Zoom Running too close for comfort on lap one at Fuji

Jarno Trulli carried the flag for Toyota today as Timo Glock was forced to retire his TF108 early in the race following an off. Trulli lost out to Piquet in the pit stops but still finished in fifth position, ten seconds clear of Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel finished seventh in the second STR3 while Massa recovered to take the chequered flag in eighth position. The Brazilian, along with Bourdais, was under investigation following contact late in the race.

Heading to the first turn, Bourdais took the inside line as he defend his position from Massa after emerging from the pits on lap 50. Massa ducked to the left and drove around the outside of the right-handed first turn but also moved across and made contact with Bourdais’ STR3. Both were able to resume the race but astonishingly the stewards gave the French Toro Rosso racer a 25 second post race penalty that dropped him to tenth position overall and out of the points.

Mark Webber used a one-stop strategy to finish ninth in his Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard suffered a suspension failure at the start of the race and crashed heavily following light contact with Piquet’s Renault at the first turn. While it was an early exit for Coulthard, Webber was later promoted to eighth position following Bourdais’ penalty - a small boost for the team as they battle with Toro Rosso in the constructors’ championship.

Nick Heidfeld finished tenth in the second BMW Sauber ahead of Nico Rosberg in his Williams Toyota. Hamilton was unable to recover from the early race dramas and finished 12th ahead of the one-stopping Honda duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Kazuki Nakajima was the final runner in 15th position in the second Williams after he struck the out-of-control Coulthard on lap one and was forced into the pits prematurely for a new front wing.

Adrian Sutil suffered a right rear puncture and was forced to retire while Giancarlo Fisichella was soon out of the race in the second Force India Ferrari with a gearbox problem to make it five retirements from the field of 20.

Fernando Alonso heads to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend on the back of two impressive wins, while Hamilton retains his title lead over Massa by five points despite a costly error this afternoon in Japan. Bourdais meanwhile must be wondering how and why he received a penalty for simply racing...

Earl ALEXANDER
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