2015 Japanese Grand Prix - Practice 3 Analysis: Ricciardo gives Red Bull a fighting chance

The final practice session for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix has ended and to the delight of almost everybody the rain stayed away. We finally saw roughly what the pecking order would be for qualifying and Mercedes managed to up one on there Ferrari counterparts.

The session saw Nico Rosberg finish on top with a lap time of 1:33.995, 3 tenths ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton. The blood red Ferrari couldn't match the Mercs in the qualifying runs as they found themselves a full second adrift in P6 and P8. To be fair though Sebastian Vettel (P8) lost a lot of time on his lap from Daniil Kvyat. However when Mercedes and Ferrari ran there longer runs Sebastian Vettel appeared to be much faster than Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen, with 1 tenth separating all 4 drivers at one point. A difference between the two teams could be set up as Martin Brundle pointed out when he was track side at Degnar 1 and 2. He stated that the Ferrari looks "weak" through both Degnars. However these times aren't 100% representative as we can't be fully sure of the fuel loads that both teams ran.

Red Bull had a strong session on one side of the garage with Daniel Ricciardo finishing a very strong 3rd for the Milton-Keynes team. Results like these are what Red Bull need as they consider leaving the sport. Ricciardo drove 22 laps and as far as I was aware he didn't make any major mistakes during the run. He had pace on the hard tires as well as the mediums in the quali simulations. On the other side of the garage Kvyat was really struggling as he ran wide twice through Degnar 2. For me this will be a corner to watch for Kvyat in qualifying as it appears he isn't full on top of it. Ricciardo wasn't the only one strong on Hard tire runs though as 20 minutes in all 4 Renault powered cars were in the top 5.

Another consistent performer and surprise from FP3 was Williams who were in the top 6 when the Hard tires were being run. They then managed to keep that pace up when running the qualifying simulations. I did think Williams would be strong here as the mainly high speed and medium speed corners would suit there engine and chassis package. For them, Turns 11 (Hairpin) and 16, 17, 18 (Casino Triangle) will be important as they are the slowest and need good traction, something Williams have struggled with.

Once again Toro Rosso also prove to be relatively strong here with there high quality chassis. Toro Rosso would have been a very strong prospect if they had a better engine in the back.

Overall the session finished like this:

1) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
4) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
5) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
6) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
9) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
10) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
13) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
14) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
15) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
16) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
17) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
18) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo was the star of the session and he is definately one to watch in qualifying. He was driving unbelievely fast in FP3 and outclassed his car. With Ferrari and Mercedes fighting for the pole, Ricciardo could throw a spanner in the works.

Japanese Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 2 Analysis: Kvyat puts Red Bull on top as they show strength in wet condtions.

Practice 2 for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix has finished and once again we saw limited running as rain affected most of the session. Daniil Kvyat drove his Red Bull to the top of the time sheets and bettered the efforts of both Mercedes who followed closely in 2nd and 3rd.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

The session started off with intermediate conditions and they looked to be improving to perhaps even have slick running. However that wasn't the case as with about 30 minutes to go in the session the rain picked up and we saw full wet conditions. This affected Fernando Alonso as the McLaren missed the inters running due to an unscheduled engine change which saw him miss the first hour of the session. He finished 18th with a time on the full wets.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso had a very disrupted session with an engine change.

Daniil Kvyat was the star of the session as he managed to finish ahead of two Mercedes that look back to normal. Even with many drivers struggling, there were little mistakes from the Mercedes team which makes Kvyat's lap more outstanding. Many people were struggling in the changeable conditions. Early on Sergio Perez was complaining of a lot of understeer and he couldn't match the initial pace of Kvyat. 18 minutes into the session Pastor Maldonado ran across the grass on the exit of Turn 2. It was a lazy mistake and it looks as though he was too busy adjusting settings on the wheel. Minutes later Sebastian Vettel ran wide at Turn 1 and came inches to beaching himself in the gravel trap. Then 41 minutes into the session Max Verstappen took a trip through the gravel at the hairpin (Turn 11) after he locked up going into the slowest corner on the Suzuka track.

Then running was really disrupted as the rain began to come down, and for a period of 10 minutes Fernando Alonso had the track to himself as he got in some valuable wet weather running. Towards the end of the session both Mercedes and Ferrari's joined him on the track as they practiced starts at the end of the pit lane.

Ferrari front wings.

Once again though most of these times are highly irrelevant as wet weather times can't reflect race pace in dry conditions on Sunday. This means that the most important session now becomes Saturday Practice 3 as teams will have a choice to check long run pace or simulate qualifying. The teams will probably opt for the long run pace to see if the option tire can run long enough too run the two stop strategy.

This is how the running finished:

1) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
2) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
4) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
6) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
13) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
14) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
15) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
16) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
17) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
18) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
19) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes) did not set a laptime.

As I said earlier these times are relatively irrelevant as the wet running cannot dictate the pace of the cars in the dry. Free Practice 3 will definitely be a session to watch! Catch it tomorrow!

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Japanese Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 1 Analysis: Wet conditions interrupt running in Suzuka.

The very wet Friday Practice 1 session has finished and to be 100% honest you can't gain anything from the very little running. Only 12 times were set as 8 cars choose not to run in the conditions.

Fans at Suzuka.

The session was mainly run in the full wet tires and we had to wait 55 minutes before we saw the first timed laps from Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso's. These times were set with full wet conditions and were round the 1:51s. The first person to run the inters was Valtteri Bottas, but it proved to early as he had a big moment on the exit of Turn 2 and found himself 5 seconds off Verstappen's pace.

As more times were set towards the end of the session, more drivers began to struggle in the conditions that were balanced between full wets and inters. Most notably Felipe Massa who was complaining of understeer as he struggled to get his Williams through the first sector. Felipe Nasr also had a moment at Spoon curve as he went wide and nearly found himself in the gravel. Kimi Raikkonen also had a moment right as the chequered flag fell when he went wide at Turn 1.

Sebastian Vettel

There hasn't been anything to learn in this session in terms of Mercedes and Ferrari as wet conditions can't show us true pace. Ferrari appear confident, whilst Mercedes seems very worried as they believe that Ferrari now have a power unit on par with the Mercedes. The rain is set to continue through Friday Practice 2 and we will likely see a very rushed and very interesting Saturday Practice 3.
There wasn't much on track action in this session but there was plenty to talk about off the track. Lotus continue with financial troubles, there freight for this weekend arrived late and they didn't do any running in Practice 1 supposedly because they can't afford a crash. Red Bull are also still having problems for there 2016 campaign. The team is likely to be Ferrari powered but many reports are coming out saying the team won't be Red Bull sponsored next year. Another bit of news from the paddock is the announcement that on Tuesday Haas F1 will announce there 2015 race drivers. Many drivers are still in the running for the two seats from Esteban Gutierrez, Jean-Eric Vergne and even the possibility of Romain Grosjean.

Marcus Ericsson.

Overall the strongest looking car from this practice session was definitely the Toro Rosso as Carlos Sainz topped the session with Max Verstappen in 6th, Obviously these times are highly irrelevant but a definite pattern throughout the season is that the Toro Rosso is a very strong car in wet conditions.

Overall the session finished like this:

1) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
2) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
4) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
5) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
7) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
8) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
9) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
11) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda

Drivers who didn't set times:

Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
Jolyon Palmer - Lotus-Mercedes
Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda

The second Friday Practice session is set to get underway in just under 2 hours. Heavy rain continues to pelt the Suzuka circuit and it looks as though it will be a very similar session to this one. Saturday Practice will be the most crucial session this weekend if the teams can't have normal running on the Friday.

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