CCA

Well, another rather boring race. Verstappen, Kvyat made mid-pack racing interesting. And, OMG Maldonado didn't crash!!

consolidated

Alonso's freak-out was the most entertaining part of the race. It's like going to your bosses house for dinner and spitting his wine on the floor. But next year, they'll be in front of the Mercs, yeah, next year you'll all see.

I'd have more respect for Rosberg if he wouldn't have moved off track to give Hammy room, despite the possible consequences.

Hamilton really wants to be our Senna. Not to me, ever.

LuigiVampa

What did Alonso say? Something like "this is like a GP2 engine".

I think he and Button are totally out of patience. It would be one thing to be working out the kinks in the first few races but the season is half over and they don't even have reliability fixed. Can Honda hold on until someone does something about the engine regulations or will they pull out....again?

You may not like Hammy but I have to say that Rosberg just folds. I don't know if he is ever going to find it within himself to be WC. Although his pass at the Casio triangle did show some *****.

Best part of the Japanese GP was hearing the old V12 Honda.

consolidated

The old McLaren looked as spectacular as it sounded, goosebumps.

Button and Alonso are rightfully frustrated, but also staying on board for another year, more likely due to having no place to go if they were to leave.

I agree about Rosberg, he seems quite content with second chair.

Nizer

+100 That was weak.

Larry Herman

Face it, Hamilton owns Rosberg and is completely in his head. Barring any mechanicals or crashes, Hamilton will repeat. The interesting question is whether or not Rosberg can fend off Vettel.

Nizer

So it would seem. No doubt Senna or Mansel would've held their line, consequences be damned. Only need to do it once for other drivers to get the message. Don't think Rosberg has been the same since getting taken behind the woodshed after Spa last year.

http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/09/...was-my-corner/

Meanwhile the Fiat/Seb bond grows stronger. Too bad they let him down on strategy.

http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/09/...humie-comment/

My993C2

I'd be shocked if Vettel does finish the season ahead of Rosberg. In Japan when Rosberg needed to leap frog Vettel via the under cut, all Mercedes needed to do was:

1) Find the right time to bring Nico in when he had a clear track in front of him.

2) Turn his engine up.

and bingo in one lap the Merc had no trouble at all lapping 3-4 seconds faster than he previously lapped and he had no trouble at all undercutting the Ferrari. As Vettel mentioned in the post race interviews. The 2015 Ferrari is a lot better than everyone had predicted it would be. But it's still no match for the Mercedes Works team. There are no other teams in F1 that can come close to lapping as fast as the Mercs can lap as long as they have a clear track in front of them. They really are just playing with the field. Then again it's not that much different the way in 2013 Vettel was playing with the field with his superior Red Bull.

I sure hope Ferrari, Red Bull and even the McLaren Honda can up their games in the coming years. Because if they don't Hamilton is poised to walk away with all the F1 WDC in the years to come. Rosberg is no match for Hamilton and the rest of the field is presently no match for the Mercedes Works team.

PPo

Totally agree... and also with the other comments. If Rosberg held his line, he would have been the man IMHO. It would have been the opposite of the chicane in Spa if my memory serves me correctly. Rosberg on the inside, and Hamilton held his line on the outside.

I was thinking this weekend. I like Hamilton's driving. I don't like the Hamilton fans that see him as a faultless, perfect driver that is heads and shoulders above everybody else. He only has one competitor this year, and he has beat him fairly.

Larry Herman

You can never really get a true comparison in F1 because the car is so much of a factor. In a perfect world, I'd love to see Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo and Alonso square off against each other in the same car as they are the 4 fastest, most aggressive drivers in F1 right now.

skl

Is it time for Ron to just build road cars, and let someone else run the racing department? His handling of Fred and Jenson leaves much to be desired...

paradisenb

Nothing is going to stop Hamilton from being gifted another WDC. His car is 1-2 secs a lap faster than any other team's car and Nico is a pansy. I don't think Hamilton is as good a driver as his stats over the last 2 years or the British commentators on the US feed would lead one to believe.

I, too, would like to see a head to head, in the same car, between SV, LH, DR and FA.

Speaking of Alonso, I'm surprised he has not been fired for his comment about having a GP2 engine in front of Honda's top brass and in Japan's backyard. I understand his frustration, but that comment publicly was classless. Would be no surprise if he and JB leave at the end of the year.

Doubtful there will be any real competition at the front until 2017.

Most enjoyable to watch Verstappen race. Kid's got moves.
Bottas is the big let down of the year. He is barely ahead of Massa and Massa has had a very tough year. He can't get or make a break.

PPo

I was disappointed when Nico turned up the engine and put in monster laps to get passed Vettel in the pits. He then nursed 2nd place. But you are right, Hamilton has no competition for the rest of the year because Nico doesn't fight.

The teams are afraid to push the cars because the engine/transmission regs means they could end up losing points in more than one race if they push.

I bet we would see better racing if we had: 1) One engine per race weekend. 2) One transmission per race weekend. 3) Enough fuel to drive "flat out" the entire race. (You can use less if you want, to be lighter at start, that's the compromise.) 4) Fresh tires on race day. Two sets of each compound. 5) One set of tires for all of qualifying. Team selects one compound from the 2 specified (except rain/int tires of course).

the flyin' scotsman

If they cant then Im very concerned for the sport as a whole; Red Bull have threatend to quit, Lotus are penniless, Honda are too slow too far behind.

We need some big changes here FIA; lets start with the sound then...........

multi21

at the end of the comment about the Honda engine being on par with a GP2 engine, Alonso seemed to through out an F bomb as well. To the Japanese culture, making such a comment is beyond insult and perhaps one of the most unprofessional episodes in Alonso's career and that's saying something considering he was okay with a teammate going into a wall so he could win a race.

At the end of the day, no one put a gun to his head to make him leave Ferrari and go to McLaren. Ferrari did not kick him out so he must deal with what he chose. The fact that he hadn't won a race in about 2 years and Vettel comes in and wins 3 in 13 races in his first year at Ferrari speaks volumes.