Japanese GP: Race Notebook
motorsport-live.com April 3rd, 2016
A great win for
Windsor and
Aki Lipponen and once again a disappointing day for the
Steinmann and the
Rossini. The rain threw a wrench into most pit stop strategies and many came forward (
Vázquez,
Flores) and other went backwards(
Sharp,
Schmidt).
Best Overtake of my Life:
That is how
Lipponen descriped his pass of
Nina Holtz in lap 22. "I went on the outside, remember, we were both on dry tyres... only my sheer force of will held the car on the track and I pushed through, amazing past, best overtake of my life," he said.
It surely was a maneuver to remember.
Dodgy Parts:
Wolfgang Schmidt of the
Van Dort Racing team surely was not happy with his car today. "What is the point of bringing a big update to the car when we have to pit two times to repair the ****?" He finished in P12 but had the raw speed for more.
Technical director Jenny Whitehouse of
Lotus buried her head between her hands when
Iker Vidal came in and lost invaluable time in the pits because of a problem with the ride height.
Lotus brought a new suspension to Japan.
All of that costed
Vidal some places as he finished where he started, P17, while
Jeremy Woodford gained three places into P15.
Tyres, Tyres, Tyres:
Everyone got them, and they are always wrong. At least in the wet this time. It looked like many runners did a great job by putting on the full wet for when it poured down, but it turned out that maximizing the intermediate compound and saving a pit stop was equally fast.
"There was no easy choice this time. If you have the right tyre, you need a clear piece of track to use it, no traffic, gain time on the track. Else, save the pit stop. It is never easy,"
Windsor boss Claire Williams had to say after three race.
Race Result:
Standings: