that comes back from Suzuka having done well knows that they are a good team with a strong package.” Tyre management will also play a key role as usual: because of the abrasive nature of the track surface, the long corners and the many rapid changes of direction, which generate a lot of lateral energy, Pirelli will be bringing its hardest compounds, the Hard and the Medium. Although not a deal breaker, the F14 T usually performs best on softer rubber.
As to the Scuderia’s goals for this weekend, our Technical Director reckons they are twofold. “We left Singapore with some satisfaction that areas we’d been working on the car, to improve its mechanical grip for example, appear to be paying off for us,” concludes the Englishman. “So we go to Suzuka and the remaining races determined to close the gap to Williams and then try and actually pull ahead of them, with the aim of securing a third place in the championship. We also plan to learn what lessons we can during the remainder of this season, to help guide us for the following year.” - See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/japanes...h.l9mFaUCn.dpuf
Maranello, 1 October – Kimi Raikkonen was in buoyant mood after the Singapore Grand Prix. The Scuderia Ferrari man’s good humour was down to the fact he felt he had made a significant step forward in getting his F14 T to behave the way he likes his racing cars to feel. “In Singapore, we finally had the speed to put together a quick single flying lap in qualifying, as the car behaved the way I’d been hoping for,” the Finn told www.ferrari.com. “It was just a shame we could not maximise the performance of the car because of a minor issue before the last flying lap. It meant we could not do much in the race, as I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t exploit my pace. But for me, the positive thing that weekend was I finally had a good feeling from the car, something I had been waiting for a long time this year.”
After the streets of Singapore, the Formula 1 circus heads for one of the classic venues and you don’t need to know much about Kimi Raikkonen to realise that Suzuka is just the sort of track he loves. “It’s a high power circuit, but also technically very challenging,” continues the Ferrari man. “So we are looking forward to see how our car goes there compared to the front running teams. I like Suzuka a lot. It’s an old-school type of racing circuit, the sort that always gives me the best feeling. I’d have to say my favourite is Spa-Francorchamps, but Suzuka comes very near in my ranking.”
The Finn has mainly positive memories of his nine appearances at Suzuka (the Japanese GP took place in Fuji in 2007 and ’08 and Kimi had his two year F1 sabbatical in 2010 and ’11.) “Apart from my first ever time in Japan and Suzuka, when I was driving for Sauber and had to retire after crashing with Alesi, I have finished every single race in Japan and I have got some really good results, as well. Winning the 2005 race was one of my best ever drives.” - See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/kimis-t...h.AJxsd4Nn.dpuf
quoteRaikkonen: Nothing wrong with my driving style
Kimi Raikkonen does not see the need to change his driving style to suit the Ferrari F14 T when the team still has issues with the car to resolve.
Raikkonen's first season back at Ferrari since 2009 has been a challenging one, though there have been marked signs of improvement since the summer break. In Singapore Raikkonen said the Ferrari felt better than it had all season, but he is adamant there is nothing he needs to change from a personal standpoint to improve his results further.
"No, I don't see the point of me changing my driving style," Raikkonen said when asked if he had considered changing it to suit the Ferrari. "I couldn't drive differently any faster. The issue is not with how I drive but how we fix the issue, then we will have a good result.
"I can drive around some issues but I hope we can fix the main issue and drive as I always do. I've been driving in Formula One for quite a few years and have never changed it and will never change it. It's not the right way of fixing the problems."
But Raikkonen believes patience will continue to be the key for Ferrari, both for the end of 2014 and with the work being done for 2015.
"I think we knew from the beginning certain things would take time, certain things cannot be changed in certain cars. There a lot of small things that, when you put them together, make a big difference. It's not one major thing that you change out of the blue.
"We have improved race by race and made some steps, got better feelings, some new parts to help with that. The tyres, in those conditions, was the best feeling there has been. It became easier to drive again and once you get that feeling it becomes much easier - you don't have to guess what's going to happen every corner or fight with the car."
Maki says they don't expect rain for Saturday but there is 70% chance of rain for Sunday due to the typhoon. So she is wishing to have both, quali and race, on Saturday.
quoteTyphoon Phanfone threatens Japanese GP Forecasters warn of 'heavy rain' for qualy and race day; FIA monitoring the situation and open to being flexible with Sunday schedule By Sky Sports Online. Last Updated: 02/10/14 1:50pm
The Japanese GP is under threat from Typhoon Phanfone with Sky News Weather warning that the race will “potentially be very wet and windy”.
A rain storm descended on the Suzuka paddock on Thursday, but worse may still be to follow with Typhoon Phanfone brewing off the Japanese mainland.
Although the storm is not forecast to disrupt practice on Friday, Sky Sports News Weather have warned that it could bring “very wet conditions” for Saturday’s qualifying hour.
More “heavy rain” is predicted for Sunday, with the typhoon estimated to hit land approximately 100 miles from the isolated Suzuka circuit.
"We might not race because it may be too harsh to race in these conditions," reported Force India driver Sergio Perez as the sport considered the implications of the predicted onslaught from Mother Nature.
The typhoon is then expected to turn north, hitting mainland Japan on Monday, with torrential rain and destructive winds – up to 150mph in strength – forecast.
While the F1 fraternity may thus be spared the worst of the storm, travel plans – including freight shipments – for next week’s Russian GP could be severely disrupted.
The Japanese GP is under threat from Typhoon Phanfone with warnings that the race will potentially be very wet and windy. Sky Sports News HQ understands that while the FIA are not yet devising contingency plans, they are open to being flexible with the Sunday schedule should the worst of the weather still be forecast to arrive.
"The FIA are monitoring the situation very closely but they still think it’s too early to start talking about contingency plans. But I understand they are looking into the possibility of being flexible, particularly on Sunday itself," Sky Sports News HQ's Craig Slater reported.
"The typhoon is expected to hit around about race time, around about 3pm, so it is conceivable that they might try and run the race a little bit earlier in the day."
But even if the storm was to strike Suzuka on race day, a postponement of the grand prix is seemingly out of the question given that this week’s event has been placed back-to-back in the calendar with the inaugural Russian GP.
Simon Lazenby and Martin Brundle introduce this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. “When it rains here, it really rains properly, so it’s not unusual” noted Sky F1’s Martin Brundle as he dodged Thursday's showers. “It’s a circuit where we have had monsoon tyres available, that’s the kind of biblical proportions we have had in the past. It’s a costal track, but we have heard this all before and battened down the hatches for storms that haven’t turned up.”
Under the terms of this year’s regulations, the teams are limited to using just four set of intermediate tyres and three sets of the wets for each car over a full race weekend, a cost-saving restriction which may have the unfortunate side-effect of drastically limited running in Friday’s practice sessions in order to save up those precious compounds for the weekend’s main events.
“If it is declared a wet session on Friday then they will be given an extra set of intermediates, but it’s the wets they are going to be short of,” confirmed Brundle. “If it is a wet track in practice then we might see very little running.”
The Japanese GP weekend schedule has twice been affected by adverse weather conditions in the last decade. In 2004 the threat of Typhoon Ma-on, qualifying rescheduled for race-day morning, while qualy was again postponed to Sunday due to heavy rain in 2010.
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Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:41 pm
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Miezi
I hope the race will be worth to watch the rerun 
Kimi banners 
