So the Japanese Grand Prix is over, Button isn’t champion, Barrichello nibbles a little out of his lead and Vettel scored a dominant win from flag to flag.
Sadly, there was little action on track other than the pit stops – A couple of good overtaking moves but the racing was largely processional. However, there was some controversy at the end of the race. Alguersuari had a bad accident at the 130R (but is OK) which brought out the safety car. Rosberg used this opportunity to make his planned pit stop and jump ahead of both the Brawns and Heidfeld.
However, after the race, Button suggested that Rosberg drove too fast before the safety car and gained an unfair advantage. At the time of writing, Brawn have complained to the stewards as Williams have had to explain themselves.
Now, I only have the lap times and gap times from the FIA Media Centre – and I can tell you that on the lap where the safety car came out, these were the following lap times:
- Rosberg: 1:39.697
- Button: 1:45.382
- Barrichello: 1:45.686
Rosberg’s lead was 24.559 seconds and his pit stop took 24.888 seconds – so he would not have made the positions up on the track without the safety car. Rosberg is adamant that he kept the correct pace on the way to the pit lane, however the gaps suggest to me that he did gain an advantage and so I would not be surprised to see him penalised. So that’s the second race in a row where he makes a fundamental and costly pit lane error.
Driver ScoresBut how does that translate into the Fantasy Racers scores? Let’s have a look at the driver scores from the Grand Prix today. By the way, for more information on my calculation methods, please visit my page on Fantasy Racers Explained…
(Note: Once Danny has set the scores, they will not be changed if penalties are applied afterwards, in accordance with the Fantasy Racers rules…)
With Vettel taking pole and winning, he scores a lot more points than anyone else. Only the Toro Rossos and Glock did not finish the race, so most teams would have scored well. I have Glock in my team, but I like the guy and don’t want to drop him. I hope he can race in Brazil, but his leg looks pretty munted!
Championship scoresHow is the championship going? Let’s have a look at the scores:
Button leads Barrichello by 329 points, who subsequently leads Vettel by 151 points. So Button is almost the Fantasy Racers Champion, with Barrichello and Vettel still with a very small chance of winning. Hamilton and Glock have gained a place, but the order has not changed much…
Average Points Per Race
Pretty much the same as the last race. Note that Grosjean does not score as well as Piquet, but Alguersuari does better than Bourdais. So why did Renault go through all the pain and suffering if the guy replacing him is just as rubbish? The mind boggles…
Points Per Million
Again, little change here, except Glock drops a place (having not raced). What is surprising is that so many front runners (except for the Brawn drivers) are not that great value for money… Perhaps there is some balancing here as a lot of ‘cheap’ drivers are needed to score as many points as an ‘expensive’ one?
Last 3 Grands Prix
So on average, Vettel and Hamilton have had the best run of the last three races, but Button, Alonso and Raikkonen have had strong showings too. Not a great showing for LIU-WEB-BUE-ALG-GRO however, who all fall below the average.
My TeamI am exactly where I was last week: 46th in the Sidepodcast League and 4th in the Pitlane Fanatic League. My team lies 273rd overall which means I have dropped 13 places. Meh, pretty stagnant I suppose, but it looks like the usual story with the drivers:
Adrian Sutil
Force India F1 Team
6.60m – 61 points
Jenson Button
Brawn GP
11.70m – 93 points
Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber F1 Team
5.20m – 83 points
Rubens Barrichello
Brawn GP
10.70m – 103 points
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing
12.20m – 223 points
Timo Glock
Panasonic Toyota Racing
6.70m – 0 points
Kubica has been pants all year but it’s too late to change him now. Sutil was unlucky after being shoved off by Kovalainen (sorry Amy!), but my team basically suffered because Glock did not race. Get well soon Timo, there’s always a place for you at RubberGoat Racing!
So Button didn’t become champion today – and it looks like the fight will go down to the wire. It will definitely be an interesting finish, with Rubens really fired up and Vettel still in with a chance too. It’s certainly not over yet!
What did you think of the race today and how did your team do? Who is going to be champion? Post me a comment so we can all see what you think…
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