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2005 JAPANESE F1 GRAND PRIX

2005 F1 GP: R18 of 19, 2005 Japanese GP, Oct 9

CIRCUIT: SUZUKA

• 3.64 ml / 5.86 km circuit
• 53 lap race; total distance 193.0 ml / 310.8 km
• JAPAN GP Winners:
• 2004 winner: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
• 2003 winner: Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari
• 2003 pole: M SCHUMACHER, FERRARI, B 1m 31.317
• 2002 winner: M SCHUMACHER, FERRARI, B
• 2001 winner: Michael Schumacher/Ferrari
• 2000 winner: Michael Schumacher/Ferrari
• 1999 winner: Hakkinen/McLaren Mercedes
• 2004 RACE RESULT
• 1 Michael Schumacher , Ferrari , 53 LAPS
• 2 Ralf Schumacher , Williams-BMW +14s
• 3 Jenson Button , BAR Honda +19.6s
• 4 Takuma Sato , BAR Honda +31.7s
• 5 Fernando Alonso , Renault
• 6 Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren-Mercedes

• HONDA BUYS BAR F1
  Honda will buy the remaining shares in the BAR-Honda team and will run its own factory Honda team from 2006 F1 season. This is similar to Renault buying out Benetton and the recent purchase of Sauber by BMW. There will be 5 factory owned manufacturer teams next year: Ferrari F1, BMW F1 (new), Renault F1, Honda F1 (new), Toyota F1.
• WILLIAMS DRIVER LINE UP FOR 2006 SOON:
  Frank Williams: "Mark Webber will be the team's first confirmed driver for next year ... Antonio Pizzonia and Nico Rosberg are the other two drivers with whom the team has retained contractual relationship. We will confirm our full driver line-up in the not-too-distant future."

RACE RESULT

• 1. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) McLaren
  2. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Renault +1.6s
  3. Fernando Alonso (SPA) Renault +17.4s
  4. Mark Webber (AUS) Williams +22.2
  5. Jenson Button (UK) BAR +29.5
  6. David Coulthard (UK) Red Bull +31.6
  7. Michael Schumacher (GER) Ferrari
  8. Ralf Schumacher (GER) Toyota
• 9 Klien 10 Massa 11 Villeneuve 12 Barrichello 13 Sato 14 Monteiro 15 Doornbos 16 Karthikeyan 17 Albers
• DNF: Montoya - lap 1, Trulli, Pizzonia

RAIKKONEN, WINNER:

• "I think that was one of my best races ever with a lot of hard work and I really enjoyed myself. Considering all the problems we have had here to come away with a win is just fantastic. There was a lot happening on the first lap and both Juan Pablo and myself got involved, which is often inevitable when you are starting so far down."
• "I was pushing as hard as I could and the car just got better and better. My seventh gear was a little too short which meant that the revlimiter sometimes kicked in and made it difficult to overtake. I knew that Webber and Button had to pit before me, and after the second stop I had gained enough on Fisichella to go for it and I did."
• "I got past him on the last lap coming into the first corner, and it was one of those opportunities you have to take. Today's result means that I have the best possible position for qualifying in China, but as this weekend showed that is no guarantee. I look forward to Shanghai where we will do everything we can to win the Constructors' Championship."

Giancarlo Fisichella, 2ND:

• "That was a tough race this afternoon. I got a good start, but the early safety car period certainly cost me -- it kept the field very close together in the early stages, and I wasn't able to pull out the kind of gap over the quick cars at the back of the field that I would have hoped for. Even so, the strategy worked well to get me out in front of Ralf and Jenson, and after that I just concentrated on doing my race, and trying to lap quickly and consistently."
• "The team told me Kimi was close after the last stop, and he caught me up quite quickly -- especially when I got chopped by a backmarker into 130R, which cost me a lot of time. He was very fast in the final part of the lap, and I did my best to hold him off, but he held the line into the first corner and that was that. I am disappointed, of course, but this is still a good result for the team in the championship.

Fernando Alonso, 3RD:

• "It sounds strange, but I am quite disappointed with third: the car felt just fantastic today, and I thought that we were probably a match for McLaren for the first time since the start of the season. So after starting ahead of them and having the opportunity to beat them, it didn't really work out for us today."
• "There was a strange incident with Klien, when I was seven seconds ahead and told to give the position back, which surprised me a little bit. And then with the strategy today, I just seemed to end up in traffic behind slower cars all the time. But for the first time at Suzuka, I had a car that was good enough to overtake, and there were some special moments -- especially with Schumacher and Webber."
• "I think I have done maybe two or three overtaking manoeuvres all year up to now, and today there were about fourteen, but I could afford to take the risks because there was nothing to lose. It was good to get my fourteenth podium of the year this afternoon, and I want number fifteen in China.

QUALIFYING (vs: 2004 pole (wet) 1m 33.542; 2003 pole 1m 31.317)

• R SCHUMACHER: "It's obviously an incredible feeling to take my first pole position for Toyota, and what better place could there be to do it than here at Suzuka, the team's home track and my own personal favourite. I'd like to thank everyone in the team for helping to make it happen - both here in Japan and back at the factory in the Cologne. Obviously the weather worked in our favour but that doesn't often happen so I'm happy to take that slice of luck this time. The lap itself was difficult because of the changing conditions and far from perfect. The track was very slippery and that meant the car was hard to handle with lots of oversteer. But it was a reasonable time and I will certainly take it because it has put me on pole! Looking at the cars around us I'm optimistic that we can fight to convert this into a great result tomorrow."

RAIKKONEN PENALISED FOR ENGINE CHANGE

• engine failure on Friday will demote Raikkonen 10 places down the grid

GRID - WET SESSION

• 1 Ralf Schumacher , Toyota 1m 46.106
  "It's obviously an incredible feeling to take my first pole position for Toyota, and what better place could there be to do it than here at Suzuka, the team's home track and my own personal favourite"
• 2 Jenson Button , BAR
  "It's fantastic to be on the front row of the grid for Honda's home race here at Suzuka. I'm very happy with the position, if not the lap itself. We were lucky with the weather as the rain came soon after my run. The car itself had massive understeer everywhere and it was difficult to drive, particularly as we had not the run the wet tyre before this weekend. All in all we have set the car up well for the race, we have a good strategy and I hope to go really well in front of the incredible crowd of fans that we have here this weekend."
• 3 Giancarlo Fisichella , Renault
• 4 Christian Klien , Red Bull
• 5 Takuma Sato , BAR
• 6 David Coulthard , Red Bull
• 7 Mark Webber , Williams
• 8 Jacques Villeneuve, Sauber
• 9 Felipe Massa, Sauber
• 10 Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari
• 11 Karthikeyan 12 Pizzonia 13 Albers 14 M Schumacher 15 Doornbos
• RAIN STARTED
• 16 Alonso
• 17 Raikkonen 18 Monteiro 19 Trulli 20 Montoya
• QUALIFYING REPORT
• ALONSO, 16TH: "Well, you would have to say that wet qualifying sessions haven't been my strong point this year! But seriously, the circumstances were very similar to Australia where I qualified when the track was wettest, and I am not too stressed -- I just hope to do a good job like we did in Melbourne, when I was able to come through the field. Obviously, it is good for the constructors' championship that both McLarens are behind us, but I will just do my race, push to the maximum and aim to get into the points. Hopefully we can do something good for the championship tomorrow.
• RAIKKONEN, 17TH: "The rain started falling heavily just a few minutes before Juan Pablo and I had to qualify, so the conditions were bad, and it was really too wet to do anything at all. It's a shame for the team that we suffered so much, but you never know what the weather will do tomorrow, and as we have seen in the races this year anything can happen. I'm obviously disappointed, but I didn't get penalised as much as I would have had to move ten places down the grid anyway. We will go out tomorrow and do the best race we can and then see where we are in the Constructors' standings afterwards."
• MONTOYA, 20TH: "There is nothing to say really -- the weather decided it all today. It is a nightmare as both Kimi and myself suffered despite finishing one-two in the last race, and it's important that we are at the front to fight for the Constructors' Championship. The team told me not to finish my qualifying lap as there would be more benefits from a strategic point of view by saving fuel. At least Alonso is at the back as well, but the situation from a Constructors' Championship point of view is far from ideal. However I'm sure we can finish in the points tomorrow, which is what we must aim for and I have started from 20th before and finished second."

SAT PRAC #2, OCT 8, 2005 *** WET ***

• 1 Giancarlo Fisichella , Renault 1:50.13
• 2 Narain Karthikeyan , Jordan +0.014
• 3 Ralf Schumacher , Toyota +0.23
• 4 Jenson Button , BAR
• 5 Christijan Albers , Minardi
• 6 Tiago Monteiro, Jordan
• 7 Mark Webber , Williams
• 8 Jarno Trulli , Toyota
• 9 David Coulthard , Red Bull
• 10 Robert Doornbos, Minardi

FRI PRAC #2, OCT 7, 2005

• 1. *Ricardo Zonta , Brazil, Toyota 1m 30.682 (vs 04 pole 1m 33.542 WET)
  2. Michael Schumacher , Germany, Ferrari 1m 31.716
  3. *Pedro de la Rosa , Spain, McLaren 1m 31.821
  4. Rubens Barrichello , Brazil, Ferrari 1:32.267
  5. Kimi Raikkonen , Finland, McLaren 1:32.849
  6. Ralf Schumacher , Germany, Toyota 1:32.917
  7. Jarno Trulli , Italy, Toyota 1:33.122
  8. Fernando Alonso , Spain, Renault 1:33.259
  9. Jenson Button , Britain, BAR 1:33.453
  10. Mark Webber , Australia, Williams 1:33.520
  11. David Coulthard , Britain, Red Bull 1:33.563
  12. Antonio Pizzonia , Brazil, Williams 1:33.679
  13. Takuma Sato , Japan, BAR 1:34.330
  14. Giancarlo Fisichella , Italy, Renault 1:34.400
  15. Felipe Massa , Brazil, Sauber 1:34.421
  16. Christian Klien , Austria, Red Bull 1:34.707
  17. *Sakon Yamamoto , Japan, Jordan 1:34.829
  18. Jacques Villeneuve , Canada, Sauber 1:34.874
  19. Vitantonio Liuzzi , Italy, Red Bull 1:34.977
  20. Robert Doornbos , Netherlands, Minardi 1:35.150
• *reserve driver

2005 RACE PREVIEW:

BAR - BRIDGESTONE - FERRARI - JORDAN - McLAREN - RENAULT - SAUBER - TOYOTA - WILLIAMS

BAR-HONDA PREVIEW:

• Jenson Button: "Suzuka is special because it's Honda's home circuit. I've had good support there in the past, especially since I've been involved with Honda and the B*A*R Honda team. I'm excited about going back, and I think if we sort out the issues we had in Brazil, we'll be reasonably quick."
• "Suzuka is a very tough circuit, mentally and physically. You have to be very precise around there, and also very consistent, which is difficult. It is definitely one of my favourite circuits."
• Takuma Sato: "The Japanese Grand Prix is a very special race for many reasons. I love the layout of the Suzuka circuit as it follows the natural lay of the land and of course the atmosphere over the race weekend is fantastic. The corners and combinations of the track are very challenging, but a lot of fun to drive."
• "As there are many corners through the speed range, from low to very high speed, making up the unique figure-of-eight, it is important to get the set-up of the car right. You also need a good balance, especially for Turns 1 and 2 and into the S's as most of your time is spent cornering. Obviously I am always very excited when I come back to Suzuka and am looking forward to a great race in front of my home crowd next weekend."
• Gil de Ferran, Sporting director: "Together with Silverstone this is one of our most important grands prix as it can be considered as one of our home races - not only because of Honda but because of Takuma also. The Suzuka track is a legendary drivers' circuit."
• "For this race both Jenson and Taku will be driving the latest spec engine from Honda and we will have further developments on the car. We welcome the opportunity to perform next weekend, not only in front of the great number of F1 fans in Japan, but also in front of the supporters within our Honda family."

FERRARI PREVIEW:

• BARRICHELLO:

BRIDGESTONE PREVIEW:

• Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport:
• Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager:

McLAREN-MERCEDES PREVIEW:

• Norbert Haug, (Mercedes-Benz Motorsport): "Suzuka is the second longest circuit on the calendar after Spa- Francorchamps. The first sector with the uphill Esses is a unique challenge and also the rest of the track requires excellent driving skills and a good handling car. Suzuka really shows the strengths and weaknesses of each driver/car combination like probably no other circuit."
• "We have achieved 11 podium finishes at Suzuka in the 10 years we have been working together with McLaren. Everybody in the team is working very hard in order to continue our trend of the last five races."
• RAIKKONEN: "We will give it our all to win the Constructors' World Championship by aiming to score the best possible results in Japan and China, and I think we have the package to achieve this. Juan Pablo and I had a good battle in Brazil and I am looking forward to continuing it this weekend! The Drivers' title fight is over for this year and now we want to win the Constructors'."
• "Suzuka is a great track; it is fun to drive and really allows you to push the limits. 130R corner was modified before last year's race, but it is still a good challenge. It is quite difficult to overtake here though."
• "There are tight hairpins, sweeping corners and long straights, so set- up is a compromise, mainly with the slower sections to ensure we can be flat out through the esses, which is key for a quick lap time. It is a low grip track though, so we do need quite a bit of downforce to handle this."
• MONTOYA: "With two races remaining, myself and Kimi need to take as many points away as possible from both Grands Prix to clinch the Constructors' World Championship. The car felt really quick in Brazil and there are some modifications coming on board after the recent tests, so we need to maximise this on track."
• "All the different sections of Suzuka have their own unique characteristics. You know you have to be smooth with good balance and power through the esses, traction and braking stability for the chicane and high downforce at Spoon and 130R. So we need a compromise and we have a medium downforce set-up. As with Brazil, the fans in Japan are crazy about Formula One; they are always so excited, which is great fun."

RENAULT RACE PREVIEW:

• ALONSO: I always enjoy Japan. It is very technical and complex, and all the drivers feel very good there -- there are lots of high speed corners, and that is a big challenge. It is very complicated for the engineers as well, and getting the set-up right is a good challenge for them. Plus we always enjoy the weekend because there are so many fans there supporting F1, which means we have a great atmosphere
• FISICHELLA: Japan is another really great circuit, with a very challenging first sector and lots of long left-hand corners that can be hard for the neck. You need a good engine because there are a few long flat out sections, good downforce and good traction to get speed out of the last corner and over the start-finish line.

SAUBER RACE PREVIEW:

• Jacques Villeneuve:
• Felipe Massa:

TOYOTA RACE PREVIEW:

WILLIAMS-BMW RACE PREVIEW:

• Antonio Pizzonia: "I am really looking forward to racing in Japan. I don't know the circuit at all, so it is going to be a big challenge for me. Driving on a new track is always very exciting though and I've heard a lot of positive things about Suzuka, especially from other drivers, so I can't wait to drive there. I am going to practice in the team's simulator which is the best way to learn a track, apart from actually driving it, of course!"
• "Due to the limited running I had during the Brazilian Grand Prix, I will have some extra miles available on my engine, which will allow some extra running on Friday and Saturday, which will help me to familiarize myself with the track. In 2001, I went to Suzuka as a spectator so I am very happy to go back this year and be among those racing!"
• Mark Webber: "I'll be heading to Suzuka after a very busy week. I went straight from Brazil to Spain for two days of testing at Jerez, which proved very successful. We managed to achieve a lot of mileage over the course of the two days and made some electronic and mechanical changes to the car. We also completed a full programme of tyre testing for Michelin which was my last working for them, ahead of our switch to Bridgestone next season."
• "Suzuka is a fairly unique circuit as it has a figure of eight track configuration and has a tremendous amount of high speed corners as well as some slow, technical ones. It's great we're going to such a fantastic venue late in the season as it will provide a good send off for the V10 engines as they can punch out their full potential on a fast, flowing circuit such as Suzuka."
• "Realistically, I think our own goal for the weekend is simply to try and score some points so we can maintain a comfortable buffer between ourselves and BAR."
• Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): "Suzuka is one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar for the drivers, where intense focus is required through the initial Esses section. If you get the first corner wrong, the penalty grows through the whole sector. With high speed corners, an hairpin and a chicane, Suzuka has everything. Strong braking performance is required for the chicane, and to a lesser extent at the hairpin."
• "However, high speed stability is more important as is the driver's confidence to allow him to push hard through the Esses. Strategy will be interesting because Suzuka is one of the circuits where carrying too much fuel can be a penalty due to the high speed corners.
• "We will have some aero changes in Japan which we hope will improve the FW27 for the final couple of races. We finished our 2005 in-season test programme in Jerez this week, during which Mark, Antonio and Nico worked through a comprehensive programme of tyre testing for Michelin, brake duct improvements and set-up changes for Suzuka."
• Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "Not only is the Suzuka circuit extremely demanding from a driver's point of view. It is also a major challenge for the oil system of the BMW P84/5 engine, especially in the high-speed 130R where it has to endure tremendous lateral loads. Last year, we measured 6g in that particular corner."
• "We are hoping for a positive conclusion to a disappointing season at the two remaining races in Asia. Japan and China are important markets for BMW. The BMW Group was the first European car manufacturer to launch a full subsidiary in Japan as early as 1981. In 2004, sales of BMW and MINI models in Japan exceeded 50,000, while 2005 has seen BMW claim the top slot among imported brands for the first time."

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