In Japan, the race has been stopped after a major accident, which occurred with Marussia team pilot — Jules Bianchi. At that moment, the leadership was held by Mercedes pilots.
15th Formula 1 Grand Prix was held at Suzuka track in Japan in October 5th. Last year Sebastian Vettel won here. This is one of the few races that attracts spectators to grandstands not only on race day, but also during practice and qualify. As for the Suzuka circuit, it is opened since 1987. Configuration was changed several times, but it is still very dangerous and the track has narrow security zones. Its length is 5,897 meters, and the current version has 18 turns. The F1 race has 53 laps.
Everything would be fine, but shortly before the race weekend it was reported that the Suzuka track is being approached by Phanfone typhoon. Teams set up initially the cars for the rain, but there are no typhoon settings. Everyone was expecting difficulties. But on Friday and Saturday the track was dry.
The best time in qualify showed Nico Rosberg — 1:32,506, «I do not remember about Singapore. Now I'm here in Suzuka, and my aim is to fight for the victory. Today everything was perfect and we expect that tomorrow the weather will be rainy, but we are ready for it. Last wet race was at Spa, and our car was very quick there. So we are very optimistic and it is possible that on a wet track, we will have an additional advantage. But if the weather is windy, it will raise the difficulty, because the car is very sensitive to strong winds. But I hope that everything will be fine.»
Almost the same time showed his teammate Lewis Hamilton — 1:32,703. The second row was occupied by Williams, Bottas and Massa correspondingly and the third row was occupied by Alonso (Ferrari) and Riccardo (Red Bull).
Daniil Kvyat, who was suffering from dehydration during the last race, showed 1:35,092, and started from the 12th position. But his result was not very interesting because the main news is that next season Daniil will take a place in the Red Bull team instead of Vettel: «I must thank Red Bull for this chance, they believed in me. We have been working together for a long time, they know my skills, and I will do my best to justify that trust. »
On Sunday, according to all forecasts the rain had to start. The paddock was quite nervous, because everyone knows that rainy race is dangerous. The Formula 1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, said: «I'm not going to change anything. If it starts to rain, the teams will have to race anyway.... Maybe on Sunday the storm will happen.” Looks like Bernie thought only just how spectacular can be race. According to the forecast the typhoon had to approach in about two hours after the start of the race.
So, the race started. Pilots passed warming lap on rain tires under the heavy rain, but this was not helpful for all. Sergio Perez from Force India almost immediately went off the road, but immediately he returned. The cars were passing behind the safety car, so at the start, nothing has changed. The rain was very heavy. On the second lap Ericsson from Caterham went away and marshals were trying to get him out of the security zone. At the third lap red flags appeared. The race was stopped.
Twenty minutes later, the race resumed, the rain almost ended. The start was again with the safety car. Fernando Alonso had problem with electric system so he had to leave the track after the 5th lap.
After the restart Rosberg kept the leadership. The racers started to change their tires to the intermediate. Silver Arrows had a huge reserve in time over the rest of the competitors, so they could focus only on competing each other; only one second was between them. And on the 29th lap, Hamilton overtook his teammate.
After the 41 lap the rain intensified. And almost immediately Sutil from Sauber crashed his car. The race was not stopped, the pilot was not injured, while the evacuation of the car happened. After one lap at the same place Jules Bianchi from Marussia team lost control over his car and crashed into a mobile crane, which was removing Sutil’s car. Jules did not respond to the radio and he did not come out the car. Bianchi was able to accelerate to 200 km/h before the hit. The race was stopped. The pilot got serious head injuries and he was without consciousness. There were rumors in the paddock that Jules suffered 50g overload.
The first three places were taken by Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, but those results were only for statistics.
Lewis Hamilton said: «First and foremost our thoughts are now with Jules — when one of us is injured we are praying for him. With this background, the result is not important. »
Only the next day Marussia team made an official release: «After yesterday's Jules Bianchi accident during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Marussia F1 Team would like to thank everyone for their support to Jules and our team at this difficult time. All the information about his condition will be published according to wishes of his family. Jules and they are our top priority. We would like to ask you for patience. The news about will be published together with the medical center Mie, where Jules, when they decide that this is the right moment. »
Photo: f1fanatic.co.uk
