Race Review: Japanese Grand Prix

 Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi takes his first podium at the Suzuka Circuit (Sauber Motorsport AG)

Quick, blink your eyes. Now, blink again. That's essentially how fast the fortunes have changed in favor for Vettel since Belgian GP. Other than the untimely retirement at Italian GP, Vettel has been superbly fast in his Red Bull, so fast that Vettel is now 4 points behind Alonso after the Japanese GP. Alonso should be plenty weary as he watches his massive points lead fade away.

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Capturing Your Best Photos At COTA

Monza Circuit, 2010, By Jamey Price - © Jamey Price

The following is special guest editorial by Jamey Price, a professional motorsports photojournalist and avid Formula 1 fan. Jamey has photographed NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar, and other sports car series; for more of his stunning images, visit www.JameyPricePhoto.com.

// No More Limits

COTA's initial announcement of the limitation on camera lens length sent the whole world up-in-arms.  Anyone who has been to any car race, knows that everyone and their mother is carrying a camera, some of them far larger and more impressive than the equipment carried by the professional photographers there doing their job.  

Thankfully, COTA retracted their limitations and declared lenses of any length acceptable for the November USGP. Even though these limits are removed, there's little guarantee you're going to get great results from your camera.  So before you carry in that giant 20 inch lens you've just bought to photograph rare and elusive wildlife, we should talk tactics to help you get the best images you can.  Chances are the 70-300mm f4-5.6 or the 70-200mm f2.8 tele-zoom you already own is more than sufficient so let's explore how to use what you have to it's absolute maximum potential. 

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Race Preview: Japanese GP

Michael Schumacher takes the Mercedes GP car out for Friday Practice at Suzuka (© activepictures.cz)

// Japan

It's the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, but before we dive into the race preview, let's spare a minute to talk about the latest shakeup in driver movements. As an F1 fan, you may know by now that Hamilton has made the final decision to depart McLaren and join the arms (or is it arrows?) of Mercedes for a three-year contract beginning in 2013. Hamilton has been groomed by McLaren for the last 13 years, one imagines that a decision like this is made with mixed emotions. In the case of Schumacher, to be essentially kicked out of Mercedes, just seems unfortunate for a 7-time WDC.

While McLaren uses Mercedes engines, McLaren has a noticeably faster car than Mercedes and has won more races this season than the factory team. Is this a wise decision from Hamilton and his management team? Can Hamilton shine at Mercedes? More importantly for this weekend's race, will the dynamic of the team change and therefore the performance of Hamilton suffer as a result in Suzuka?

The Championship title is still an open race at the moment, even with Alonso consistently leading with championship points, the 2nd and 3rd drivers on the leaderboard continue to shift between the top drivers. In terms of the track, it so happens that this year is the 50th anniversary of the famous Suzuka circuit. This classic figure-8 format has a great history of races, most notably the controversial drama between Ayrton Senna and Alan Prost in 1989 and 1990, which lead to Prost taking championship title in 1989 and Senna taking championship title in 1990.

With an abundance of low, medium and high speed turns, the track is quite demanding on the tyres for the duration of the this 53-lap race. Pirelli will be supplying this weekend's rubber with Hard and Soft tyres to help the cars conquer the terrains of this circuit. If the teams manage their tyres well, it may even be possible to do get away with one stop!

Even though Schumacher has won six times at this track and will retire and the end of the season, he hasn't really be able to break through this year except for one podium appearance. The fight may well be between Alonso and Vettel, who both have won twice at the track already. Button, Hamilton, Raikkonen all have won previously here as well, and will be brining the fight to Vettel and Alsonso to do their part to change up the championship scoreboard.

Have you made your predictions for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix? Will you be enjoying the race with sushi and sake?

As we await qualifying to begin later tonight, enjoy this Japanese GP Race Guide video, featuring Jenson Button of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, presented by Hilton HHonors.