Rosberg takes pole after Kvyat rolls his Red Bull

2015 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying

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Nico Rosberg took pole position for the second time in 2015 after a close fight between him and Lewis Hamilton was interrupted by a major crash.

Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat flipped his car after skidding off the track in the final moments of Q3 at Suzuka.

Q1

There were several unhappy drivers at the end of Q1 after Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso stopped at the hairpin with an electrical problem, which prevented his rivals from improving their times.

They included Marcus Ericsson,who had spun off at Spoon on his first run. The Sauber driver managed to haul his way out of the gravel trap around the fringes of the turn, but the yellow flags for the Verstappen incident halted his final effort. Team mate Felipe Nasr joined him in the drop zone.

Jenson Button was also unimpressed, blaming a communication problem which left his car in the wrong engine settings for his first effort being too slow to make the cut. “With the position we are in we can’t make any mistakes,” he fumed on the radio.

The Manor pair failed to progress as usual, and Alexander Rossi’s unrepresentative lap time left him well outside of the 107% mark, leaving his participation in the race at the discretion of the stewards.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

16 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’35.664
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’35.673
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’35.760
19 Will Stevens Manor-Ferrari 1’38.786
20 Alexander Rossi Manor-Ferrari 1’47.114

Q2

The Mercedes pair easily led Q1 and the same was true in Q2. Kimi Raikkonen, third, was seven-tenths of a second adrift, with the Williams pair close behind.

With Verstappen unable to participate any further in qualifying, just four of the remaining runners would be eliminated. Despite a superb effort, one of them was Fernando Alonso, who came within half a second off getting his McLaren into Q3 at Honda’s circuit.

Nico Hulkenberg had to settle for 11th place again as Romain Grosjean secured a place in the final ten for the beleaguered Lotus team. However the Force India driver will take a three-place penalty on the grid for the race following his collision with Felipe Massa in Singapore.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’34.390
12 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Renault 1’34.453
13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1’34.497
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’34.785
15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault

Q3

The opening salvo from the two Mercedes drivers was gripping to watch. The pair were separated by just hundredths, sometimes thousandths of a second through each sector on their first lap. Rosberg seized the initiative by a mere 0.076 seconds, but a scruffy middle sector from Hamilton hinted he could easily find more time.

Valtteri Bottas took up third place but a mistake by his team mate at the chicane allowed Vettel to provisionally claim a place on the second row of the grid.

The scene was set for a dramatic conclusion to the session, but the result was drama of a different kind. Approaching the turn ten kink Daniil Kvyat dropped a wheel onto the grass, over-corrected and made heavy contact with the barrier on the outside. The RB11 rolled and came to a rest upright, its driver unharmed.

The red flags immediately flew, and with just 36 seconds left on the clock there was no time to get the session restarted. Rosberg was therefore confirmed on pole position.

Top ten in Q3

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.584
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’32.660
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’33.024
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’33.245
5 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’33.337
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’33.347
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1’33.497
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1’33.967
9 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes
10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault

2015 Japanese Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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116 comments on “Rosberg takes pole after Kvyat rolls his Red Bull”

  1. Scary crash. Just a reminder how far we’ve come in terms of safety, and a reminder to those who complain about tarmac run-offs all the time. Safety first!

    1. If the run-off was tarmac, he wouldn’t have rolled; from the footage, it looked like the roll happened as the result of the car digging into the grass/gravel. But then, if the run-off was tarmac, the barrier impact would have likely been harder.

      So, should that run-ff be changed? After careful consideration, my answer is… potato.

      1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
        26th September 2015, 20:10

        The rollover looked dramatic but was safe for the driver, Kvyat did walked away unscathed. Had that area been tarmac he may well have been injured by the car landing flat on the hard surface after getting airborne when he hit the tyre wall.

        1. But a rollover brings the driver’s head closer to the ground. Yes, there’s the rollhoop, but it still increases the risk. But like I said, I don’t know whether the run-off should be changed or not.

  2. Raikkonen looking quick through the session, and in the end he still starts only 6th…

    1. I guess his first q3 run on used tires wasn’t that good…. He easily had the pace for third though

      1. He didn’t do that lap time on used tyres. Dunno what gave people that impression.
        Also, do you think Kimi did his lap with used tyres whereas Vettel did his on new set? No. So he didn’t have the pace for third then. At least for that lap. Same with Hamilton and Rosberg. Like making a mistake and locking up was not a fault and doesn’t count.
        Raikkonen said his tyres weren’t good in Q3 lap. Vettel said the same thing for his Q2 tyres and he’s also gonna start the race on those. That might be a tyre-related issue for Ferrari.

    2. He is seldom there when it counts, and he’s had his share of misfortune also.

    3. It’s a lot like hit-and-miss in circuits with high speed corners. It’s either close between teammates over a season, or one of them gets the upper hand in one high speed track and the other gets the upper hand in another.

  3. 5 bucks says that Rosberg will do this at the start tomorrow, especially considering that his starts haven’t been good at all lately.

      1. Vettel is a first lap monster.

  4. Well, that was very anti-climatic. Was looking forward to the usual last lap showdown. Glad Kvyat is ok.

    1. How funny would it have been if Jenson had made it to Q3 and come on the radio after the session was red flagged and said: “And on that bombshell, goodnight!” :D

      1. The diplomacy has been noticeably slipping lately but who can blame him? Quicker than Alonso in fp – based on Alonsos grid slot JB stood a good chance of a decent (for McC) starting position. I get frustrated just reading about the stuff that the two of them are dealing with. As if they hadn’t got enough unreliability Honda / Mac shoot themselves in the foot. You do start to wonder about their Process Control.

    2. @trublu I only saw the BBC short highlights so I knew what to expect, but I agree that it is a shame to not know what would have happened.

      Nevertheless it was an exciting end in one way, in that we saw a massive crash. Expect to see a tarmac runoff at that corner next year.

      1. @strontium If they replace that corner with tarmac run-off area next season then I’m going to quit watching F1. It’s crazy how they feel the need to sanitize every corner.

        1. larry onyekwere
          26th September 2015, 14:00

          lol. you say you will quit watching as if it would make a dent in f1 cash flow. above any entertainment, driver safety should be the ultimate. my opinion though

          1. Just playing Devil’s advocate here, if you truly believed that driver safety trumps all other considerations then you’d be calling for the ban of the sport, and motorsport in general.

    3. We wouldn’t have seen it anyway. Director was more concerned with cute toddlers in the crowd and the Ferris wheel. Between the terrible direction and Leigh diffy’s grating, hysterical commentary that was tough to get through.

  5. This weekend has made me question why F1 bothers having 3 practice sessions. I normally watch all of them, but this weekend FP1 & 2 were a waste of time. Teams seem to be just fine with 1 practice session, compressing their programme they need to run. If anything, there is a chance for a slightly more mixed-up grid, which is only positive.

    1. I think at least 2 sessions would be better. Maybe you can scrap one, but not both. Well I watch all of them. I’m happy with 3.

      1. I think one saturday 1hr 30min practise would be best with the same tyre allocation as it creates a two day event and spectators get to see cars on track the whole session, only negative 3rd drivers would lose out

        1. when in the hell are the teams supposed to test their cars?

  6. Lucky Rosberg

    1. Um, he finished first

      1. The session was interrupted by Kvyat crash.

        1. Poor Hamilton more like. If he’d kept it clean he would have easily been pole.

          1. @john-h
            I’m not so sure about that. The side-by-side comparison of the Mercs’ laps revealed that, despite not finding a “clean” way through Degner 2, the hairpin and the chicane, Hamilton didn’t lose the tiniest bit of time in these corners. The decisive loss occurred in Degner 1, where Rosberg seemed to be able to carry more speed around the apex. From that point onwards, the small advantage he had gained, stayed with exactly the same through every single corner, implying that Hamilton’s small mistakes didn’t really affect his lap time.
            In his second run, Hamilton said he had gained 0.15 seconds up to the crash scene. But the same holds true for Rosberg, so I don’t think the crash affected the battle for P1 significantly.

          2. @nase thanks for the info, sounds like you’re right. In my limited knowledge of the hairpin (gauged from GP4!), you can take many lines through it. Not sure if the lock-up took life out of the tyre for the rest of the lap though, but anyways Rosberg again on top in Suzuka.

    2. Nothing to do with luck.

  7. The most worrying part of that accident was how close he came to going over the barrier. When his back end hit first and spun him round the nose hits the top of the tyres, if it had spun at just a slightly different angle and his nose was another foot further up he would have gone over and there is a metal advertising structure (and a tractor!) just on the other side of it.

    1. I don’t see how it would’ve been possible to get the front a foot higher though.

      1. If his back wheel had hit at a slightly different angle it could have easily spun him over the tyres instead of just hitting the top row of tyres, unlikely but then how likely was last years accident here and we all saw the result of that.

  8. Good effort from Alonso. Hopefully they can scrape into the points with luck

    1. What’s the point of “scraping into the points with luck”?

      1. Higher championship position at the end of the season, and more money for next year

  9. Such a shame for Verstappen, looked fast enough for Q3 and comprehensively beating his team-mate again. Still, at least tomorrow will be massively exciting.

  10. It was so boring to watch….

    1. larry onyekwere
      26th September 2015, 14:04

      so, its boring now because its back to business for mercedes? oh well, some folks…

      1. Despite the victory of another team, Singapore was the worst race by some margin.

        1. Not really no. I mean I could understand that if we didn’t watch Monza 1 week earlier…

        2. Australia, China, Spain, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Italy.
          At least half of these races were like inarguably worse. Other half might be negotiated.

      2. Hamilton fan? Mercedes fan? It was plain boring, nothing to do with which driver it is or which team it is. But to like that one, you probably need to be a fan of certain teams or drivers….

    2. The crash at the end livened it up. Would have been a decent shoot-out as well. Pound for pound it was probably more exciting than the Singapore GP.

      1. Kidding, right? Singapore was one of the most, if not the most, exciting quali over the last 2 years.

        1. You’re right, Singapore quali was good. I was comparing Japan quali with Singapore race; I should have made that clearer.

    3. Yup. Back to the procession.

      Mercedes no doubt sandbagging the last few on Bernies behest. (Cue Wolff’s bewildered stare)

      Conspiracy theorists unite!

      Or not.
      Won’t change this predictable bore-fest

  11. Really disappointed with Sainz – he should have been in Q3 and certainly after last race complaining he was faster than Max and now getting the opportunity and not delivering.

    1. You realize he couldn’t do his second run, right? He was inside top 10. He was like 2 tenths off Ricciardo….

  12. Interestingly pole this year 1:32.584 is slower than last years 1:32.506

    1. I would think that is more of a reflection of the fact that the weather conditions were more favourable for qualifying last year, which is why the pole position lap times were not significantly better.

      Equally, it is possible that both Mercedes drivers would have improved on their lap times – Hamilton could certainly have improved on his lap time, having slightly locked his brakes into the chicane, and I believe that Rosberg’s opening lap was slightly conservative as well.

    2. Few if any got their final runs in, and eight hundredths is almost nothing really.

  13. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
    26th September 2015, 10:23

    McLaren has fallen a long way when coming ‘within half a second off getting () into Q3’ is seen as a ‘superb effort’!

  14. There were several unhappy drivers at the end of Q1 after Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso stopped at the hairpin with an electrical problem, which prevented his rivals from improving their times.

    I couldn’t watch how quickly Verstappen’s car stopped but makes me wonder if he could have done better pulling over the car out of the track… Because he just

    prevented his rivals from improving their times.

    1. Apparently he was off race line when it happened. But then for some reason he decided to go towards the race line. So he got a penalty now.

  15. McLaren really can’t help themselves making amateur mistakes.

    I mean things like when in Spain Alonso tried to push the car home because the connector to the battery had come loose. Or now this mistake with Button’s car. It seems like every weekend they make one or two of those mistakes.

    1. Remember 2012?

  16. the first corner is to the right and nico is right of the track too but lewis can use nico`s a little bad start.

    1. Wasn’t pole on left? I remember Vettel sitting there alongside Button who was on right-hand side. And they turned right.

  17. How long was it before anyone got to Kvyat ? Then they bring out the 6 ton tractor, will we never learn ? Then that disappears and a hiab turns up instead. Disorganised much ? Unacceptable to me like.

    1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      26th September 2015, 14:53

      It was a long way to the nearest marshal’s post on the side of the track he crashed on. Charlie Whiting and co are listening into the radio comms so they would have known Kvyat was ok, I presume they waited until the last car had gone by before they gave the nearest marshals permission to cross the track to get to Kvyat’s car.

      The JCB only came onto the track once it was clear. Just because of what happened last year doesn’t mean we can never use recovery vehicles ever again, how else can you move a car with two wheels missing?

      1. With a big crane based behind the barriers. I have always hated the sight of the tractors trackside, we have seen several narrow escapes over the years before the tragedy last year. You can have all the safety certification, run-off, gravel, tyres, huge soft barriers and it all goes out of the window when you put a big lump of iron out there. Then you are relying on what, flags waving, radio contact, VSC, all of which is fallible. I just think the risk should be eliminated all together, other people may not agree, I just hope we never see it happen again.

        I know all motor racing is a risk, but I think putting those things out there is a risk they should not still be taking. Surely they could use the sort of telehandler, telescopic forklift that you see on most building sites, that could recover cars from the other side of the barrier, put it down in the infield, away you go. Or cranes.

        And another safety point I thought of, while watching Friday practice, especially with other events this year, should they really be putting tungsten weights in nosecones and endplates ?

        1. There are no cars on track at that point. What’s “the sight” got to do with anything. How many cranes do they supposed to put in circuit….

          1. 1. I am talking about the future, not just today. 2. That is just a phrase in the English language. 3. As many as it takes…

  18. Does anyone know whether it’s acceptable that two tethers failed in this crash? Pretty high load I’m sure, but two wheels bouncing back onto the track seemed pretty concerning.

    1. Exactly! With that Williams just behind …

    2. Tethers don’t work in such impacts. They can’t. If the wishbones are ripped out of the tub tethers are not going to fare better. So the question is whether exposing drivers’ heads directly to heavy crash debris is acceptable.

      1. @DaveW forgive my ignorance here, but the wishbone’s pinned connections shearing off located at the edge of the tub is different to the tether/tub connections, which are located inside?

        Although the tethers have a high tensile capacity (axially), they also shouldn’t be susceptible to slicing, for which a greater radius would help. They seem pretty skinny to me and their doesn’t appear to be a good reason why.

        Also, closed cockpits are not going to help with wheels going into the crowd.

  19. an outstanding qualifying session! second best of the year. (1 – SINGAPORE, 2 – JAPAN, 3 – SPAIN)
    it was great to watch! it had everything!

    but in the end it was an absolutely dominating performance by Nico Rosberg and Hamilton was left without any answers what so ever to Rosberg’s sheer blinding pace.

    This is the Rosberg we saw last year, (The man who trashed Hamilton in qualifying) – Even despite Lewis being the so called qualifying king!

    For tomorrow i expect Rosberg to dominate by about 10s
    1. ROS
    2. HAM (+10s or something)
    3. VET

    Hoepfully Nico Rosberg wins! :) :)

    1. It was boring. Sounds like you watched something else anyway.

      1. how was it boring?
        1. It had a close qualifying between Rosberg and Hamilton
        2. It had a good battle between the Ferrari and Williams
        3. It had good action (a huge crash, another couple of incidents)

        for you guys everytime Hamilton takes pole it is a really interesting qualifying session but when Hamilton does not take pole position it is very boring?

        how unfair and absolutely ridiculous are you and most of the others on this website??

        1. It is very clear you are Rosberg’s fan.. For you it was a perfect session so enjoy it, your favourite have finally beaten Hamilton and Mercedes is so far up the grid. But I would like to suggest to you there are some fans who aren’t Merc drivers fans. For them – including myself – it was boring. No competition at the front and predictable order.

    2. ruth517 (@spanishconnection)
      26th September 2015, 13:14

      Hardly ‘dominating’……there was 0.076 separating them in first run and Lewis made a mistake so he would have been faster. Also he beat Rosberg in Q1 !!!

      1. how do you lewis would have been faster? it is impossible to say?
        without saying how Lewis could have beaten Rosberg why cant you people for once praise Rosberg and the good job he has done!

        1. The problem is that you killed any credibility with the destroy comment. When will you ever learn not to say such words.

          1. When he grows up probably….

    3. @Sameer Cader

      Mmm….. Have you watched any other F1 races over the last 2 years?

      1. yes i have. have you?

      2. @merabella
        We have to accept some fans do like Mercedes star wars and are in a state of ejaculation when hearing Hammertime. For them it can’t be better. However, for rest of us, real racing fans it is simply boring. No competition at the front, cars are nowhere near as spectacular as 2013 and before and all these artificial things like DRS, tyres, financial troubles up and down the grid etc.

        1. Autocorrect fail or just complete nastiness there? This is not the YouTube comment section.

          1. Dave, your policing is getting old.

        2. Because I don’t agree with you I’m not a “real” racing fan? I hope you come to realise how insulting and absurd that it.

          Boring is having to scroll past drivel like yours to get to the interesting comments.

        3. Never thought I’d hear the 2013 cars being called “spectacular.”

          1. Welcome to post-2013.

          2. Yeah, I might have used a little bit too strong words so sorry if I insulted someone. However it’s frustrating for everyone except Mercedes fans to see more of their domination. V8-engined cars were without doubt more exciting/spectacular to watch than current ones. But I believe they are sounding better than last year, anyone noticed that as well?

    4. @Sameer Cader – I’ll have whatever you have been smoking!

      This is the Rosberg we saw last year, (The man who trashed Hamilton in qualifying)

      So if Rosberg “trashed” Lewis in qualifying last year (11-7), have you done the math this year? Or does your counting not go that far?

      And if that was a

      dominating performance by Nico Rosberg and Hamilton was left without any answers what so ever to Rosberg’s sheer blinding pace.

      What then are we to say of Lewis’s performance in relations to Rosberg for the past 13 races? Sigh.

    5. The hate towards Hamilton is obvious when you say Singapore, Japan and Spain were the best this year. You need some reality check when you say it was a dominant performance when it was just 0.076 separating them. Hamilton has destroyed Rosberg this year and it’s not even funny anymore when there qualifying comparison reads 12-2 and also by being over half a second slower in many qualifying sessions.

    6. Sameer – best check your meds!

      You do know it’s a fair non reliability 12-2 pole fight this year and that NR has yet to finish any clean, pace only, race 10 up the road from LH?

      So either click bait or sarcasm I guess.

      Or your nuts!

      Funny post though… :)

      1. Has it ever occurred to you that not insulting people whose opinion you don’t like would actually be an okay thing to do?
        Because your posting history sort of looks like that idea may be new to you.

        This doesn’t mean that I agree with the original comment. It’s way over the top. But then again, a lot of comments by Lewis’s fans are, and none of them raise similar storms that lead to their sanity being questioned or downright denied.

        1. That’s how Drg is unfortunately. Lewis fan IIRC. Not making any generalization, just stating the fact.

          1. Being a fan of Lewis’s isn’t a problem for me. I’m not a fan of his, it doesn’t bother me the slightest if someone else is. My brother is, and we get along perfectly.
            What I can’t stand is insults, condescension and the like.

          2. No I didn’t mean it like that. Sounded to me like you don’t know whose fan he is and based on what you said about Lewis fans… never mind. Not really important :D

        2. Yep that’s me – over the top.. Due to a tounge in cheek comment? Come on..

          Given I really do have to check my meds daily due to various crippling injuries and struggle to walk, I would suggest you are a little far off the mark criticising my little joke!

          Perhaps you could take a look at my comments regarding Verstappen and his ‘penalty’ for example – I comment on racing – not hair or tattoos or lucky wins…

          But feel free to criticise me for suggesting SV is actually a gifted racer and deserved of his victories but perhaps being a little scornfull of an obvious click bait post allowing you to step up with such comments.

          Nico deserved his pole but it was by 76 thousandths of a second and in the assumption there would be another run. He may well have got it. In fact I think he would have. However to suggest he has ‘dominated’ is a little far of the mark and I would think any sensible observer would agree that. Further – pole did not work out too well last year did it?

          Clearly, my support for someone simply because I get tired of his lifestyle criticism on a F1 site has upset a few. Incredible frankly given I am and have given credit to any of these drivers doing a good job.

          Lucking into a pole while actually lucking into, let’s say two poles and a couple of races over a season is not bias – would you not argue it’s a fact?

          When he (NR) is on form – well done. Just not some insane amazing ‘domination’ of his team mate.

          However – this may well be a Rosberg day and good on him…

          1. Deserving or achieving something and lucking into those things is different.

    7. Just a point – is Rosberg heading for the luckiest driver in F1?

      By my count he has been gifted at least two poles in a couple of years (assuming last years Monaco was such) along with a certain few race wins due to his serious competitors failing while in front of him.

      This years Monaco, 2013 Silverstone, 2014 Canada etc etc..

      It’s interesting that Seb and Lewis have, unless memory fails, yet to inherit race wins ever.

      I know Alonso and the incredible Ferrari reliability runs have. But not those two…

      The risk of being the best I guess….

      1. Vettel has only ever inherited 1 race. Hamilton had more than a couple of them the last I remember. I’m not sure about last year… Vettel lost many leads due to reliability, about as much as Alonso inherited actually, which is something like 10 races or something. Hamilton also lost like at least half as much as Vettel did.

      2. @Drg
        I think Hamilton is one of the luckiest driver in F1.

        When he had his retirement in Singapore he had the luck that his teammate didn’t have the best car, so that Rosberg only could score a limited amount of points.

        In Italy Hamilton had the luck that his teammate had to change his engine to a less powerful one. Hamilton was so able to score pole position with a “not so good lap”. (Hamilton’s own words.) That changed engine blow up and Hamilton was able to score the maxium amount of points in what was easy the fastest car that weekend.

        In Hungary Hamilton had the luck that Ricardo slashed Rosberg’s tyre. Hamilton had a poor race and without Ricardo’s help Hamilton would have lost points compare to Rosberg.

        This is just about the last three races. I could go on and on if you want to.

        This isn’t my personal opinon, but I wanted to show you how disoriented your view is.

        1. Hmm – I am not sure your proving a point.

          I have no doubt there are some ‘lucky’ occurances – it’s racing but equally, your point do not include inherited wins and poles.

          I am sure there are some out there – perhaps you could, instead of just pointing out a ‘lucky’ race or two show us where SV or LH has inherited a pole due to such circumstances or even a win. Red flag or otherwise. And for clarity. I do think NR would have got pole and I am not some rabid LH supporter as suggested here. I just don’t care what colour his hair is. Only noting when the other driver as successful as him dyes his – no one comments…

          You don’t have to agree or even like my comments but do stay on topic.

      3. It’s interesting that Seb and Lewis have, unless memory fails, yet to inherit race wins ever.

        Hamilton:
        – (arguably) Hungary 2007, when Alonso was demoted from pole to P6 for holding up Hamilton in the pits
        – Turkey 2010, when Vettel bumped into Webber while fighting for the lead
        – Abu Dhabi 2011, when Vettel took the lead from pole, but suffered a puncture after just a few hundred metres
        – Silverstone 2014, when Rosberg’s gearbox failed in the lead

        Vettel:
        – (arguably) Abu Dhabi 2009, when Hamilton was plagued by brake problems while leading the race, retiring shortly after losing the lead during pit stops
        – Singapore 2012, when Hamilton’s gearbox failed again
        – (arguably) Malaysia 2013, when leading Webber followed a team order that Vettel chose to ignore, allowing Vettel to get into racing distance, catching Webber flat-footed

        1. Ahahah :D How is Malaysia 2013 is “inherited”? Overtaking is not a synonym for “inheriting”. (Let’s not argue about who had more engine power, who was ordered what etc, to me it doesn’t change the fact that it was not inherited). And personally I wouldn’t say Abu Dhabi is an inherited win for Vettel either. But yeah, I can see the point for arguing…
          I wouldn’t count Hun’07 for Ham either. But OK for others.

        2. Thank you for the memory refresh but red flag/yellow flag issues are thin on the ground.

      4. Hamilton inherited Silverstone 2014 FYI

      5. Jack (@jackisthestig)
        26th September 2015, 20:30

        Rosberg is incredibly lucky having that Mercedes to play with. He’s a good driver but he doesn’t deserve that seat when you consider drivers of Alonso, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo’s quality are bumbling around way off the pace. The fans are being robbed of a titanic Senna vs Prost-like battle while Hamilton’s only real opposition is a fairly mediocre driver.

        1. Hulkenberg is getting beaten by Perez who got beaten by Button and Ricciardo was beaten by Vergne as well. If you think that they can beat Hamilton, then you are living in a dream.

    8. Just wanted to say LOL!

  20. My predition for tomorrow:
    3rd best driver in F1 in Hamilton takes the lead either at turn one or after a few laps and wins the race easy because he drives a Mercedes – another easy win, like half of his in his career.
    5th/6th best driver in f1 in Rosberg gets a bloated 2nd place.
    Ricciardo and Vettel will fight for 3rd/4th – which is a fair place for them, as they are a top 1/2/3/4 driver in every season and every race.

    1. Just pathetic as usual from you.

  21. Why does F1F suddenly look like Youtube?

    1. Domination getting on nerves? :P
      And Verstappen might have some young fans… :P

    2. I think because many appeared to believe Merc was beatable. On the positive side, I was bracing myself for over a second margin after Q1 so at least Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull closed the gap to more respectable margins. There are no stupid engine penalties and the field isn’t as spread out so overall is not that bad, but hardly exciting. Hope for better day tomorrow. DRS shouldn’t ruin racing at Suzuka and tyres can play an interesting role so it’s better than most of 2015 still. And as Kvyat showed, every mistake can have serious consequences.

  22. i guess we can expect a very boring race today
    as Rosberg is extremely likely to take a very easy race win by over 10 seconds

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