Adam Cooper F1

Sebastian Vettel says he’s not running away from a difficult season at Red Bull – and has left the team simply because he wants a new challenge.

Vettel told team boss Christian Horner on Friday night that he wanted to leave the team for what is believed to be a future at Ferrari. It’s understood that a contractual escape clause was triggered because he was not in the top three in the championship as of September 30.

“It’s a tough step obviously such a long time together with Red Bull,” he said. “So many fantastic years I did, and I still am enjoying my time there. But at some stage in life you want to do something else, you want to do something new. It’s not the first time I’ve been approached here or there, and I’ve had the opportunity before to change. Now I think it felt like the right time, that’s why I decided to do something else.”

Vettel insisted that he wasn’t influenced by RBR’s difficult 2014 season.

“That’s obviously the way people look at it, but that’s not the way I see it. I think we had a very, very good time and I still hope we have a very good five races this year. I’m not leaving because I don’t like the team, I’m not leaving because I don’t like individuals, or I don’t like the situation. I’m not running away from anything. But as I said it felt like the right time, the voice inside me, the hinger to do something new, was bigger, even though it’s not the easiest decision, the easiest consequences to deal with.”

Vettel would not admit that he is going to Ferrari: “I don’t have anything I can confirm now, I think we have to wait a little bit longer. Not much longer, but for now I can’t say much.

“I’m looking forward to a new project, a new step, and obviously the target is no matter where I go to be successful.”

Red Bull has pre-empted any announcement from its rivals by stating that Sebastian Vettel is leaving RBR – and will be replaced by Daniil Kvyat in 2015.

It’s assumed that Ferrari will shortly announce that the German is joining in 2015. Meanwhile the Kvyat news puts a stop to Fernando Alonso’s hopes of moving to RBR.

Vettel told Red Bull late on Friday night that he wanted to leave, and Kvyat was told first thing Saturday morning,

“I spoke to Seb, I guess it was about 10pm last night. He sat down with myself and Helmut, and obviously spoke with Dietrich. He said he felt the time had come to take on a new challenge. Obviously it was an emotional moment for him, for everyone. He’s been with Red Bull for 15 years, we’ve achieved so much together. He’d taken quite a lot of time to consider his decision. At the end of the day Sebastian’s his own man, he’s made his own decision.”

It could be a little soggy at Suzuka on Sunday…

Official F1 weather service Ubimet now anticipates that the worst of Typhoon Phanfone will hit the Suzuka area in the early hours of Monday morning – but says that the race will still be affected by heavy rain.

On Monday the last of the F1 equipment will be being packed for shipment to Sochi, and many team members are due to fly to Russia.

Ubimet expects “…the arrival of rainbands, these at times heavy, for Sunday and, with the centre of the typhoon will pass close by on Monday morning with widespread transport disruption, structural damage and possible injuries.

“The rain will largely be persistent – possibly with an occasional drier interlude – but also it will become heavy at times, this more likely after midday. Thus, at the scheduled time by 15:00 local time, a wet race seems to be a likely scenario.

“The expert on-site meteorologists Steffen Dietz and Andy Swan expect the passage of the typhoon centre between the early and the afternoon hours of Monday. ‘Probably Phanfone will pass to the southeast of Suzuka. There are also model solutions that can draw the eye directly on the race circuit. In both cases severe structural damage is expected on Monday, with possible widespread severe damage from the second case.’

Daniel Ricciardo’s Friday at Suzuka was spoiled by a heavy crash in FP2, which the Aussie put down to a mistake.

Ricciardo went off as he accelerated out of the chicane, badly damaging the left hand side of the car when he speared into the tyre wall.

“I just made a mistake,” he said. “I did my first quick lap, and then everyone’s cooling after that, so you do fast, slow and then fast again, the slow lap there was a yellow flag so I did extra slow so that when I started my quick lap so the yellow flag would have been clear and I would have been able to push, so I think the tyres probably cooled too much and out of the chicane I got on the power and had a few moments, and just couldn’t catch it. Not an error I want to make at the beginning of the session, but not really any excuse or any turning back much.”

Ricciardo admitted that given that the race is likely to be wet, he hadn’t lost out much: “It looks like it probably won’t hurt me too much, the long run stuff. Obviously I just missed a time there with the option, but it seems pretty straightforward, we know how the tyre responds, we know there’s about a second between the compounds. Even though I did one lap the lap I did I think we made some changes form P1 to P2, and I definitely felt better off.”

He also said that Mercedes is stronger here than expected.

“Definitely coming into it I was expecting something like Singapore, being within a few tenths off the Mercs, and fighting for the podium. They were really quick today. We think we’re there, and then they pull a gap like this. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, but looking at today we won’t be able to do anything with that in qualifying. Maybe the race will change. Right now in the dry, all going well, we can still be third on the grid.”

The FIA has confirmed to the teams that there is no possibility of the Japanese GP being run on Saturday in an attempt to avoid the typhoon that is expected on Sunday.

However, the option remains to bring the 3pm start forward in order to create a bigger window in which to get the race completed. Today, even with good weather, it was dark by 5.30pm.

Race promoter Honda is the driving force behind the decision not to move to a Saturday afternoon slot after morning qualifying – an option that the FIA was open to. Sources confirm that Honda does not want to have to refund fans with Sunday tickets.

However Charlie Whiting confirmed that that path had not been taken at the regular Friday driver’s briefing, which is also attended by team managers.

An earlier start still might not avoid the heavy rain which is expected to fall all day Sunday, and there remains a chance that it is too wet for the cars to take to the track at all. If they do one possible scenario is a lengthy stint behind the safety car.

A race only has to run for two laps for half points to be awarded, and has to run to 75% for full points to be awarded.

In other words it would require only two laps behind the safety car in the course of the day, with no actual racing, for the driver on pole to do enough to earn 12.5 points. It will be fascinating to see how that might impact the Hamilton v Rosberg contest…

The worst weather is expected to hit in late afternoon and evening, just as the teams are packing up for Sochi.

Pastor Maldonado is set to get a 10-place grid penalty in Japan for using a sixth power unit element.

The Venezuelan used his sixth Internal Combustion Engine, or ICE, in FP1 today.

He becomes only the second driver after Daniil Kvyat to pick up a penalty, although bad weather on Sunday could render it meaningless anyway…

For more info on those close to getting a penalty see here: https://adamcooperf1.com/2014/10/02/alonso-raikkonen-and-vettel-close-to-grid-penalties/

Plans for Marussia to run Renault 3.5 driver Will Stevens in FP1 at Suzuka fell through at the last minute when the Briton’s superlicence paperwork failed to come through in time.

However the team has confirmed that he is an official reserve driver and will complete some FP1 sessions later in the season.

Like fellow Marussia recruit Alex Rossi Stevens was previously with Caterham, and has tested at Abu Dhabi and Silverstone.

Team boss John Booth said: “Will is a driver we have been watching since he arrived in Formula Renault. We have admired his ability to learn quickly and compete in the thick of the action, so we are very pleased to add him to our roster of Official Reserve Drivers, which is now looking very strong indeed. It is great to be able to take such promising talents as Will and Alexander under our wing and help them progress to the next level. We look forward to seeing Will perform in the MR03, when I am sure he will demonstrate some further signs of his obvious potential.”

“I’m really thrilled to be given this opportunity by the Marussia F1 Team,” said Stevens. “They are a great team, with enormous potential, and I’m so happy to be joining them at this exciting time in their development. Off the back of my F1 tests with Caterham, I can’t wait to get my first taste of the MR03. I’m looking forward to rewarding their faith in me and to making a positive contribution to our progress in the 2014 championship, and beyond.”

The Japanese GP is under threat from Typhoon Phanfone, which is expected to pass close to the Suzuka area on race day.

The biggest issue is not so much wind as heavy rain, which could be bad enough to stop the cars from taking to the track at all. With the cars and equipment due to be packed on Sunday night for travel to Sochi there is no possibility for a rain delay, and in any case the weather is likely to get worse on Monday.

Bernie Ecclestone is not in Japan, but he is contact with the FIA’s Charlie Whiting about potential scenarios. At their regular Thursday meeting team managers were told that an early start on Sunday – it’s currently scheduled for 3pm – could create a bigger window in which to get the race run. There are also concerns about the weather worsening on Sunday evening, when the teams are packing their equipment for shipping to Russia.

In the past Suzuka qualifying has been postponed to Sunday due to weather issues. One possibility could be to squeeze both qualifying and race into Saturday, although that will have big implications both for TV broadcasters and of course paying spectators.

Clearly that decision will have to be taken sooner rather than later, but with the forecast changing, it will be a big call for the FIA and other key parties to make.

Steffen Dietz of official F1 weather forecaster Ubimet said: “There are still big uncertainties for the storm track in the coming days. The current forecast track for typhoon Phanfone keeps the eye of the storm to the south-east of Japan on Sunday but with associated rain bands extending north towards Suzuka during the morning. Once it starts the rain is likely to be prolonged and become increasingly heavy Winds will be mostly light initially but freshen as the days goes on. At this time, nothing too severe is expected before Monday.”

Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel are among the drivers likely to face a grid penalty for using a sixth power unit element.

All three World Champions have now reached five power unit elements, and in Alonso’s case in four of the six categories – and in fact all six drivers who use Ferrari engines are now close to getting penalties.

In Monza Daniil Kyvat became the first driver to land a penalty for using a sixth example of one of the six elements, in his case an ICE, or V6. The Russian will now face a five-place penalty as soon as he uses a sixth example of any other element, and will get 10 places if uses a seventh ICE.

“The rules are as they are but surely at some stage we have to take some penalties, which penalties those will be is not entirely clear yet,” said Vettel. “We’re waiting for some parts, we’re hoping that we get as far as we can, but it’s inevitable to go for an extra engine on my side – which is already ten positions after qualifying.

“Potentially there is more waiting for us – which is only a consequence of the poor season we had, first half of the season, in terms of reliability. But that’s something we knew back then. Now we have to figure out what is the smartest plan, let’s say, and the smartest track to come up with a penalty.”

Brazil, given the ease of overtaking at Turn One and the prospects of a wet race, is regarded as the best place to take a penalty – if any of the drivers currently on the bubble can wait that long.

Here’s the full list of those who have reached five, listed in number order:

(ICE=Internal Combustion Engine, TC=Turbo, MGU-K/H=Motor Generator Unit Kinetic/Heat, CE=Control Electronics)

Sebastian Vettel: ICE, TC, MGU-H

Fernando Alonso: ICE, TC, CE, MGU-H

Kimi Raikkonen: ICE, MGU-H, CE

Romain Grosjean: TC

Pastor Maldonado: ICE, TC, MGU-K, MGU-H

Adrian Sutil: ICE, TC, MGU-K, MGU-H, CE

Esteban Gutierrez: TC, MGU-K, MGU-H, CE

Jean-Eric Vergne: MGU-K

Daniil Kvyat: ICE (6), MGU-K, MGU-H (5)

Jules Bianchi: ICE, TC, MGU-H, CE

Max Chilton: ICE, TC, MGU-K, MGU-H

Kamui Kobayashi: MGU-K

Sebastian Vettel has again downplayed the ongoing rumours about a potential future at Ferrari.

Vettel’s name has long been linked with Maranello, even more so since it became clear that Fernando Alonso is considering his options for 2015.

“I think there have always been rumours over the last couple of years, especially around this time of the season,” said Vettel. “I think probably more for Jenson; he already has 17 team mates for next year. I have been one of them, a couple of weeks ago, maybe next week I will be again. It’s not really in my head. At Singapore we made some progress and I hope that we can carry that momentum into this race, and that’s really where the focus lies.”

Meanwhile Vettel said that his season has started to look up since things began to fall into place for him.

“I think it’s all the small bits coming together. Obviously we hardly ran the first half of the season, we had lots of issues in winter to overcome and then a lot of issues on my side in the first half – which is never great to get the right feeling and get things lined up the way things should be lined up.

“I think now we had a little bit more consistent weekends, a bit more time to look at all the stuff and I think it’s coming our way – but there’s still huge potential which I feel we are getting closer but there’s a lot of work ahead of us to make sure we extract it in the next couple of races as well.”