Just a little question; If Mr Pointyfinger (now know as Mr DoublePointyfinger) were to bag a 3rd title next year, what will he stick in the air? Or shouldn't I go there (both championship and appendage-wise)?
As F1 landed in Japan, it seemed more definite that Seb would bag the title than the terrifying certainty that watching the X-Factor lowers your (already dangerously low) IQ. To be fair, it had seemed pretty much a forgone conclusion since about June. Still, the practice sessions seemed to suggest that he might not get to win the race, so there was cause for minor optimism.
Rosberg got to sit in the car a lot on Saturday, but without the benefit of actually being able to drive it anywhere thanks to a hydraulics problem, so his grid slot was number 23. I'm guessing he didn't know the numbers went that high.
Meanwhile, Lewis was busy turning the strength on his trouble magnet up to full and managed to go slowly enough on his last-gasp out lap at the end of Q3 that Webber and Schumi assumed he was parking up for a nap. The two them barrelled past a startled Hamilton, who then backed off to allow a gap to Schumi... and ran out of time. Cue that all too familiar smacked-arse-for-a-face look.
And so it was that Seb got pole. Again. The usual McLaren/Red Bull/Ferrari mix made up the top 6, but local hero Kobayashi wound up a surprise 7th.
It seems Herr Pointyfinger has been reading the "Fernando Alonso Big Book Of Intimidating Your Rivals", judging by the chop he pulled at the start of the race on Jenson. A look at the video by the stewards confirmed it as a legitimate bit of muscle-flexing some laps later, but Button backing off to avoid disaster allowed Hamiton to sneak by into second.
Massa seemingly let Alonso through after a few laps, and Jenson was back up to 2nd on lap 9 after passing an ailing Hamilton, who was suffering from a slow puncture. Vettel pitted before the lap count hit double-figures too, indicating a high tyre-wear race was on the cards.
Buemi didn't have to worry about that though as he became the only retirement of the race when he went all tricycle on lap 13.
After the first round of stops it was all champs at the front, with Vettel leading from Button and Alonso. Seb was struggling for tyres again by lap 20 and pitted, followed a lap later by Button, whose fast lap in between and speedy McLaren pit work saw him exit in front of the champion-elect.
Lewis and Massa continued their mutual attraction-fest with Hamilton seemingly not spotting the picked-on Brazilian, later blaming in on his mirrors. Yeah. The mirrors. Uh-huh. Get a room.
Lap 24 saw the Safety Car deployed to give the Marshalls time to scrape up bits of car, not only from the Lewis/Felipe love fest, but also a Schumi/Webbo crunch. Jenson backed 'em up real good before the restart, then legged it, pulling out a lead fairly rapidly.
Seb pitted again on Lap 34, dropping temporarily to 11th, with Jenson stopping off for fresh rubber on Lap 37, exiting comfortably in front of Vettel.
Alonso then managed to jump ahead of Seb after his final stop, but not before Schumi led a race once again, thanks to a well-timed stop under Safety Car conditions.
With Jenson's tyres seemingly starting to fade at the end, Nando began reeling him in, but the drama was short-lived, as JB had it all under control. A fine race from Jenson yet again, a good day for Fernando, but full credit to Vettel. Youngest double World Champion. And seemingly unstoppable...
Interesting to hear the conversation between JB and Seb before they stepped onto the podium. Jenson asked the new champ what he was up to at the start and Seb replied somewhat cheekily that he hadn't really seen him. Jenson's reply of "Oh, so that's how we're racing now..." was a classic.
(Yes, yes. I'm still on the letter A of the CD collection. Tonight it's B.A.S.I.C. by Alpinestars.)
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