Preview of Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix at Suzuka

Hopes for Qualifying today washed away by the rain

9 October 2010

The Japanese Grand Prix got off to the usual start yesterday

with both practices going somewhat as planned. Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren after pushing too hard round a corner and severely damaging his car. This took him out of the practice sessions and left his team’s mechanics with a very large task ahead of them to get his car in working order to at least complete a couple of laps. The Red Bulls were flying round the track and really showing off the power of their cars with Vettel and Webber producing the top times in both practice sessions yesterday. This is good news for the Red Bull team since it if it’s anything to go by, then they’ll certainly collect a lot of points in tomorrow’s Grand Prix. As for today’s events there’s really not much to report on. The rain came as was predicted and simply flooded the track. Only two drivers managed to set any times in the third practice with all of the other cars sliding around the track and unable to properly test anything. McLaren have had to have replacement parts flown over from their factories to replace those that were damaged during Lewis Hamilton’s unfortunate crash yesterday. Qualifying has been postponed until tomorrow, so it looks like it’s going to be a busy day. There is no forecast yet for bad weather and it’s hardly surprising really since we had about a week’s worth of bad weather today. Ferrari’s Alonso has concerns about the performance of the Red Bulls but I have no doubt they’ll all give it their best tomorrow as so much is depending on it now that the 2010 season is nearing it’s close.