F1 Quals: Japan 2014

As Typhoon Phanfone turned into the equivalent of a Category 5 Hurricane, the F1 Circus took to the track to see who got to be the first behind the Safety Car for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Japan.  Here's a look at the provisional grid:

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:33.671	1:32.950	1:32.506
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.611	1:32.982	1:32.703
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:34.301	1:33.443	1:33.128
4	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:34.483	1:33.551	1:33.527
5	HWMNBN	Ferrari	1:34.497	1:33.675	1:33.740
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:35.593	1:34.466	1:34.075
7	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.930	1:34.229	1:34.242
8	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.150	1:34.648	1:34.317
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:35.517	1:34.784	1:34.432
10	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.984	1:34.771	1:34.548
11	Jules Vergne	STR-Renault	1:35.155	1:34.984
12	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.439	1:35.089
13	Kid Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:35.210	1:35.092
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:35.000	1:35.099
15	Adrian F'n Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:35.736	1:35.364
16	Esteban!	Sauber-Ferrari	1:35.308	1:35.681
17	Crashtor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:35.917
18	Lettuce Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:35.984
19	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:36.813
20	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:36.943
21	Gandalf Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:37.015
22	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:37.481

This has the potential to be just an ugly race.  For example, let's say it doesn't rain (unlikely though that may be)... polesitter Rosberg is a full second ahead of fourth place.  If it does rain, the Merc has proven to be fast that way as well.  However, no car is fast when the water level on-track is above the level of the front wing.

Much of the concern about the race up until recently hasn't been about the race itself, but about the next one.  The way F1 schedules work, teams usually box everything up and are on air-freight Monday headed to the next destination.  Problem is, the next destination is Sochi, home of the inaugural Grand Prix of the Soviets Russia next Sunday.  With 150mph winds and a storm track that's looking more and more like it'll pass close aboard, air travel is likely to be delayed until Tuesday optimistically.  Still, the FIA/Bernie Ecclestone has made the decision: both races will begin at their scheduled times.  As Will Buxton, the Legendary Announce Team's voice from the pit lane put it, however, "there's every chance there won't be a race tomorrow."

Which will give us plenty of time to hear about the real bombshell that dropped out of the blue around 4pm Pond Central time.  To whit, four-time world driver's champion Sebastian Vettel is leaving Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2014 season.  According to team boss Christian Horner, Vettel will be going to Scuderia Ferrari.  We're still waiting for confirmation from the Red Team about this, but Vettel confirmed it after Quals today, as well.  To take Vettel's place at Red Bull, Kid Kyvat will be promoted from Toro Rosso next year.

HWMNBN is almost certainly leaving Ferrari, and dear god, all signs point to him moving back to McLaren.  As you remember, Honda is coming back into F1 in 2015 as the engine manufacturer for McLaren, and they reportedly have zero interest in the current McLaren driver lineup; Button is almost certainly gone.  Of course, it's with McLaren that The Spaniard earned his "HWMNBN" monicker, after all.  The mind simply boggles at the unlikeliness  of that turn of events.

More to come as things shake out.  Race is at Midnight, Pond Central time, see ya there!  Bring a poncho and umbrella.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:23 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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