Mercedes were comfortably quickest in the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton over six-tenths of a second faster than the next team.
Nico Rosberg made it a one-two for Mercedes followed by Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.
There was little to separate the two RB9s, Vettel less than two-hundredths of a second faster than Mark Webber.
The Ferraris and Lotuses were next, Romain Grosjean having gone off at Spoon Curve earlier in the session as he struggled with rear instability.
Other drivers had more serious problems. Jules Bianchi’s first session at Suzuka lasted just half an hour.
The Marussia driver went off at Degner 2 on his ninth lap, the car flicking to oversteer at the apex. Bianchi applied opposite lock but found his arm was jammed against the side of the cockpit as he tried to straighten the car. That sent him into the barrier, damaging the front-left corner.
Later in the session Bianchi’s damaged Marussia was joined by Giedo van der Garde’s car. The Caterham driver locked his brakes at the same corner and came to a stop in the gravel trap just shy of the barrier.
At the same time Pastor Maldonado had an unusual failure at Spoon Curve. His left-rear wheel came loose which pitched him into a spin, after which it came off completely.
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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
11th October 2013, 3:49
Yeah..RB just sand bagging..Seb will be on pole tomorrow.
David-A (@david-a)
11th October 2013, 3:54
Yeah, this even occurred in Korea’s FP1 as well.
reflection (@reflection)
11th October 2013, 4:12
They could be, but Merc have been good at the high downforce twisty bits when tire degradation issues didn’t affect their pacing. Pole will be between Merc and RB, and hopefully down to the wire.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
11th October 2013, 7:12
Mercedes were faster than Red Bull sector two at Korea, which is very similar to the Suzuka circuit in general, so I’m not too sure if RBR will be faster than Merc on Saturday.
David-A (@david-a)
11th October 2013, 3:52
Button’s lack of pace really ruined the top 10.
AMR (@aiera-music)
11th October 2013, 4:22
There goes a perfect combo! >.<
Keamo
11th October 2013, 8:04
And this is supposed to be his favourite circuit.
Rybo (@rybo)
11th October 2013, 3:53
Im guessing that should be Left-Rear wheel?
Libellula (@ladyf1fanatic)
11th October 2013, 4:01
Hope Mercedes can translate this into race pace! Need something to spice up the week-end! Glad Van Der Garde, Bianchi and Maldonado are looking fine, those crashes were nasty!
Chris (@tophercheese21)
11th October 2013, 4:07
*Loti
TheBass (@)
11th October 2013, 4:25
I doubt it’s applied to this case, since it’s the plural of a proper noun and not a common one.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
11th October 2013, 5:08
No i know, im just saying that Loti sounds better than Lotuses.
kcarrey (@kcarrey)
11th October 2013, 5:17
Loti sounds like the malay word for bread, roti.
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
11th October 2013, 5:55
Is it pronounced that way though? My initial thought was that it’s pronounced as ‘Lo-ty’, rhyming with loci (Which is also the plural of locus, which rhymes with Lotus :P)
Chris (@tophercheese21)
17th October 2013, 11:38
@woshidavid95
Yeah, lol
Pron: Lote – Eye
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
11th October 2013, 4:54
What a pleasure it is to see a circuit that punishes mistakes.
Grass and gravel is underrated.
David-A (@david-a)
11th October 2013, 5:15
Well, a non-street circuit, anyway. Singapore’s barriers were 2 races ago.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
11th October 2013, 6:05
Yes good point however even Singapore has a number of corners where running wide over the incredibly-flat kerbs means that you simply run on to more asphalt and off you go.
Mark my words it is simply a matter of time before the FIA introduces a ‘GPS engine limiting device’ (GELD device?) for when drivers go all four wheels off the track. Remember Geoff Crammond’s GP2 when the game would slow you down for cutting the track? That’s what F1 will be in a few years time…
IMO tracks should be lined with grass and gravel that punishes the little mistakes. What would the Degner turns be if they were altered to have flat kerbs and an airfield of flat run-off around them?
Similarly a number of Tilke-tracks would come alive with a bit of grass, gravel and raised kerbing.
Dave (@)
11th October 2013, 10:26
If only GPS was accurate enough (it’s only accurate to within 5-10 metres at best) :)
Piotr Koteryl (@stigrennfahrer)
11th October 2013, 9:12
I completely agree – I know that having asphalt runoff areas has decreased the number of crashes and retirements, but really speaking, it has dulled racing a lot. F1 drivers are supposed to be the best in the world – why not keep the challenge? They should be pushing to perfection, and in this case, not getting tyres onto the gravel would be the best indicator of this.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
11th October 2013, 10:16
I would like to have some kind of surface material in the run-off areas that stops still allows you to stay in the race but gives a severe time penalty (maybe 15 seconds or so depending on how far off you are).
BarnstableD (@barnstabled)
11th October 2013, 10:34
Treacle!
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
11th October 2013, 14:00
Fly-paper!
DaveW (@dmw)
11th October 2013, 15:30
Degner has always been a tricky corner. People regularly go off there on a GP weekend. It’s the Ste. Devote of Suzuka. You come through that semi-flat Degner 1, then have to line up for a slow, sharp, downhill turn right after.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th October 2013, 10:58
I knew something odd had happened ! it looked like he got oversteer, corrected it, and turned into the wall… the car was recovered like 5 meters before the kerb but he was still going left ! weird to see this happen !
DaveW (@dmw)
11th October 2013, 15:32
If the cockpit is too tight for the driver to properly turn the wheel in any situation, how is that not a safety issue?