F1 Digest - Japan Free Practice
- Length: 8:13
- Size: 7.6 MB
- File: digest62.mp3
- Transcript: digest62.pdf
- Torrent: digest62.torrent
A bright and sunny first day of action in Fuji, which meant there was actually very little of note. However, F1 Digest takes a quick look at what we saw and what the teams thought of their day.
Free Practice 1
A very quiet session, with Massa leaving it the longest before setting a lap time. Hamilton got an early glimpse of glory, whilst a couple of drivers ran wide off track.
Free Practice 2
Much more action, and the hot debate over which driver was on soft and hard tyres, impossible to tell. Glock and Trulli gave the plans plenty to see in FP1, and the former made it stick through FP2 as well.
Conclusions
The lack of bumps at this track compared to Singapore seems to be a bonus for the drivers, although grip and setup are top priorities. The long straight is causing some issues, and it will be interesting to see developments through the weekend.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:45 pmme said:
ferrari are in real trouble when it comes to doing a flying lap aren’t they?
also, how is it possible that toyota haven’t found a way to get glock out for a run on their own circuit until today?
October 10th, 2008 at 10:40 pmAlianora La Canta said:
By the way, I’ve finally caught up with my comparitor, which in turn has finally got up to date.
Predictions:
[b]Qualifying[/b]
Out in Q1 - Button, Heidfeld, Fisichella and Coulthard
Transition area Q1/Q2 - Barrichello and Glock
Solid Q2 - Webber, Trulli and Rosberg
Transition Q2/Q3 - Nakajima and Kubica
Top 6:
Kovalainen(?!?)-Hamilton
Massa-Raikkonen
Alonso-Piquet
[b]Race Top 6:[/b]
Hamilton-Sutil(?!?)
Massa-Raikkonen
Alonso-Webber
October 10th, 2008 at 11:48 pmStuart C said:
The track surface is quite abrasive, which in combination with the tyre characteristics gives the Ferrari an understeery balance.
Wet here today – not raining much at the moment, though. People are just arriving so there’s no weather data up on the screens yet. There are clear skies to the south…
October 11th, 2008 at 12:51 amme said:
4 laps to get up to speed though. will they have enough time in qualifying?
appreciate the heads up. haven’t been checking the local radar maps for this gp, must go dig some out… assuming i can read ‘em.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:53 amme said:
where’s that kovi figure coming from then?
October 11th, 2008 at 4:38 pmAlianora La Canta said:
I don’t know, but I didn’t see him on pole. It could have been worse though - before I took the adjuster out, it was claiming Sutil for 3rd!
October 11th, 2008 at 4:52 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Looking at the comparitor, it was because Kovalainen got 3rd in first practise, which happens to be the session that’s the most reliable indicator for qualifying pace in his case. After the normalising element of -0.9 kicks in (that’s -0.57 for the difference between average FP1 and average qualification minus the reduction of that difference made necessary by the season being incomplete), the raw predicted place for Kovalainen was 2.1. This was 0.6 positions better than the next driver, Hamilton.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pmme said:
ahh, okay, makes sense.