Mother nature has a habit of showing up at Suzuka – and while uninvited she usually manages to get a pass from somewhere. In recent memory we’ve had earthquakes, apocalyptic rain, typhoons and pretty much everything in between. In fact pretty much the only force of nature that hasn’t disrupted a Japanese Grand Prix is a large aquatic prehistoric dinosaur rising from the ocean and attacking the Suzuka ferris wheel.
This year it wasn’t quite so bad as the Japanese Grand Prix of 2004, the last time an F1 qualifying session needed to be cancelled, but once again Saturday was a wash-out, with qualifying moved to Sunday morning. Naturally, everybody coped in different ways…
Virgin Racing decided to play poker, but ever-resourceful McLaren spent the time experimenting with rotational intertia-based technologies…
“Yeah, basically I spent the qualifying session chatting with the mechanics and playing yo-yo. We’ll have to be at the track earlier on Sunday morning, but it won’t be a problem – actually it’ll be fun to have something a bit different to do.
Jenson Button – McLaren
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
Meanwhile Red Bull Racing developed some adaptive methods of propulsion, based on the prevailing conditions.
“I looked out of our garage and Red Bull were sailing boats down the pitlane. That looked like fun for about 30 seconds, but then I got bored and wanted to get on with some racing…”
Sam Michael – technical director, Williams.
Of course, even without any laptimes, the media never stops…
“Why are you even talking to me? I haven’t done anything since the last session! I don’t think qualifying on a Sunday morning will make any difference – except for the fact I won’t have to talk to you guys afterwards. Hmmm…”
Mark Webber – Red Bull Racing
“I used the time to Tweet. Qualifying should have started at 3am Brazilian time, so I posted to the guys back home that they could probably safely go back to bed because it wasn’t going to happen!”
Rubens Barrichello – Williams
Meanwhile, the devil makes work for idle hands – and they don’t come much idler than a F1 team press office without any F1. In the absence of any racing news, Toro Rosso helpfully reproduced the rules of point-to-point sailing – but they weren’t alone in mucking about…
This is the Lotus press release…
‘After qualifying was postponed until Sunday in Japan due to the torrential rain, Lotus Racing has nothing to announce for the first time in several weeks.
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) “Nothing to say.”
Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-04) “Nothing to report.”
Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne: “Nothing from me."
Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer “Nothing from me either.”’
Meanwhile, Virgin offered a rather more upbeat appraisal…
‘Rain was the order of the day at Suzuka and there was plenty of it. Virgin Racing took full advantage of the situation to finish second and third in the third free practice session for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Admittedly, only two cars completed flying laps…’
There was a rather more serious side, and everyone agreed that attempting to qualify in the torrential conditions would have been monumentally stupid…
“Aquaplaning with a Formula One car is basically the same as with any other car - you become a passenger. Another big safety issue is the visibility in the spray. If you have 24 cars on the track in Q1 and one spins, no driver would have the chance to see it and avoid crashing."
Nick Heidfeld – Sauber
“Usually we’d start the session, destroy a few million dollars’ worth of racing cars in the first five minutes and then drop the red flag. So actually this is progress.”
Sam Michael
“I feel very sorry for the fans, but F**k, what can we do in these conditions? It’s not a test of talent, it’s a lottery.”
Mark Webber
"I feel so sorry for the spectators in the grandstands; they’ve all been looking forward to today, and they’ve hardly seen a car and got terribly wet – but we cannot drive in these conditions. We have to wait for better weather.”
Kamui Kobayashi – Sauber
“We have attempted to qualify under bad conditions in the past, but the difference today was that we had Alex [Wurz, race steward and former F1 driver] go out in the safety car to assess the situation. Alex has the experience to understand what is and is not possible in a Formula One car. He made absolutely the right decision – and I say that as someone who always smiles when he sees rain falling on a Formula One track…”
Rubens Barrichello – Williams and chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association
Read Sebastian Vettel's thoughts on the Japanese Grand Prix here, or check out the new Jeonnam Circuit as it prepares for the Korean Grand Prix.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
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