Suzuka is up there with Spa as one of my favourite circuits. For me it's almost a perfect circuit with longish straights and aero challenging curves and the wonderful S's.

Hoping for a clean race from the Mercs. If Hamilton beats Nico then I think the WDC is his to lose.

Due to his dog of a car, one thing we're going to miss this year, is Kamui doing some of his Kamikaze passes.

Quali
-----

1. Hamilton
2. Rosberg
3. Ricciardo

Race
----

As above.

The only downer is the 6am start for Quali and 7am for the race!

Where's the commitment?!

I like the early morning. Can record it and ff through the chaff

Another benefit of a Mediterranean lifestyle...!

Vettel in at Ferrari
Alonso in at McLaren

Button out of a drive next year. Will Vergne get a reprieve now that Kvyat is stepping up to Red Bull?
It will be fascinating to see if Vettel can win a drivers' title in a non "trick" car!

Got to admire Rosberg for responding again to the pressure.

I still can't help but think Alonso will replace Massa. I know if I was Mr Williams, it will be too good an opportunity to miss, and the car is close enough for him to win races ( in my humble opinion )

Initial reaction to the Vettel news, is why would he leave Red Bull for Ferrari? After all, if Ferrari can't win with Alonso, why would Vettel fare any better? Vettel needs a strong rear end to his car and the Ferrari has always been weak in this department, especially compared to cars like the Red Bull. You can be sure that Renault will also bring out a much better powerplant next season and Newey will not produce a duff car.

However, next year's Red Bull will be last car that Newey will have direct responsibility for and the team have also lost his right-hand man, Peter Podromou to Mclaren. So while next year's car will be good, there remains a question mark over how well Dan Fallows can fill the void. Ferrari have given Luca di Montezemolo his P45, so the race team should theoretically be free of his constant meddling and culture of hiring and firing at will. Bringing some much needed stability for the race team to just get on with what they do best. Vettel has shown a lot of maturity this year in the face of his car and team mate struggles. His speed is proven (as long as you can give him what he needs) and he will be a good fit at Ferrari. One wonders how much the idea of him emulating Michael Schumacher played a role in his decision too.

The reasons for Alonso leaving Ferrari are pretty obvious, not only does he want a faster car, but his outspokenness has gotten him into trouble in recent times and nobody disses Ferrari without there being knock-on consequences. He's cleverly manipulated his situation, so that when Ferrari wins, it's down to him and when Ferrari loses it's their fault; a situation which Ferrari cannot tolerate and the relationship has gone a bit sour. There is no denying that Alonso is an outstanding driver though.

On the face of it, Alonso to Mclaren looks like the logical course of events after the Vettel announcement. But I just find it bonkers, that after the spectacular way Alonso burned his bridges at Mclaren, both parties would be open to working together again, especially with Ron Dennis back at the helm!!! Let's not forget, as well as the friction with Lewis, Alonso effectively held the team to blackmail over the spygate scandal. My mind boggles at the thought of the two parties working together again. Also, Alonso is no spring chicken anymore and desperate for more wins and championships. You have to assume that Honda will not produce a powertrain able to beat Mercedes at their first attempt, so that means another guaranteed year of him playing second fiddle, which doesn't make sense.

Another thing to consider, is Jenson Button. He's proven to get results on Sunday and he was able to go toe to toe with Lulu and come out on top on a regular basis. He has long standing connections with Honda and he understands the Japanese culture and ethos better than any other driver on the grid. Wherever that will be enough for him to keep his seat at Mclaren is doubtful. I hope I'm wrong though.

Then there is the very slim possibility of either Alonso or Jenson moving to Williams, which currently looks to be a very attractive team. They will still have Mercedes powertrains, they've arguably out-developed everyone this year and they now have the people and structure to take the fight to the top. Massa and Bottas both have contracts, but they aren’t worth much. Jenson has always been one of their favourite sons, but again, bridges were burned back in 2004 with a contract dispute, which Jenson blamed on his being badly advised by his then management team.

One good thing to come out of this, is that it looks like Carlos Sainz Jnr. will deservedly get his F1 chance, after being criminally being overlooked in favour of Max Verstappen.

Spin, spin, spin goes the merry go round…

In the interview on the BBC, Alonso was careful not to say where he was going; I think it's likely that he is playing his possible suitors off. I imagine he will want to be able to choose his teammate as well as his race engineer, etc. McLaren seem ready to do whatever it takes, but Alonso will need to be convinced that the unpleasantness of his last spell won't be repeated. For some reason, Ron Dennis seems convinced that only Alonso will do (now that Vettel has decided to do the usual "prove you're a real champion by winning in a red car" nonsense). The mutterings from Dennis also seem to indicate that Button (a Whitmarsh signing) will be dispensed with, which - as DennisK, not Ron! says - seems daft given his experience with Honda.
Time will tell, but if have a feeling there will be more to this story...
Edited for K-factor!

Why Vettel thinks he will fare any better than at Ferrari than Alonso is beyond me, whether he believes he can emulate Schumacher in wrapping the team around him or maybe he knows something we don't about next years car who knows ?
Alonso at McLaren seems unlikely but given his wasted years at Ferrari you can understand he needs to be winning again soon as he is not getting any younger and seeing the youngsters coming through from the feeder series may have pushed him their direction.
I really hope Jenson is not forced to a lower order team but suspect Alonso may prefer him to a youngster who may cause him problems like LuLu did.

That Rosberg lap, looked perfect?

I think Bottas' lap was more impressive. There is a wonder if any of the teams made a compromise in qualifying, to make their cars more competative for tomorrow promised rain.

I hope the expected rain makes it exciting rather than a dull wait for conditions to improve.

I'm a bit worried that we'll wake up tomorrow and find the race halfway through!

Anyone else see the interview with Lauda, fantastic insight into what is wrong with current f1.

Basically the cars are to easy to drive, evidence being the number of younger drivers competing and the fact that the cars are the determination of the champion. Wider tyres and more bhp is the answer, that should get the sphincter twitching and show the better skills of the top divers.

Tom Daley in F1...?

I assume the reference is to "divers" and not "sphincter twitching" JC?

It's raining so we must have a safety car start YAWN

Can't see this race happening

I'm agreeing with the view that this should have been run earlier

I'm going back to bed

My moneys on Maylander.....

Or a bit later in the year. Early October is perhaps a bit to close to monsoon season and starting so late in the day jest seems like madness.

morning all.

Fine weather for F1 ducks...

Lets man up and go racing........

A couple of lovely overtakes from Ricciardo!

And from Hamilton.

Brave b&£@/-£d

He's been very impressive this season. Someone on here said it before, but I particularly like that he makes a move as soon as he's on the tail of whoever's in front.

Anyone know how/why the RBs are quicker than the Mercs?