2014 Japanese Grand Prix
| 2014 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 19 in the 2014 Formula One World Championship | |||
 Suzuka Circuit | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 5 October 2014 | ||
| Official name | 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix[1] | ||
| Location |
Suzuka Circuit Suzuka, Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.807 km (3.608 miles) | ||
| Distance | 44 laps, 255.508 km (158.752 miles) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 53 laps, 307.771 km (191.224 miles) | ||
| Weather | Rainy periods with occasional dry spells. Maximum temperatures reaching 22 degrees during the day. | ||
| Attendance | 142,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||
| Time | 1:32.506 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | |
| Time | 1:51.600 on lap 39 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Mercedes | ||
| Second | Mercedes | ||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix)[1] was a Formula One motor race that was held on 5 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan.[2] The race was the fifteenth round of the 2014 season, and marked the forty-first running of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg started the race from pole position,[3] but after an attempt was made to start the race behind the safety car due to torrential rain, a red flag was shown on lap 2 as the weather conditions were deemed to be unsuitable for racing. The race was resumed 20 minutes later with Rosberg leading until he was overtaken by his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The race was red flagged for a second time on lap 46 following a serious accident three laps prior involving Jules Bianchi, in which he sustained severe head injuries from which he would later die. Race direction chose not to resume the race for a second time and the official positions were taken from the running order at the end of lap 44 with Lewis Hamilton being awarded victory. The race marked only the third time that two red flags have been shown in a single Formula One race after the 1987 Austrian Grand Prix and the 1990 Belgian Grand Prix.
The event resulted in the first driver fatality since the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, as Bianchi died of his injuries on 17 July 2015 after spending nine months in a coma. It is the most recent Formula One Grand Prix in which a competitor has been fatally injured.[4][5]
Report
Background
Typhoon Phanfone, classified as a category one storm, was forecasted to make landfall over the eastern Japanese coast on the Sunday of the Grand Prix, accompanied by heavy rain and winds of up to 240 km/h. Although the storm was predicted to miss Suzuka, the rain from the northern edge of the storm was expected to drench the circuit with steadily increasing heavy rain.[6]
Race
Heavy rain meant that the race was initially started behind the safety car, but the race was red flagged on lap 2, when it became clear that the track was far too wet for racing. Unconventionally, instead of requiring all participants to stop on the grid, they were permitted to line-up in the pitlane (which was reportedly done to cater for the possibility of the event being cancelled altogether and allowing easier access by the each team to their cars). Nearly 20 minutes later, the rain had eased up and the race was restarted, once again behind the safety car. Fernando Alonso had to retire from the race due to electrical issues with his car shortly after the restart.
The safety car pulled in and the race was green flagged on lap 9. Jenson Button benefited greatly by immediately following the safety car into the pits for intermediate tyres, moving up to third position after the remaining drivers followed suit shortly after. Lewis Hamilton, having started the race behind his team-mate Nico Rosberg, managed to overtake him for the race lead at the first turn on lap 29, with Rosberg struggling with oversteer.
Red Bull had elected to run a set-up more suitable for wet conditions in this race, sacrificing qualifying performance.[7] This gamble paid off for them in the race, with Sebastian Vettel finishing third and Daniel Ricciardo fourth, from ninth and sixth on the grid respectively.
Jules Bianchi's crash
The race was ended under the safety car, with the red flag shown on lap 46 and the final race results accordingly taken from the running order at the end of lap 44.[8] This premature ending was due to Jules Bianchi, on lap 43, colliding at high speed with a marshal's crane tractor that was tending to the removal of Adrian Sutil's Sauber car, which had spun and crashed on lap 42 in the run-off area on the outside of the Dunlop Curve (turn 7) of the circuit. Bianchi was unconscious after the crash. He was taken by road ambulance to the Mie University hospital under police escort as the FIA stated that the medical helicopter was unable to fly due to the precarious weather conditions.[9][10][11][12]
Bianchi underwent an operation to reduce severe bruising to his head that same day.[13] The FIA subsequently released a statement that CT scans revealed Bianchi suffered a "severe head injury" in the crash, and he would be transferred to intensive care following surgery.[14] Bianchi's family subsequently reported that he had a diffuse axonal injury, which is a common traumatic brain injury[15] in vehicle accidents involving high deceleration. Bianchi succumbed to his injuries on 17 July 2015,[4] nine months after the accident occurred.[5]
Post-race
With Kimi Räikkönen finishing 12th and Fernando Alonso retiring, this marked the first Grand Prix that Scuderia Ferrari failed to score a point since the 2010 British Grand Prix (81 races), as well as the first time since the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix (94 races) that a Ferrari-powered car failed to score.
Out of respect for the then seriously injured Jules Bianchi, no champagne was sprayed by Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel on the podium.
Driver reactions
After the race Adrian Sutil told reporters: "I had aquaplaning in Turn Eight. The rain was increasing and the tyres were going down, the light was going down. It was hard to see." Sutil added: "our tires were closer to the end, so the resistance to aquaplaning was not so good any more. I saw quite a few cars shaking around even when the safety car came out."[16][17] Kimi Raikkonen stated: "Behind the safety car we drive 100kph and you could aquaplane, so even if you slow down you might get into trouble. If there's too much water you can go off, simple."[18]
Felipe Massa stated: "I was already screaming on the radio five laps before the safety car that there was too much water on the track, but they took a bit too long and it was dangerous. So we saw that there were some crashes at the end."[16]
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Nico Rosberg
|
Mercedes | 1:33.671 | 1:32.950 | 1:32.506 | 1 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton
|
Mercedes | 1:33.611 | 1:32.982 | 1:32.703 | 2 |
| 3 | 77 |  Valtteri Bottas
|
Williams-Mercedes | 1:34.301 | 1:33.443 | 1:33.128 | 3 |
| 4 | 19 |  Felipe Massa
|
Williams-Mercedes | 1:34.483 | 1:33.551 | 1:33.527 | 4 |
| 5 | 14 |  Fernando Alonso
|
Ferrari | 1:34.497 | 1:33.675 | 1:33.740 | 5 |
| 6 | 3 |  Daniel Ricciardo
|
Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:35.593 | 1:34.466 | 1:34.075 | 6 |
| 7 | 20 |  Kevin Magnussen
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:34.930 | 1:34.229 | 1:34.242 | 7 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.150 | 1:34.648 | 1:34.317 | 8 |
| 9 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel
|
Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:35.517 | 1:34.784 | 1:34.432 | 9 |
| 10 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen
|
Ferrari | 1:34.984 | 1:34.771 | 1:34.548 | 10 |
| 11 | 25 |  Jean-Éric Vergne
|
Toro Rosso-Renault | 1:35.155 | 1:34.984 | 201 | |
| 12 | 11 |  Sergio Pérez
|
Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.439 | 1:35.089 | 11 | |
| 13 | 26 |  Daniil Kvyat
|
Toro Rosso-Renault | 1:35.210 | 1:35.092 | 12 | |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg
|
Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.000 | 1:35.099 | 13 | |
| 15 | 99 | Adrian Sutil
|
Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.736 | 1:35.364 | 14 | |
| 16 | 21 | Esteban Gutiérrez
|
Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.308 | 1:35.681 | 15 | |
| 17 | 13 |  Pastor Maldonado
|
Lotus-Renault | 1:35.917 | 221 | ||
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean
|
Lotus-Renault | 1:35.984 | 16 | ||
| 19 | 9 |  Marcus Ericsson
|
Caterham-Renault | 1:36.813 | 17 | ||
| 20 | 17 | Jules Bianchi
|
Marussia-Ferrari | 1:36.943 | 18 | ||
| 21 | 10 |  Kamui Kobayashi
|
Caterham-Renault | 1:37.015 | 19 | ||
| 22 | 4 | Max Chilton
|
Marussia-Ferrari | 1:37.481 | 21 | ||
| 107% time: 1:40.163 | |||||||
| Source:[3] | |||||||
Notes:
- ^1 — Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Éric Vergne both received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding their quota of five engine components for the season.[19][20]
Race
Notes:
- ^1 — Pastor Maldonado had 20 seconds added to race time for pit-lane speeding.[21]
- ^2 — Jules Bianchi died on 17 July 2015 from injuries sustained during the accident.[4]
Championship standings after the race
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ a b "2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Management. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "World Motor Sport Council". FIA.com. FIA. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Japanese Grand Prix 2014 Qualifying Results". formula1.com. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c DiZinno, Tony (18 July 2015). "Jules Bianchi dies at age 25, his family confirms". NBC Sports. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Formula One: French driver Jules Bianchi dies aged 25, nine months after Japan crash, Formula One News & Top Stories". The Straits Times. 18 July 2015. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Formula 1 - Typhoon threatens Formula One's Japanese Grand Prix". uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Reuters. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ^ "Red Bull drivers take the wet weather gamble at Suzuka". http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/. Paul Hensby. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ^ "2014 Japanese Grand Prix Race Results". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Formula One driver Jules Bianchi in critical condition after horror crash". ABC. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ "AUTOSPORT Live: Sunday - Japanese Grand Prix - F1 2014 Japanese Grand Prix". Autosport. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ "Formula 1 - Bianchi 'undergoing surgery' after Suzuka crash". Yahoo Eurosport UK. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ Jules Bianchi taken to hospital unconscious following crash. Smith, Luke. NBC Sports Network, 5 October 2014.
- ^ "Bianchi operato per grave ematoma (update)" (in Italian). Autosprint. 5 October 2014.
- ^ "F1 driver Jules Bianchi injured after crash in Japan – latest updates", The Guardian, 5 October 2014
- ^ "Jules Bianchi: Family confirms Formula One driver sustained traumatic brain injury in Japanese GP crash". ABC News Online. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
- ^ a b "Jules Bianchi seriously injured in Japanese Grand Prix crash". BBC Sport. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ Cooper, Adam (8 October 2014). "F1: Sutil gives firsthand account of conditions that led to Bianchi's fateful crash". Fox Sports. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ Gill, Pete; Galloway, James (6 October 2014). "The questions to be asked after Jules Bianchi's accident in the Japanese GP". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ Collantine, Keith (3 October 2014). "Maldonado set for ten-place grid penalty". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ^ Collantine, Keith (3 October 2014). "Vergne also gets grid penalty for engine change". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ^ a b "2014 Japanese Grand Prix results". formula1.com. 5 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)
External links
