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At suji this year instead of suzuka, which is a bit of a bummer because suji's a bit of a boring race track, and no-where near as good as the race-track.

But aside from this, what the hell is Hamilton on about. Saying that mclaren want him to win the title. I've stuck up for him in the past, but this is bang out of order. If it was alonso saying this you'd never hear the end of it, and it's a bit unnecesary for him to come out and say it.

Fruday practise 2 times:

1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.734
2. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.948
3. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:19.483
4. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:19.711
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:19.714
6. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:19.789
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:19.926
8. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:19.949
9. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:19.969
10. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:20.069
11. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:20.069
12. Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota 1:20.233
13. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:20.270 *
14. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:20.336
15. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:20.462
16. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari 1:20.736
17. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:20.889
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.985
19. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.997
20. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:21.007
22. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:21.352

Fuji not Suji  :wink:

You spotted my deliberate mistake then   :--

Boo. Suzuka's my favourite track. Especially the crazy blind chicane at the top of the hill just before the start finish straight.

It took me ages to get that corner right on MotoGP  :x

Certainly did Fruday.

Woohoo, Go Lewis. Pole position.

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1 min 25.368 secs
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:25.438
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:25.516
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:25.765
5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:26.505
6. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:26.728
7. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:26.913
8. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:26.914
9. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:26.973
10. Robert Kubica (Poland BMW Sauber 1:27.225
11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:26.033
12. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 1:26.232
13. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1:26.247
14. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:26.253
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:26.948
16. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota
17. Rubens Barichello (Brazil) Honda 1:27.323
18. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota 1:27.454
19. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda 1:27.564
20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker - Ferrari 1:28.628
21. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 1:28.792
22. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker-Ferrari 1:29.688

Did not want Alonso next to Hamilton on the grid.  After last weeks antics it shows Alonso will do anything to jepardise Hamiltons Championship chase, ie running him off the track.

Fingers crossed for Lewis!

Wet quali with a possible wet race tomorrow. Sounds like fun.

Good response from Hamilton when he was twice under pressure with one run remaining (P17 session 1, P4 session 3).

Bring it on.

That's more like it Jenson, look at that gap between him and Barrichello.

To anyone who thinks F1 is anything less than 95% car 5% driver:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/standings/default.stm

Look at the top 14 drivers and their teams!

What did alonso do last week to jeapordise his championship. He held his line, nothing wrong with that.

fair play to Vettel, a toro rosso in 9th place :shock:

Good work from Hamilton and as mentioned, credit to Jenson and to Vettel because they've both qualified really well. Just have to see if they are on really low fule loads now!

F1 one would be much better if instead of cars they had midgets......

Oh wait, I think I've done that one.

fuck sake Vettel,what did you do that for? All falls nicely into place for Hamilton once again

Suzuka is a great track, Fuji is more for saloon car racing than F1.

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: @ Mark Webber ITV interview - "Kids, Kids without the necessary experience, they just fuck it up"

"Thanks Mark, we'll leave it there"

I guess that'll be cut for the re-run later on!

Good win for Hamilton today with Alonso having his normal crap race when under pressure .

Unless I am very much mistaken 4th and a 5th  place will seal the drivers crown for Lewis :) Of course a DNF would change things but it would go to the last race even then!

Superb race by Hamilton but my god am I shattered for getting up so early to see it!

Kimi Raikonnen I thought had a fantastic race despite Ferrari fucking up on tyres from the start - not sure quite what they were playing at.

Pleased for Kovaleinen (sp?) and all in all a very entertaining race and superb drive from a rookie whose only other experience driving in wet conditions was at the Nurburgring.

Highlight of the morning

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44147000/jpg/_44147035_pgalonso1.jpg

 :mrgreen:

I'm liking it Lady  :thumbs:

i think kubica is one for the future

Great race from Lewis, definitely the most impressive debut season ever, hope he seals it next week.

He is almost home and dry now. Just needs to finish 2nd in the next race really.

Ferrari getting into the mix would be good, as it'd take points from Alonso.

What's the odds of Alonso and Hamilton crashing out of China?

Did anyone see the story about Webber:
"Webber was suffering from food poisoning and vomited in his helmet during the first safety-car period...."

 :chunder:

Liuzzi got done for overtaking under yellow flags. That means that Adrian Sutil scores his first point of the season :dance:

Ah right, where's he from then?

Webber comes across as a bit of a prick to be honest.  Bit harsh the way he spoke about Vettel considering he was only 20 and it was his first race in the some of the worst conditions in F1 history.

To be fair, vision was so poor and all the drivers struggled.  Looking at the siutation, surely Webber does not actually think he would have got on the podium if Vettel hadn't clipped him?

I honestly thought both he and Vettel would have got on the podium, although the storming comeback from Kimi probably would have meant one of them missed out

I don't think either would.  Thought it was Webber getting ahead of himself and thought both their places were a bit short lived.  I expected them to get possibly some points but not a podium.

Are they taking the p....

Formula One officials are investigating Lewis Hamilton's victory in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix following complaints about erratic driving.
Red Bull's Mark Webber has accused the Englishman of doing a "bad job" behind the safety car after being knocked out of the race while following Hamilton.

Hamilton's win at Fuji gave him a 12-point lead and put him on the verge of winning the world championship.

If he is found guilty, he could have his points from Japan erased.

BBC 5live commentator David Croft, who is at the Chinese Grand Prix for this weekend's race, says there are also suggestions that Hamilton may be penalised 10 places on the grid in Shanghai.

 Webber was knocked out of the race by Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel while they were following Hamilton, and the Australian believes Hamilton braked excessively while they were following the safety car on lap 45.

Webber almost overtook Hamilton as the McLaren driver slowed and moved to the right while following the safety car before an unsighted Vettel hit him.

"Hamilton did a bad job behind the safety car," said Webber.

"He was not doing what he should have been doing, the rhythm was not there.

"It's hard to swallow, but I have to concentrate on the next race, that's all I can control."

German driver Vettel echoed Webber's comments in criticising Hamilton.

"It was my fault, but it is clear the rhythm was not there," he said.

"We are all sitting in the same boat. At that point (of the crash) I was distracted, looking to the right.

"I was sure Hamilton was retiring, he seemed to have no power any longer, but by the time I looked back, I was already in Mark's rear end."

F1 regulations state: "The safety car shall be used at least until the leader is behind it and all remaining cars are lined up behind him.

"Once behind the safety car, the race leader must keep within five car lengths of it."

he did nothing that other drivers haven't done in the same position, i saw nothing wrong with it. Vettel should have been looking at what he was doing end of.

What a joke.  Before the safety car goes back in all drivers stack the cars up behind them so they get a good start on the straight.  Was Webber not the idiot that kept coming up alongside Hamilton?

It'll be a 10 place grid penalty, or a severe warning/suspended points sentance IMHO. To take points away is OTT and they surely won't shaft MacLaren again will they?

To be fair he was acting a bit of a knob by continually sprinting and break testing Alonso when the safety car was lights off at the start. Dangerous in the poor weather.

Having said that you need to do whatever it takes to win the drivers championship.

Not sure he was at fault for the Webber incident mind.

And wasn't it Mark Webber that initially criticised his team mate, not Hamilton, for being at fault for the crash. Hamilton - being so good as the rookie is obviously getting people's backs up

round and round and round and round and round oh it raining round and round abit slower round and round abit slower crash cor that was exciting round and round and round.............sleep.

it is so boring, why did they stop them crashing?

Unless Alonso paid him  :shrug: :wink:

He was been a bit reckless at the time, but to disqualify him is OTT.

It'll be a 10 place drop at the next race and a warning as it future conduct.

But it'd be right if he gets done, all drivers/team were warned about it a few years ago after Alonso ended up in the wall following a Montoya 'brake-test' at Monaco in the tunnel.

Shame but still "do the crime, do the time" (unless you work for Ferrari and have the FIA in your pocket)

as was the vomitting he suffered in the free practice :wink:

It wasn't a great piece of driving and the more you watch the reply, the worse it looks for him. Having said this it wasn't very good driving by Vettel at all. I would imaging a 10 place drop will be enforced, as it has been done in Vettels case.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7027318.stm

And yet more accusations!  When will it ever end?

its all getting very boring, a solution could be ban both Ferrari and Maclaren from both drivers and constructors championship for this season. From here make both teams outline their designs (separately obviously) and submit them to the FIA pre-next championship.

As an aside Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso are said to be on Toyotas shortlist to replace Ralf for next championship season

I agree, getting ridiculous not to mention tedious.

Ferrari also receiving a ban would make the constructors championship very interested next year.

I think most people thought this.

320 emails and SMS's were exchanged...
It's unlikely the contained 320 pieces of Ferrari information to McLaren and none going the other way....

From what I saw Hamilton did nothing that Schumacher hasn't done when he's been leading under a saftey car.  He may have gone too slow on a couple of occasions but the commentators referred to a similar situation in a previous GP when Hamilton didn't back them up enough, so he was probably trying to avoid making that mistake again.

Agree. It was a degree of gamesmanship. He was doing exactly the same to Alonso during the lengthy first safety car period - trying to exert a measure of psychological control over your opponent.

Despite the fact he's an Aussie, I quite like Mark Webber. He calls a spade a fucking spade. However, this time he's gone a bit too far. Read back over several articles over the past five days, and not one quote from him blames Hamilton - until today. FFS Mark, stop whining like a baby and get on with it. Yes, your pissed off - I would be in your position - but please for the love of god stop this nonsense.

I think these drivers are just completely jealous they know they aren't capable of doing what Hamiltons done!  Hes a fighter and and a fantastic driver.

Talk this morning of him starting at the back of the grid - if so would be completely ludicris.

But it would potentially make the last race of the season more interesing, not that it could have crossed their minds  :wink:

Still think it'll be a 10 place penalty if he is found guilty.

If guilty the 10 points will go for sure

Hamilton has not been punished

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7029797.stm

:beers:

EXCELLENT!

I don't even like/watch F1 but i hope Hamilton win's it.

“Away from today’s events, I would just like to make it clear that, although I criticised Hamilton’s driving in yesterday’s FIA press conference, at no time have I made any official complaint about anyone’s driving following Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix,” he said.

Further to that it seems no official complaint was made - expect maybe by Alonso or Ferrari, or even Renault (hoping for the inherited win for Kova)

That is good, would have been a shame to spoil the title race with some sort of points penalty.

This season has been full of dodgy decisions and quite frankly is a little tainted.

No it isn't. Schumacher was involved in some sort of scandal almost every single year, this year there has had nothing  major in comparision, this one is a complete non story. You're obviously trying to devalue Lewis's achievements but you're clutching at straws.

Of course the Ferrari spygate row leading to the biggest constructors fine in F1 history is nothing major.  :?

only two or three major things in his career 8)
Hill, Villeneuve and Monaco

If it wasn't involving a British driver it would get next to no media coverage.

I agree with BWB......................

 :D

not at all, that was not what I was doing. You got me wrong there

In terms of how it affects the drivers championship I don't think it is, Schumacher more than once tried to decide an entire championship by clear cheating and I think that's far more serious. I am sure similar has happened before to be honest, team's have always copied each others ideas.

Apart from the all the team orders, blocking people's qualifying laps and not taking a stop and go penalty until after the race had finished.