Suzuka 17

[cosworth151]

A bad FP3 for the Finns. Bottas clipped the wall in Spoon & Kimi smacked the barrier hard in Degner 2. Damage to Kimi's gearbox gets him a 5 place ding.

Kimi's team mate Vettel had an almost identical incident in Degner 2 but managed to just miss the wall.

[cosworth151]

Lance Stroll had horrible luck in Q1. Blocked on one fast lap by a Toro Rosso, blocked on another by Checo's Force India then having the session cut short when Grosjean wrote off another Haas. He should have made Q2.

[cosworth151]

Lewis takes his 71st pole (his first at Suzuka), besting Schumi's old lap record by 1.7 seconds. Bottas takes second but has a 5 place gearbox penalty. Third place qualifier Vettel will move to the front row. That should make for an interesting start. Alonso has another gigundous 35 place penalty.

[cosworth151]

The grid, barring any last minute penalties:

1. L. Hamilton
2. S. Vettel
3. D. Ricciardo
4. M. Verstappen
5. E. Ocon
6. V. Bottas
7. S. Pérez
8. F. Massa
9. S. Vandoorne
10. K. Räikkönen
11. N. Hulkenberg
12. K. Magnussen
13. R. Grosjean
14. P. Gasly
15. L. Stroll
16. M. Ericsson
17. P. Wehrlein
18. J. Palmer
19. C. Sainz Jr.
20. F. Alonso

It should be an interesting start. Can Vettel get the jump on Lewis off the line? How will Max & Danny Ric sort things out? Will the Force Indias take each other out on the first lap?

[Scott]

Yeah, it will be interesting to see who gets the jump on who in the first couple of rows.  I can't believe I never put a banker in for Pole...missed that.