I wondered the same things during the race. Webber was very upbeat after the race. I wonder how he feels now, after he's had a chance to debrief with his team.

It was interesting to hear Vettel's near-despair during his radio transmissions at the end of the race. I've never heard him like that before. Sounds like he was seriously concerned Webber was going to eat him up with ease.

At least someone got over on Vettel this weekend: ;) ;) ;)

Lewis Hamilton Plays With His Balls, Shakes Sebastian Vettel's Hand - YouTube

He's done that many times before. This week he was a little more animated than normal. It would be interesting to have more access to the team-driver radio transmissions. We get to hear just a fraction of them.

Vettel has talent but it seems he unravels a bit at times, when under pressure. No idea why... it doesn't seem like he lacks confidence when he is out of the car.

JR

Coffee on screen...

That's pretty hilarious, but completely classless, IMHO. Looks like something Kimi would do... or a 3rd grader. That's just gonna piss Vettel off and he's going to extract revenge on the rest of the field.

I wonder the same thing, Alonso has already been throwing barbs out to the press. Ferrari has looked pretty dupe ever since acquiring Alonso. Alonso tries to center it all around him, and there are two cars out there. The Alonso/Massa pairing was not going to win a WCC. Maybe, maybe, a a WDC, but not WCC. Kimi/Massa would be good, and Kimi/Alonso is a great unknown to probably everyone. Kimi, follows the $$$, as he expects if they have the faith to pay him that much, that they also expect the results - and it takes a good car to get those results.

I disagree. If Ferarri had a reasonably competitive car, (Really, if Red Bull wasn't so far ahead of the rest of the field) they could do both. The fact that they have done reasonably well despite the quality of their cars the last few years is because Alonso is punching so far above the weight of the car.

Alonso & Kimi should do fine, if the Scudaria manages to put a decent car under them.

Ferrari isn't going to have an F1 car next year.

Because of rules changes (V6 engine), they're going to call it a Dino ;)

Finally watched the race. Webber got screwed. Vettel sounded like a baby. Grosjean did proud. I'll be glad to see this season end.

A pretty accurate analysis from Keith Collantine.

"Raw pace"

Nobody doubts that Vettel is the faster driver. The question in my mind was whether or not Webber could have held onto the lead had he not stopped that last time. If you look at the lap charts, the tire degredation wasn't bad. Then, throw into the mix that there was traffic in the last half dozen laps of the race that slowed everybody down, so those laps would have been easy on the tires. He had a big lead before his last stop....

JR

The best collection of minds on the pit wall (RBR), reading a terabyte of data, anodized that data and determined that Webber would have finished behind Grosjean. Unless you believe that Webber was sabotaged by RBR (reminiscent of the grassy knoll), it's hard to argue with the call.

Or, you can accept what they said which was they used two different strategies for their drivers, as it was a close call between which one was better to beat Lotus. The strategy was set before the race and they chose to not modify it. I think Webber had a 14 second lead with about that same number of laps left and it's one thing to catch him and another to pass him. He's hard to pass.

Like I said, it just seemed odd that they pitted him so early, well before the tires went off and kept him on short stints. There is usually a saftey car in the Suzuka race, so running longer stints would seem to have been the better strategy.

If I was Webber, I might have argued that last call and stayed out. I'd rather have a victory in my last year than another second or third. No risk to his title hopes, Red Bull's position in the constructor's championship, or his job.

JR

Sound analogy. Webber should have said. " I'm stayin' out, mate "

Interesting assessment of the Red Bull strategy call:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/10/analysis-did-red-bull-favour-vettel-over-webber-in-japanese-gp-strategy-calls/

In which case , he (Webber) might have finished a fading 3rd. Good? probably not.
Instead of having a chance (if he could pass Grosjean) for at least a battle with Seb.

Check out Vettels second stint and the speed late into the run. That's were the race was one.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1382041745.jpg

Yeah, but look at Webber's third stint...

JR

My read is, w/ 14 laps to go Webber is ahead by about the same number of seconds. If he stays out and loses less than 1 sec/lap, he wins, Vettel is second, RB is 1-2. If he stays out and loses more than 1 sec/lap and Vettel successfully passes him, RB is 1-2. Only if he loses more than 1 sec/lap and both Vettel and Grosjean successfully pass him, does RB fail to finish 1-2.

Instead, they chose a strategy that has RB 1-2 only if Webber can close about 10 sec in 14 laps on Grosjean and then successfully pass him.

Seems that if your goal is RB 1-2, the higher odds is to leave Webber out. But if your goal is RB 1-2 with Vettel 1, then they did the logical thing.

Vettel 1st India = WDC, but Fred and Blondie know the secret now...
2014 gonna be good for Scuderia