Team Summary:
The opening eighteen minute period of qualifying for the 2018 Japanese GP
would get underway with Vandoorne out on sot tyres. The other drivers coming
out were all on the supersoft tyre including both Williams. Vandoorne would
set a 1m:32.170 but Grosjean would easily go ahead with a 1m:30.504 followed
by Magnussen. At the front Vettel would move ahead of Raikkonen with a
fastest time of 1m:29.049. Grosjean was third followed by Leclerc and
Magnussen. Hamilton would set a new quickest time with a 1m:28.702 while
Bottas would go third. Verstappen was now fourth followed by Raikkonen,
Ricciardo, Grosjean, Leclerc, Magnussen, and Hartley tenth. Vettel would
spin but was able to continue but the session would be red flagged when
Ericson would run wide seeing his car crash into the barriers.
Ocon would move up to seventh as the track cleared and the Sauber was
removed. There were just under ten minutes remaining in the period. Neither
Renault had set a time along with Perez so with the restart of the period
they would be first out. Grosjean in eighth would also come back out joined
by Magnussen. and Vandoorne. All these drivers were on the supersoft tyre.
Sainz was up to tenth but Hulkenberg would go ninth seeing his team-mate
11th. But Perez was now tenth while for Williams their drivers were in 17th
and 18th. Grosjean would improve to be sixth ahead of Ricciardo, Ocon,
Magnussen and Perez tenth. Both Williams cars were back out for a final run
in the period. Everyone except Ericsson and the top nine were back out on
the track. the final runs would see the Williams drivers finish in 15th and
17th seeing Lance into the second period. A great result for Williams.
With the second period both Mercedes cars were out on the soft tyre with
Raikkonen setting a 1m:28.595 to be quickest but Hamilton on the soft tyre
would move ahead with a 1m:28.017 but Bottas would go even faster with a
1m:27.987 to be quickest. Both Haas cars were on the soft tyre with Vettel
now third. Ricciardo would have to pit with an engine issue. Verstappen was
now in fifth followed by Ocon, Perez, Grosjean, Gasly and Hartley. Bottas
was back out for a run on the supersoft tyre in preparation for the final
period of qualifying. With the rain everyone would pit with the top ten
Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Ocon, Perez, Grosjean,
Gasly and Hartley.
The final period would commence with both Ferrari's coming out on
intermediate tyres but they would pit switching to the supersoft tyre. The
rest of the top ten were all out on the supersoft tyre. Ocon would set a
1m:30.126 but Hamilton would go quicker with a 1m:27.760 with Bottas second.
Hartley was now third followed by Gasly but Verstappen went third. Grosjean
would move ahead of the Torro Rosso's to be fourth but Raikkonen would take
this spot. Vettel would set a 1m:32.192 to be only ninth after making a
mistake. Both Mercedes cars would pit returning on new supersoft tyres. The
other drivers would also pit changing tyres. But with them all out on the
dry tyres the rain would start to fall seeing no chance of any improvement.
This would see the order Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Grosjean,
Hartley, Gasly, Ocon, Vettel, and Perez tenth. For the Williams team they
would finish in 14th and 17th after what was an encouraging session. |