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One week after
the Singapore Grand Prix the AT&T Williams team was back at Suzuka for the
2009 Japanese Grand Prix. After the disappointment of Singapore Nico Rosberg
is hoping to see this weekend produce a good result while for team-mate
Kazuki Nakajima Japan is his home race so he would want to perform well in
front of his fans and finally secure a points scoring finish. Friday would
see the track wet after heavy showers earlier on in the morning. It was very
overcast as the drivers were strapped into their cars. GP2 Asia champion
Kamui Kobayashi would take over from Timo Glock at Toyota during some of the
practice sessions due to Glock being unwell.
 Vettel would be the first out running on the full wet tyre. He was followed
by Heidfeld and the two Torro Rosso cars. The track was declared wet as more
drivers came out. Vettel and Heidfeld would pit after their installation
lap. Nico Rosberg was out on the track as the drivers pitted. Kazuki would
leave the pit lane to drive his first laps of the Suzuka circuit as Kazuki
had not driven a Formula One car at this circuit. Barrichello was the final
driver to go out for his installation lap. The track was now empty but
Barrichello would finally come out being the last man to complete his
installation lap.
Kovalainen was back out joined by Hamilton. Neither of these drivers had
driven at the Suzuka circuit and were looking to familiarise themselves to
the circuit. Vettel was also out on the track while Kovalainen set a time of
1m:52.546 while Hamilton would set a time of 1m:49.730. Kovalainen's next
lap was an improvement with a 1m:50.973. Vettel's first lap was a 1m:51.103.
Hamilton would improve with a 1m:46.974 while Kovalainen would improve with
a 1m:49.134 as other drivers took to the track, including Raikkonen,
Fisichella, and Grosjean. Hamilton would pit joined by Kovalainen while
Vettel was now second, 1m:48.286. Both Torro Rosso cars were out on the
track as Raikkonen moved into second with a time of 1m:47.702.
Vettel was third, 1m:48.286 from Kovalainen. Grosjean was fifth, 1m:52.472,
but Fisichella would move ahead with a time of 1m:52.064. Vettel had pitted
while Alguersuari would go seventh, 1m:54.870. Buemi was now fifth,
1m:50.479, with eight drivers having set a time. Fisichella would improve to
be fourth, 1m:48.914, as team-mate Raikkonen pitted. Grosjean was fastest in
the first sector as Raikkonen returned to the track. Fisichella was now
third from Buemi, Vettel, Kovalainen, Alguersuari, and Grosjean. Buemi was
now third, 1m:48.068, while Grosjean moved up to second with a time of 1m:47.072.
Nico was now out on the track along with Kubica, Kobayashi, Alonso, and
Barrichello. Alonso would run wide down at Turn eleven crossing the gravel
but he was able to get back onto the track and continue. The Renault's were
the only cars on the intermediate tyres while Alonso was eleventh with a
1m:55.676. Nico's first alp would see him seventh, 1m:48.748. Alonso would
go fastest with a time of 1m:46.152 from Hamilton, Grosjean, Raikkonen,
Buemi, Fisichella, Vettel, Nico, Kovalainen, Kubica, Alguersuari, and
Kobayashi. Kazuki was now out on the track with fifty two minutes left in
the session.
Barrichello was up to fourth, 1m:47.622, as the track became very busy. Both
Ferrari's had pitted while Hamilton had come back out joined by Webber and
Button. Grosjean was now second, 1m:46.864, but this would become third as
Vettel went fastest with a 1m:43.952. Alonso had improved with a 1m:45.300
with Barrichello now third, 1m:45.747. Kazuki was up to sixth, 1m:47.271,
while Nico was tenth and back in the pits. The quickest times were been set
on the intermediate tyres as Vettel set a stunning 1m:43.218 to be 2.082
ahead of second placed Alonso. Button was up in fourth, 1m:46.474 but
Barrichello and Webber would move ahead seeing button in sixth.
Hamilton would improve with a 1m:43.400 followed by Button who was now
third, 1m:44.969. But Kazuki would get bin on the act with a 1m:44.843 to be
third. But it was all changing with Webber now third, 1m:44.610. Kazuki was
fourth from Button, Alonso, Barrichello, and Grosjean in eighth. Kazuki
would improve to be third again with a 1m:43,766. The Williams car was
carrying anew front wing as well as a new rear diffuser. Hamilton was now
fastest with a 1m:42.642 from Vettel and Kazuki. Raikkonen was up to fifth,
1m:44.846, but Trulli would take this place with a 1m:44.804. Kovalainen was
up to third from Kazuki, Raikkonen, Liuzzi, and Buemi. Trulli was now eighth while Nico had returned to the
track looking to improve from his current eighteenth.
Drivers would continue to improve with Sutil up to second, 1m:43.055, while
Nico's first lap would see him fourth, 1m:43.221. Kazuki was now fastest
with a 1m:42.591, while Nico had dropped to fifth. Buemi was up to seventh
as Kazuki pitted with thirty five minutes remaining. Kobayashi would improve
to be seventh followed by Fisichella, Buemi, Raikkonen, Trulli, and Liuzzi
in twelfth. Button was out on the track and was currently in fifteenth.
Buemi would now be in fifth, 1m:43.199. Button would improve with a
1m:43.504 to be tenth. Kazuki was still fastest and Nico seventh. Nico would
pit while Barrichello was up to thirteenth. Slowest was Kubica with
team-mate Heidfeld was only two places ahead in
eighteenth.
The track would empty with only a handful of drivers out on the track. This
included fourth placed Kovalainen, Alonso, Kubica, Alguersuari, and
Grosjean. Fisichella was now eighth and this would become third, 1m:42.853.
Sutil was up to fourth, 1m:43.055. Nico had dropped to eighth while Kazuki
was still fastest. But Kovalainen would push Kazuki down to second when he
went fastest with a 1m:42.495. Grosjean would run wide at the spoon curve
but with the tarmac on the outside he was able to continue returning to the
track. Sutil was able to move to the top of the times with a 1m:41.958. Webber was also running and was
currently nineteenth. Sutil would pit as Kovalainen continued to lap the
circuit.
Nico would return to the track as Webber was on a quick lap moving up to
third with a time of 1m:42.491, making the best use of the improving track
conditions. Kovalainen was also on a quick lap going fastest with a
1m:41.757. Kazuki was now fourth and Nico ninth. Liuzzi was up to sixth,
1m:42.738, while Kovalainen continued to put in more laps. Raikkonen was up
to eighth, 1m:43.011, while Nico had dropped to be eleventh, 1m:43.221.
Kazuki was now back out on the track with twelve minutes left in the session. More drivers would
start to return to the track looking to make their final runs. Raikkonen was
now third, 1m:42.063.
Liuzzi was up to fifth from sixth placed Kazuki. Hamilton was out on the
track currently in seventh. Raikkonen improved to be second, 1m:41.817. Nico
had improved to be in ninth, 1m:43.188. Hamilton was again fastest with a
1m:41.443 while Nico would improve with a 1m:42.188 to now be fifth. Kazuki
was sixth but both Williams drivers would be pushed down the order when
Buemi moved into fifth, 1m:421.141. Fisichella was up to second, 1m:41.5389,
while Kazuki was on a quick lap. Buemi was now fastest with a 1m:41.437 as
the track conditions improved. Now Kazuki went fastest with a 1m:40.729. As
the track conditions improved the cars were going faster.
So with three minutes left it was Kazuki fastest from Buemi, Hamilton,
Fisichella, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Sutil, Nico, Webber, and Liuzzi. Nico had pitted
while Sutil moved up to second, 1m:40.806. Raikkonen and Alonso were seventh
and eighth. Slowest was Heidfeld while Kazuki continued to push and would
improve with a 1m:40.684 to be 0.158 ahead of Sutil. Nico was out of his car
and up on the pit wall. Kazuki's father Satoru, an ex Formula One driver,
was watching as the session came to an end. But in the dying moments
Kovalainen would go fastest with a 1m:40.356. Kazuki was second from Sutil,
Fisichella, Buemi, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen, Barrichello, and Nico in tenth. The drivers
would be allowed to return to the grid to practice starts.
This session was very much a case of getting use to the track but to draw
any conclusion from the times would be difficult. If it dries out the times
will again fall as they did during this session. For the AT&T Williams team
it was good to see Kazuki near the front of the times, but the big question
is whether or not he can maintain his position. As for Nico he seemed to be
very relaxed and unconcerned about his tenth place knowing full well that it
is the beginning of the weekend. |
