2011 Japanese Grand Prix review
Until Saturday afternoon, the top of the time sheets had been owned by McLaren’s Jenson Button. Buoyed by a three-year contract extension, the 2009 World Champion looked a class above the field in the opening three practice sessions.
For Button, Suzuka had become a second home race. He is the former poster boy for Japanese manufacturer Honda’s foray into F1, has a Japanese girlfriend and has the Japanese characters Ichi ban (number one) printed on top of his helmet. For this race he even replaced the Union Jack motif on his helmet with Japan’s rising sun.
However, on Saturday afternoon, Button’s supremacy over Suzuka’s figure-eight was usurped by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Needing one point to wrap up the title, the young German surprised his own team with a lap that put him on pole position. In a session where more cars elected to save their tyres than offer a qualifying lap, Vettel trumped the whole field with a lap that was only 1/100th of a second quicker than Button’s. Further down the grid, Kamui Kobayashi had the home crowd on their feet with his 7th place while Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher seemed to disrupt Lewis Hamilton enough that he was unable to tour the circuit quick enough and set a flying lap in Q3.
Come race day, Button was fired up to make amends for qualifying and to keep the championship battle alive. As the five lights went out he was forced onto the grass by the slow starting Sebastian Vettel. Though the world title had been essentially won at turn one, an aggrieved Button took to his radio demanding that Vettel be penalised for his start-line move. When nothing occurred, Button had to sit tight and let the race come to him. With all teams suffering severe tyre wear, his signature smooth driving style would be the perfect counterpunch to the aggression shown by his rivals.
By lap 9 the race began to sway in Button’s favour, as his slower teammate Lewis Hamilton was forced into the pits with a right-rear puncture. Not long after race-leader Sebastian Vettel headed to the pits after it became apparent his rear tyres had started to fade. Button followed a lap later and momentarily closed the gap at the front.
When Vettel stopped again on lap 19, Button again stopped a lap later but this time was able to gain track position over the German. Lap 24’s safety car offered an opportunity for Vettel to close the gap to Button, but it was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who would be the largest beneficiary of the intervention, as he later took the position from Vettel.
With the front three swapping positions, Michael Schumacher spent his afternoon breaking records and front wings. At 42-years-old, Schumacher broke Jack Brabham’s 1970 record of being the oldest driver to lead a grand prix. Somewhat fittingly, he broke another Australian’s front wing as he tussled with Mark Webber. The two shrugged the incident off in a way that Lewis Hamilton and Felippe Massa should take note of, as for the second race in a row the pair collided with Massa coming off worse for wear.
Kamui Kobayashi was unable to turn his translate his Saturday form into points. Despite his prayers from inside his cockpit on the grid, he slid down the order at the first corner and never recovered. Although he is revered for his bravery when it comes to overtaking, his race was a relatively quiet affair. This quiet approach was mirrored by his teammate, Sergio Perez, who despite his illness was able to drive the car into a points position by making fewer stops than the rest of the field.
Bruno Senna was not able to live-up to his surname at a track where his uncle helped shape the Senna legend. Vitaly Petrov in the other Renault had an admirable race to 9th place and was joined in the final points paying positions by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Rosberg, who had started last on the grid, raced through the field and overtook both Force Indias having taken advantage of having an extra set of tyres due to his qualifying mishap. Both Force India cars raced well and it could be said that Adrian Sutil’s move on the inside of Kamui Kobayashi at 130R could have been worth points on its own. Alas, 11th place was the best he could offer.
As the race drew to a close, there were five world champions in the top six, the front three in different cars. Though he had fallen behind Alonso, Vettel was about to take the title of youngest ever back-to-back world champion from him. Alonso would get close to Button, but the checkered flag fell before he had the opportunity to overtake. As Button pulled up close to his pitwall to celebrate his victory, Sebastian Vettel followed him as he celebrated his second world title in a row. On a day where he lost the battle on track, he won the war to keep the number one on his car.
Coming into the race, for Sebastian Vettel to lose the title he needed to fail to score at all of the remaining races, while Jenson Button had to win them all. Button had done his best to make this happen, but in typical form, Vettel showed maturity and poise that defies his years. The home crowd’s favourite may not have delivered on race day, but their adopted son rose to the occasion. As Button’s named returned to the top of the timesheets in Suzuka, he did so with the rising sun shining from his helmet.
