Japanese Grand Prix Review

Ferrari clinched their fifth-straight constructors' title, and Schumacher his unprecedented sixth Drivers' Championship, finally eclipsing the mark set by Juan Mañuel Fangio which had stood since 1957 - forty-six years, no less. It was surely Schumi's most difficult title win since his first in 1994, and no one was under any illusions that it was also done in less-than-emphatic circumstances. As a result, the F1 fraternity are still trying to grasp and comprehend the idea that Fangio, finally, has been surpassed.

Such was the expectation that Michael would simply walk into the title that the lead-up to the decider was about as low-key as you can get. Indeed, the attention was usurped by the not-unexpected news that Jacques Villeneuve had been replaced by Takuma Sato at BAR for 2004, followed by the Canadian's incredible dummy-spit when he walked out on the team before Suzuka altogether. There was much mudslinging over who was at fault, whether it was Jacques himself, or David Richards, or Honda.

F1 Rejects will be writing an opinion on the Villeneuve saga in the weeks to come. But suffice to say that, in our opinion, Jacques and BAR sowed the seeds for their discontent as early as 2001 before Richards ever appeared, and reports during the week made it clear that JV had walked out of his own volition. Some suggested that Craig Pollock had encouraged him to do it, reminding him of how his father Gilles had died in a crash when he was perhaps too emotional and angry for his better judgment.

For all the unforgiving excitement of one-lap qualifying this year, rain showers on Friday at the Nurburgring and at Magny-Cours already had some wondering if the day would come when another shower in the middle of a session could have a serious bearing on things. The rain on Saturday that sent Kimi Raikkonen down to 8th on the grid, Schumi to 14th, and the fastest two from Friday, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, all the way back to the last row, demonstrated the uglier side of the shoot-out format.

The patent injustice of being affected by rain is so obvious, even despite the changes to qualifying for 2004, there is good reason to propose that if rain does strike in the middle of the final flying laps, they should revert to an old-style all-in session. It is one thing for mechanical problems or driver errors to decide the outcomes of races, let alone titles (as almost happened here), as there is some degree of control over these things by the driver and his team. To have results artificially decided by the weather is simply not on.

Nevertheless, suddenly the championship wasn't such a fait accompli any more, and a tasty prospect was in store. Schumi had to choose between discretion and valour, either to go for 8th place and the one point he needed, or to hope for things to simply fall his way, including for someone to take the win off Raikkonen. Kimi, on the other hand, needed to pass seven cars for the win, although one doubted if the Toyotas on row two and Mark Webber in 6th were going to be genuine contenders come race day.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Jacques Villeneuve
Quitter JV missed the BAR party at Suzuka!

In a race where retirements were few and far between, he could not seem to decide how aggressive he wanted to be. Martin Brundle described his ill-fated passing attempt on Sato as "half-hearted"; 'clumsy' is just as applicable. Taku rightly slammed the door, and Schumi duly lost his front wing, almost throwing away his championship. With typical Michael fortune, though, it happened metres from the pit lane entrance, which in turn was only moved to after the chicane in 2002.

Michael also seemed to be indecisive when faced with Cristiano da Matta in front of him and with his brother Ralf being a tremendous nuisance behind. It did seem like a loss of concentration from both Schumacher boys when Michael almost rammed the Toyota and the Ferrari's avoiding action forced him to cut the chicane, for which he risked being penalised (although since he gained no advantage that was never going to happen), and gave Ralf nowhere to go, losing his front wings on Michael's rear left wheel.

It made for a tense few laps until the end, wondering if there would be any last-minute punctures like at Hockenheim. As things turned out, it was good that Schumi did enough to win the title on his own, even if Raikkonen won the race. But while Michael remains the class of the field, in 2003 he has not always been consistently brilliant, and at times has lacked the aggression we have become accustomed to. Nevertheless, six wins when no-one else scored more than two suggested that the right man had won the crown.

So, what of the vanquished? In truth, once Raikkonen found himself trapped behind da Matta for the first stint, his bid for the race win - and for the championship - was as good as over, barring any mechanical failures in front of him. On three stops he was never going to make up the deficit to Barrichello, and if he switched to a less-optimal two-stop plan (which he did), the extra fuel load would render him too slow to make it work (which is exactly what happened).

In effect, Kimi was depending on a double-disaster for Ferrari, on Barrichello retiring and on Michael to drop below 8th. It was a lovely embodiment of his season as a whole. All year Kimi has been undoubtedly consistent, scoring no less than seven 2nd places, but rarely was he able to take a race by the scruff of the neck and seize victory. Being in a well-developed but year-old car didn't help. With only one win all year to Michael's six, in all honesty he would not have genuinely deserved the title had he pinched it.

This was one of David Coulthard's best weekends in what has been a poor season. He out-qualified Raikkonen in both sessions, and though his three-stop plan was not enough to beat his team-mate home, one got the impression that he was being a dutiful rear-gunner than driving at his maximum. Had he done so and been ahead of Kimi towards the end, and had Rubens retired, would McLaren have asked DC to move over? Would Ron Dennis have been left to defend the use of team tactics? A juicy thought!

Juan-Pablo Montoya's pace in the early laps was simply astounding. Whether or not he was low-fuelled we will never know, but his retirement came at a most inopportune time. One wondered if there had been a problem brewing since the opening lap, for the FW25 had emitted several trails of smoke throughout the first tour, which suggested that it was more than just smoke from excess oil burn which we had seen at various times throughout the season.

Ralf Schumacher's race was as ragged as his early season efforts were downright slow. Hungary showed just how effective he could be when he tempered rare aggression with the right amount of control, but he was in much more Neanderthal mood at Suzuka. The Japanese GP tends to bring this out of the younger Schumacher. I am reminded of 2001, when he incurred two penalties in the one race for cutting the chicane and for crossing the white line on the pit exit.

His first two spins at the chicane were silly enough, but then he came up behind his brother and decided to be a racy. It is safe enough to say that he has been constantly criticised for not daring to fight Michael head-on, but why on earth would he suddenly pluck up the courage to do so when his brother's championship is at stake, when they are only fighting for a measly 8th place, and when Hungary had already proven that he could actually pass Michael? It could have ended in disaster, and almost did. Madness.

Fernando Alonso made another barnstorming start in his Renault, and after Montoya's retirement looked to be definitely in with a shout of passing Rubens and possibly taking the win, once again a testament to the aero efficiency of the R23 despite the inferior engine. His eventual engine failure left him more outwardly disappointed than we have seen all year. Not surprising, that: three notable engine detonations in Austria, the USA and Japan may well have cost him 4th in the drivers' championship.

One had to feel sorry for Trulli though. This year has gone some way to dispelling the notion that he's great on low tanks in qualifying but mediocre on heavier tanks in the race, and Suzuka seemed to be another weekend when he would be 'on it' for all three days. I've mentioned the 'patent injustice' of a rain-affected Saturday qualifying, and that certainly applied to Jarno. Either he ought to get the advantage he deserves for being fastest on Friday, or he ought to be put on an even keel with everyone else.

He ought not be placed at a disadvantage, however. Had he been given an equal chance, from his speed on Saturday and Sunday, there is room to speculate that he may have been in with a chance of his first Grand Prix victory. Like his excellent drive at Monza last year when he came from last to 4th, so his drive on Sunday to 5th was superb. On his two-stop plan, he may have beaten Jenson Button (who was also two-stopping) for 4th had he not been held up during the second round of stops.

Button wasn't really ever in the hunt for a podium place unless there were retirements in front of him, because his two-stop plan in truth wasn't as effective as a three-stopper. But it was another excellent drive, on par with his Austrian effort. He did very well to stave off Trulli's attacks towards the end, cemented his team's 5th place in the manufacturers' championship, and also confirmed himself as one of the top half-dozen drivers of 2003, along with Schumi, Raikkonen, JPM, Alonso and Webber.

Sato emerged a Suzuka hero for the second year in a row. His practice and qualifying results were nothing short of sensational for a man who has been out of racing all year. He did not yield to Schumacher, and any potential questions about his stamina over a race distance went out the window. A consistently quick run to 6th attained three bonus points, and secured his escape from 'reject status' on this site when added to his 5th here in 2002. Now let's see him keep that up in 2004 on tracks other than Suzuka.

In the battle for 5th in the constructors', BAR seized their opportunity, whereas the others fell by the wayside. Having luckily leapt to 5th after Indianapolis, Sauber gave it up meekly, returning to their disappointingly mediocre form which has blighted their season. Nick Heidfeld continued his late-season resurgence with a strong drive to 9th, though it may have come too late to save his once-blossoming career, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen may have waved goodbye to F1 after his engine blow-up.

Mark's 6th on Saturday was a fluke thanks to the weather, and come the race he did not have the speed to remotely match the BARs. He rounded off a thoroughly brilliant season with one of his less-promising showings. Button's 4th place also meant that Mark lost 9th in the drivers' championship on count-back to the Englishman, thereby depriving the Australian of 'best of the rest' bragging rights. How he will be ruing his mistake of staying out on dries for too long at Indy when a podium finish was up for grabs.

It was another nondescript effort from Justin Wilson. Although he was closer to Webber, sadly in his five races with the Big Cats he did little better than Antonio Pizzonia had done. Either that illuminated just how stellar Webber has been, or it raises questions about Jaguar's ability to prepare two equally competitive machines. Either way, Jaguar are also on the look-out for money, and unless something in Justin's attitude mightily impressed the team, he may be on his way back to Minardi for 2004.

Toyota continue to stun one and all with their tactical brainlessness. Stopping before everyone else is, as we have repeatedly said, an utter disadvantage, but Toyota keep doing it. There was no doubt that da Matta and Olivier Panis were on low fuel, and they proved it with their early stops that just kept dropping them down the field. Da Matta in 7th eventually finished behind both BARs, although by outshining Panis again and out-scoring the Frenchman 10 points to 6, he confirmed his rookie of the year status.

Jordan rounded off their year almost AWOL, having been a clear second-last team all weekend. Giancarlo Fisichella rounded off an unenthusiastic season by being out-qualified by Ralph Firman, whose Formula Nippon experience helped. Fisi waved goodbye to the team by running out of fuel in the race, although fuel pick-up problems had rendered both cars completely impotent anyway. He will be glad to leave the sinking ship as rumours float that Jordan want Frentzen back. Heaven forbid!

The most interesting part of Minardi's weekend was the 'NOT PAID' signs over decals on the barge-boards, their sponsor Stayer having allegedly failed to pay up. It continued Paul Stoddart's unfortunate, if entertaining, penchant for doing his dirty laundry in public. Nicolas Kiesa and Jos Verstappen rounded off another 'nothing' season for the Faenza team, when with Jos' experience and Cosworth engines, it looked to have been so different at year's start. How they will be cursing that tortuous switch to Bridgestones.

And so the credits rolled on the 2003 season, a truly great year of F1 with twists and turns until the very end, and with no-one consistently dominant, although in the end the best all-round combination did take home the guernseys. Thanks for joining F1 Rejects for the ride, and for reading our opinionated babble (disguised as race reviews) throughout the year. And stay tuned for our always-controversial season review, with our driver and team rankings and pithy comments, and the 'Reject of the Year' podium.