Japanese GP 2016 Practice and quali thread.

[Rob]

Sorry bit early.

Kimi: Let’s keep fighting, ‘great people’ in all the team

“I like this track, it’s a nice and challenging circuit. When the car has a good balance and things run smoothly it’s great, but if you struggle to find the right set up it’s not the easiest place. If I remember well it was not too bad last year, so hopefully this year we can be strong. Starting from tomorrow we’ll see how it feels and what we found. This place is full of good and bad memories, like Jules’ accident: it was a very sad day. We have to do our best not to make it happen again. There’s been a lot of difference between teams in many races so now it’s impossible to say where we are compared the others. At the moment in the team we have all the tools, we have great people, compared to last year this season we have been doing a better job with my team. We have all the support we need from Italy from all the people who work in the factory, but we lack a bit the overall speed. We have to improve, but it’s not simple and takes time. It’s a bit painful where we have been finishing lately but this is part of F1, we keep fighting. There are a lot of small details that have to be correct, everybody is pushing. The fans here are great, very passionate, they always give us great support. Hopefully we can give them a good result.”

Seb explains reasons for being optimistic

“Suzuka is a phenomenal track and I have been lucky to have had so many podiums and wins here. As for us, we are not happy with our performance so far, if we could change it in a day we would. The last race was obviously not very good in terms of Constructors points, but I still believe we should be up against the best in the next races. That’s our target. Despite the lack of success this year so far, I think it has been a very good season if I look at the process behind the scenes. Of course you don’t see it yet clicking and happening on the track but I think I wouldn’t swap with last year. It was good and we had some success, but I think to set ourselves out for the future is very important. We get along well together, the work inside the team has improved massively. The secret is not just to get the right people or to get them to work but also to get everybody to work with each other and this is something that has been tremendously improved. It’s not a secret I have very high expectations for myself first and if I can’t deliver I’m not happy, and in that regard my performance this season has been a bit up and down”.

[Nova]

Thx for posting and starting the thread Rob. Im optimistic too, so lets
hope we have a good result.
Besides, Im sitting here in Florida, waiting out this slight weather
problem, so Im looking over the net for new things to read.

[Rob]

Thx for posting and starting the thread Rob. Im optimistic too, so lets
hope we have a good result.
Besides, Im sitting here in Florida, waiting out this slight weather
problem, so Im looking over the net for new things to read.

keep safe mate

[stefa]

PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:

POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.431s - 24
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.646s 0.215s 21
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m33.525s 1.094s 19
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.817s 1.386s 17
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m34.112s 1.681s 23
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m34.379s 1.948s 26
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m34.530s 2.099s 28
8 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m34.767s 2.336s 30
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m35.003s 2.572s 10
10 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m35.381s 2.950s 31
11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m35.446s 3.015s 23
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m35.672s 3.241s 27
13 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m35.677s 3.246s 24
14 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m35.688s 3.257s 17
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m35.967s 3.536s 15
16 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m36.169s 3.738s 23
17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m36.219s 3.788s 21
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m36.294s 3.863s 19
19 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m36.822s 4.391s 30
20 Esteban Ocon Manor/Mercedes 1m37.797s 5.366s 29
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m37.966s 5.535s 24
22 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m37.992s 5.561s 13

[fronaldo]

Kimi made huge improvement from med to Soft 1.9secs. Goes P2..Vettel only 1secs from hard to soft..Rosber 1.5secs from hard to soft

[wisepie]

Looking quite racy behind the Mercs, respectable times and hope we can maintain it for quali, where we need it.

[stefa]

PRACTICE TWO TIMES:

POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.250s - 35
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.322s 0.072s 35
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m32.573s 0.323s 26
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m33.061s 0.811s 29
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m33.103s 0.853s 34
6 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m33.570s 1.320s 37
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m33.873s 1.623s 35
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m33.985s 1.735s 37
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m34.028s 1.778s 33
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m34.086s 1.836s 33
11 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m34.127s 1.877s 33
12 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m34.150s 1.900s 29
13 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m34.241s 1.991s 33
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m34.305s 2.055s 27
15 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m34.339s 2.089s 36
16 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m34.398s 2.148s 29
17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m34.643s 2.393s 11
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m34.760s 2.510s 40
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.824s 2.574s 26
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m35.292s 3.042s 30
21 Esteban Ocon Manor/Mercedes 1m35.400s 3.150s 37
22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m36.318s 4.068s 26

[hakanabi]

Kimi Räikkönen complained of having to "fight the car" during the first day of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, despite his strong pace.

Räikkönen finished third in Friday's second session at Suzuka, behind only the Mercedes pair, but was unhappy with the balance of his Ferrari.

At one point, he ran wide at the hairpin, took a trip through the gravel trap and commented that "it feels like we're missing the front wing".

He nonetheless finished just three tenths down on Nico Rosberg.

"The balance is not probably where I want it to be," said Räikkönen.

"My lap time was pretty OK, but feeling-wise I suffered a lot with the understeer and fighting the car through first part of the circuit. It just doesn't feel nice. I was surprised a bit by the lap time.

"It got better in the end, but it's not where we want to be.

"Today the feeling was not very easy, but the lap time was OK. If we can get a good feeling and the car working as we want, we can improve a lot, so we'll see what happens."

Sebastian Vettel will take a three-place grid penalty this weekend after stewards deemed that he was at fault for the collision with Nico Rosberg at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

"For sure it doesn't help if you are starting a little bit further back, but overtaking is possible here, even though it's not easy," commented the four-time World Champion.

"For now, though, we need to work on the speed of the car.

"You would always love to have more grip here – it feels fantastic if you do. I think we can tune the balance and distribute the grip a little bit better so we are in better shape."

[Rob]

Kimi and Seb split the tyre programme to go 3rd and 5th fastest

Suzuka, 7 October – The Ferraris finished third and fifth fastest in the final 90 minutes of free practice on this Friday in Suzuka. The two drivers worked on different programmes in their SF16-Hs, while preparing for qualifying and the race. Kimi Raikkonen, third in 1.32.573, alternated between Medium and Soft tyres, while Sebastian, who was fifth fastest in 1.33.103, fitted the hardest tyre available here in Japan, the Hard. The only glitch was a minor electrical problem on Kimi’s car, which was quickly resolved, as the Finn completed 26 laps, eight fewer than his team-mate.
Rosberg was quickest of all in the session, doing a 1.32.250 on Soft tyres.

[IulianFerrari]

Kimi's time on the softs is encouraging, and with understeer and a handful car, and Seb's too. If they get the set up right we will have a good chance of a podium with either car.

[Rob]

Penalised Vettel not too worried about overtaking at Suzuka

Sebastian Vettel says he is not too concerned about the three-place grid penalty he is carrying in the Japan Grand Prix, despite the difficulty in overtaking around the tight Suzuka circuit.

The German was handed the penalty after he sent Nico Rosberg into a spin at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix last weekend.

Vettel was only fifth in second practice today, behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, and a repeat in qualifying will leave him with a lot of work to do.

"It is [difficult], but on the other hand it's not impossible," he said when asked about the ease of overtaking.

"Thank God we're not in Monaco. They say that it might rain as well at some point this weekend, so I think we need to be ready.

"For sure it doesn't help if you are starting a little bit further back, but overtaking is possible here, even though it's not easy."

Vettel was not too concerned about losing out to Raikkonen today.

"I think he got a better lap. Overall I'm not entirely happy with the balance, but I think it's something that we can work on. I think in the end obviously we had a run on the softs, and also on the very hard tyre in the afternoon.

"We focussed more on the soft in the morning. The balance is not yet there, now we'll look into the data, and see where we are, also compared to the others, and then go from there.

"For now we need to work on the speed of the car. Ideally you would always love to have more grip around here, because it feels fantastic if you do, but I think we can tune the balance and distribute the grip a little bit better, so that we are in better shape tomorrow."

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/pe...suzuka-835669/

[phsyklone]

We look to be quick but this will be short lived. Its always da same thing with Merc and Red Bull they dont reveal their pace and all of a sudden they are really quick come qualy and race. These laptimes dont impress me at all. Tomorrow we may see a bigger gap with Merc and Redbull having "Active suspension" this track will play to that strenght

[Rob]

Kimi Raikkonen: ”It was one of those days that seem a bit tricky but in the end go for better. My feeling with the car was not very nice, I suffered a lot with understeer and I was struggling with the balance through the first sector, but the lap time was ok . In the end we got a bit better, but we are not still where we want to be. In the second session I had a small electric issue, likely with a sensor, but we changed it and it was ok. Tomorrow is another day, we’ll try to work on small things to try to improve. If we get the car where we want and with a better feeling for sure we can go quite a bit faster.”

Sebastian Vettel: ”Overall,l I am not entirely happy with the balance of the car today, but I am sure this is something we can work on. I didn’t try the Medium compound, we focused more on the Soft tyre in the morning, and on the very Hard tyre in the afternoon. We tried to do our homework, but the balance is not there yet. We will now need to look at the data and see where we are, also compared to the others. Ideally you would always love to have more grip around here, because it feels fantastic if you do, but I am sure we can tune the balance and distribute the grip a bit better, so that we will be in a better shape tomorrow. As for race expectations, a podium finish is always possible, there might even be rain at some point. It sure doesn’t help if you start further at the back (because of the grid penalty), but overtaking is possible, even if it is not so easy.”

[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

[bondilad]

Thx for the pics Rob

[stefa]

We look to be quick but this will be short lived. Its always da same thing with Merc and Red Bull they dont reveal their pace and all of a sudden they are really quick come qualy and race. These laptimes dont impress me at all. Tomorrow we may see a bigger gap with Merc and Redbull having "Active suspension" this track will play to that strenght

As usual....

[Nova]

1 Rosberg Mercedes 1:32.250 140.816 mph
2 Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.322 0.072
3 Raikkonen Ferrari 1:32.573 0.323
4 Verstappen Red Bull 1:33.061 0.811
5 Vettel Ferrari 1:33.103 0.853
6 Perez Force India 1:33.570 1.320
7 Hulkenberg Force India 1:33.873 1.623
8 Alonso McLaren 1:33.985 1.735
9 Bottas Williams 1:34.028 1.778
10 Sainz Toro Rosso 1:34.086 1.836
11 Massa Williams 1:34.127 1.877
12 Ricciardo Red Bull 1:34.150 1.900
13 Grosjean Haas 1:34.241 1.991
14 Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:34.305 2.055
15 Magnussen Renault 1:34.339 2.089
16 Button McLaren 1:34.398 2.148
17 Gutierrez Haas 1:34.643 2.393
18 Palmer Renault 1:34.760 2.510
19 Nasr Sauber 1:34.824 2.574
20 Wehrlein Manor 1:35.292 3.042
21 Ocon Manor 1:35.400 3.150
22 Ericsson Sauber 1:36.318 4.068

[tifosi1993]

[stefa]

FP3 TIMES

POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.092s - 14
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m32.394s 0.302s 10
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m32.731s 0.639s 13
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m32.784s 0.692s 9
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.011s 0.919s 12
6 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m33.271s 1.179s 13
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m33.284s 1.192s 12
8 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m33.639s 1.547s 13
9 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m33.639s 1.547s 10
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m33.646s 1.554s 11
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m33.714s 1.622s 12
12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m33.787s 1.695s 16
13 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m33.865s 1.773s 9
14 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m33.921s 1.829s 11
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m34.037s 1.945s 12
16 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m34.272s 2.180s 13
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.388s 2.296s 12
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.544s 2.452s 13
19 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m34.548s 2.456s 11
20 Esteban Ocon Manor/Mercedes 1m35.230s 3.138s 13
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m37.256s 5.164s 10
22 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m56.323s 24.231s 3

[JPA]

FP3 TIMES

POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.092s - 14
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m32.394s 0.302s 10
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m32.731s 0.639s 13
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m32.784s 0.692s 9
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.011s 0.919s 12
6 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m33.271s 1.179s 13
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m33.284s 1.192s 12
8 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m33.639s 1.547s 13
9 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m33.639s 1.547s 10
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m33.646s 1.554s 11
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m33.714s 1.622s 12
12 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m33.787s 1.695s 16
13 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m33.865s 1.773s 9
14 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m33.921s 1.829s 11
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m34.037s 1.945s 12
16 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m34.272s 2.180s 13
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.388s 2.296s 12
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.544s 2.452s 13
19 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m34.548s 2.456s 11
20 Esteban Ocon Manor/Mercedes 1m35.230s 3.138s 13
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m37.256s 5.164s 10
22 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m56.323s 24.231s 3

Not too bad. Sad that RIC destroyed KR fast lap, Kimi already made fastest sector 1. 1.33.011 time was second attempt.
Narrow track and constant seeking for best possible track position is huge prblem here. I hope we manage to find good position during quali.

[fronaldo]

Kimi can get faster time..With Sebastian got grid penalty, Hope Kimi can challenge RB

[stefa]

Good time, but on softs....

[fronaldo]

Merc and RB saves a set of softs

[Kyss4k]

Merc and RB saves a set of softs

We brought more softs than them

[stefa]

Not bad, not bad at all

[IulianFerrari]

Hope we can keep this up in Q3 and get 3rd and 4th

[stefa]

Kimi!!!!

[fronaldo]

So close..Q3 part 2 to come