Formula One: Steve Slater’s Japanese Grand Prix report
Sebastian Vettel may not have been able to celebrate his fourth world championship title last weekend in Suzuka, but the way in which he stamped his authority on the Japanese Grand Prix marked him as a worthy victor. His drive, on one of the great driver’s tracks on the calendar, was potentially his best of the season.
All Sebastian Vettel now needs to do in next weekend’s Indian Grand Prix is to finish in fifth place or higher. If he achieves that, even were Alonso to win every remaining race, Vettel will claim his fourth, back-to-back world title, a feat only ever previously achieved by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.
Vettel was forced to fight for his victory all the way. In qualifying he was delayed by a fault in his car’s KERS electronic power system, robbing him of around 80 horsepower. Team-mate Mark Webber duly claimed pole position by just 0.15 of a second as Vettel made it a Red Bull 1-2.
Asked later how much time Vettel had lost as a result of the fault, team boss Christian Horner suggested a delay of about 0.4 of a second. In other words, without the fault, Vettel would have been more than half a second ahead of any other driver.
At the race start however, both Red Bull drivers were trounced by the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, which shot from fourth to first place. The Frenchman, last year labeled a ‘first lap clown’ by Webber after a collision at the opening corner, this year pulled off the perfect start.
“I really don’t know how I did it” grinned Grosjean after the race. “I set the revs, dropped the clutch and paff! Dream start!”
As Grosjean held his advantage over a hard-charging Webber in second place, Sebastian Vettel notably held back. The German was pacing himself, driving more gently than his teammate and crucially by staying more than two seconds behind the lead duo, he was keeping out of the air turbulence generated by their cars.
When a driver runs in ‘dirty air’, the front and rear airfoils become less efficient. That in turn increases tire wear, which governs pit stop strategy. By his canny ploy of keeping out of the turbulence, Vettel was able to run 14 laps before his first pit stop, three more than Webber and two more than Grosjean.
Between the first and second pit stops, Vettel was again being urged by his engineer to drive a tactical race, while Webber attacked the race-leading Lotus. When Vettel slipped in the fastest race lap he was reminded, “Don’t go bananas, its getting tactical out there”.
As the drivers headed through their second pit stops, Vettel was able to push his pace on his fresher tires to close in on Grosjean and the lead. Webber meanwhile had to stop for a third time before resuming his pursuit of the Lotus, ultimately using the pace of his Red Bull to snatch second place.
Grosjean, having led for almost two thirds of the race was philosophical, acknowledging that ultimately the Red Bulls were unbeatable. His performance though, had won him an unlikely new admirer: Mark Webber.
“He’s driven some strong races, putting together the whole weekend, which is a sign of a driver starting to get a bit more relaxed and confident. Yeah, he’s doing a good job. I just hope he doesn’t improve too much more before the end of the year!”
The drive, it seems has already paid off for Grosjean. He has reportedly been told his seat at the Lotus team for 2014 is his, and most likely he will be paired with Niko Hulkenberg to create one of the best young driver line-ups for next season. Vettel meanwhile, is still focusing his attention on the 2013 title.
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