The 2010 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2010 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 October 2010 at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan before 190,000 spectators. It was the 16th round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship and the 26th Japanese Grand Prix held as part of the Formula One World Championship. Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the 53-lap race from pole position. His team-mate Mark Webber finished second and Fernando Alonso was third in a Ferrari.
Entering the race, Webber led Alonso in the World Drivers' Championship by 11 championship points. Webber's team Red Bull led second-placed McLaren by 24 championship points in the World Constructors' Championship. Vettel claimed the 13th pole position of his career by setting qualifying's fastest lap which was delayed to the day of the race due to torrential rain. Vettel held the lead for the first 24 laps until he made his only pit stop, promoting Webber to first for one lap. Jenson Button of McLaren led the following 13 laps before Vettel retook the position on the 39th lap, maintaining it for the rest of the race to achieve his third victory of the season and the eighth of his career. The safety car was deployed once for two separate accidents on the first lap involving Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg as well as Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
As a consequence of the final result, Webber extended his lead over Alonso by three championship points in the World Drivers' Championship. Vettel's victory promoted him from fourth to third and he had the same number of championship points as Alonso. Hamilton was demoted to fourth as a result of his finishing fifth, and his teammate Button remained in fifth. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull further increased their lead over McLaren to 45 championship points, with three races remaining in the season.
Background
The 2010 Japanese Grand Prix was the 16th of 19 single seater motor races of the 2010 Formula One World Championship, and the 26th running of the event as part of the Formula One World Championship. It was held at the 18-turn clockwise Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie on 10 October. Tyre supplier Bridgestone provided four types of tyres to the race; two dry compounds (soft green-banded "options" and hard "primes") and wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet green-line central groove banded tyre).
For the 2010 race, a kerb was installed in place of an existing kerb and green concrete sections at the exits to the Denger 1 and Spoon corners were each elongated by . Two layers of artificial grass laid on the outside of the Spoon corner was extended with another layer of artificial grass laid behind the kerbing to the exit of the Casio Triangle chicane, extending its overall length by more than . Conveyor belts were retrofitted to the front of tyre walls that had previously lacked them.
Pre-race, Red Bull driver Mark Webber led the World Drivers' Championship with 202 championship points; ahead of the second-placed Fernando Alonso of Ferrari with 191 championship points. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton held third with 182 championship points, Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel was fourth with 181 championship points and Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button placed fifth with 177 championship points. Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship with 383 championship points; McLaren and Ferrari were second and third with 359 and 319 championship points, respectively. With 168 championship points, Mercedes in fourth had 35 more championship points than Renault in fifth.
Alonso had won the preceding Italian and to be eleven championship points behind Webber and said the season's final four rounds would challenge him mentally believing a top-three result and figuring his championship position in Abu Dhabi was vital. Webber admitted Ferrari's recent form had given them momentum but felt Red Bull would be competitive in Japan, saying they needed to extract performance. His teammate Vettel said he felt he could win the title and noted the importance of finishing races and driver optimisation. He acknowledged Red Bull's car was suited to the Suzuka Circuit and said his focus would be on the Japanese round. Hamilton, who was intrigued to learn he remained in the championship battle after failing to finish the previous two , sought a victory duel in Japan and hoped for a marked improvement. His teammate Button said he acknowledged a potential championship win even though he was 25 championship points behind Webber and felt the Suzuka Circuit where he had not achieved a race victory suited his driving style.
Some teams modified their cars for the Grand Prix. Adrian Newey, Red Bull's technical director, moved the RB6's front brake calipers backwards to a vertical position to prevent mechanical failures associated with the brake discs, pads and pistons moving more. Both Vettel and Webber had two separate diffusers and rear wing specialisations and a revised rear wing featuring a delta shaped beam wing in the centre. Ferrari modified the F10's diffuser to include a small omega shaped wing on the deformable structure's top to bring about a slight increase in downforce. McLaren introduced a revised aerodynamic package featuring a new front wing, lengthened exhausts, a new engine cover and rear wing with angled gills. The squad chose to use the standard version for qualifying and the race.
A total of 12 constructors and 24 drivers participated with one driver change and a single free practice entrant. Having driven one of its cars at the preceding Singapore Grand Prix, local driver Sakon Yamamoto replaced Christian Klien as partner for Bruno Senna at Hispania Racing. Lucas di Grassi was replaced for the second successive first free practice session by GP2 Series driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio at Virgin Racing to allow the latter to undergo evaluation as a driver. Paul di Resta did not partake in the first practice session for the Force India team for the second successive Grand Prix, to allow the team's regular drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil to test new car aerodynamic updates.
Practice There were three practice sessions held in accordance with the 2010 regulations: two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. In the first practice session, held in dry weather, Vettel lapped fastest at 1:32.585 which he set approximately halfway through the session. His teammate Webber was 0.048 seconds slower in second and Renault's Robert Kubica was third. Sutil, Hamilton, the Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg, Mercedes' Michael Schumacher, Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Schumacher's teammate Nico Rosberg followed in the top ten. Halfway through the session, Hamilton lost control of his car when it bottomed out and went wide into the quick downhill double right-hand Denger corner, damaging the car's front-left corner in a major collision with the tyre wall. His car was transported back to the pit lane by tractor and therefore took no further part in the session. With three minutes remaining, Hamilton's teammate Button ran over the kerbs at Denger One turn but regained control of his car and avoided the barrier by stopping in the gravel.
Vettel was the early pace setter in the second practice session with a 1:32.210 lap time recorded on 20 minutes on hard compound tyres before Webber's lap of 1:31.860, also set on hard compound tyres, led overall after an hour. After changing to the soft compound tyres, Vettel set the overall fastest lap of 1:31.465 with 20 minutes remaining. Webber, Kubica, Alonso, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Button, Renault's Vitaly Petrov, Schumacher, Sutil and Hülkenberg made up second through tenth. During the session, Schumacher ran wide on the kerb between both of the apexes at Denger turn but did not hit the wall. Hamilton was required to miss most of the session as his team's mechanics reconstructed his vehicle after his first practice session accident. He partook in the final eight minutes and set seven laps to be 13th quickest.
Wet weather arrived at the circuit early in the morning of 9 October; the rain got heavier before the final practice session began and worsened throughout the session, causing low visibility. The safety car was used to assess the track conditions prior to the session's commencement. Due to rivers running across multiple turns and puddles causing aquaplaning, teams were reluctant to send drivers onto the circuit and two competitors set lap times. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari lapped fastest at 1:55.902, followed by Virgin Racing's Timo Glock. Several participants opted for wet-weather tyres for one exploratory lap before re-entering the pit lane. Hamilton reported the conditions made the track undriveable, and Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said he would be disappointed if qualifying was staged in such weather and suggested the starting order be determined by either holding qualifying on Sunday morning or by championship standings.
Qualifying
Inclement weather continued to disrupt the Saturday's proceedings as qualifying was delayed three times every half an hour while the safety car was deployed several times to assess the conditions before being ultimately rescheduled for Sunday morning by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)'s race director Charlie Whiting on safety grounds arising from fading light levels. Many figures in Formula One agreed with the decision to postpone qualifying, with drivers such as Button, Hamilton, Schumacher and Vettel noting that they would not be able to control their vehicles in torrential rain had the session be run. Williams technical director Sam Michael proposed the re-introduction of slower monsoon tyres to enable drivers to drive in severe weather. Local driver Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber said he felt sorry for attendees seated in the grandstands not witnessing any action.
The qualifying session was split into three parts. The first session ran for 20 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 18th or lower. The second session was 15 minutes long, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 17th. The final ten-minute session determined pole position to tenth. Cars in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the start of the race, using the set with which they set their quickest lap times. All vehicles were not required to enter parc fermé conditions with the FIA conducting surveillance via CCTV cameras installed in every garage. Therefore, teams were allowed to adjust their cars until qualifying was over. Clear and sunny weather allowed qualifying to commence at the new start time of 10:00.
Vettel took his eighth pole position of the season and the 13th of his career. He set a lap of 1:30.792 that he subsequently improved by seven-thousandths of a second by not slowing through the first corner. Vettel was joined on the grid's front row by Webber who was 0.078 seconds slower than his teammate after losing time in the final third of the lap. Hamilton qualified in provisional third place by being faster than both Red Bull drivers for of the lap. Kubica took fourth in a car setup for maximum speed in a straight line. He demoted Alonso to fifth who was fastest overall in the middle of the lap but slower elsewhere. Button felt better driving on the hard compound tyres and had more fuel in his car than his teammate Hamilton to set the sixth-fastest qualifying time on his final timed effort. Rosberg felt his car was balanced and was seventh with the Williams duo of Barrichello and Hülkenberg (who complained he was blocked by Hamilton on his last timed lap into the chicane) eighth and ninth. Schumacher took tenth due to an improperly working F-duct system.