Akio Toyoda

Seems that Toyota are not going into the next season of Formula 1. That will Leave F1 with just 3 Manufacturer’s in the sport next year, Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari.

This does have a positive side effect, if Toyota do not announce a buyer for the team, it seems that Sauber will be able to take their place on the grid as the 13th team.

The pullout will actually cost Toyota to do as well, as they have signed up to the sport until 2012, so unless they can sell the Cologne based team as a going concern then they will have to pay the expenses to pull out.

Translated version of the page here

Hiroshi Yasukawa

This today from the current exclusive tyre supplier to F1, saying they will not continue to supply tyres after the 2010 season is over. This means that they will pull out of the sport after their 3 year exclusivity contract expires. What this means to F1 is unsure at the moment. Will the FIA try get another manufacturer in on an exclusive deal? or will we have the ‘tyre war’ back that added so much spice to the sport while Michelin and Bridgestone competed?

It’s believed that the extra teams, and races coming into the sport is the reason behind Bridgestone’s move away from F1. The deal they currently have with the FIA is obviously not good enough for it to be cost effective for them to invest the extra money and resources.

The thinking is however that the FIA will try for another exclusive single supplier, as that way they have better control of compounds, and hence corner speeds of the cars. However having multiple suppliers in the sport would add some spice, now that we have lost the refuelling.

Michelin are not really doing much motorsport work at the moment, even the WRC are using a Michelin sister company (BF Goodrich) and not the French tyre giant. Perhaps we will see Dunlop or Goodyear come back to the sport?

Hamilton with the KERS helping in sector 2 comes out on top, with the two Red Bull cars 2nd and 3rd on the grid.

Rubens is then followed by world Champion elect Jenson Button. Jarno Trulli lines the Toyota up to what looks to be his final drive with Toyota in 6th, closely followed by the two BMW’s of Kubica and Heidfeld on their last race under the German car manufacturers leadership.

Rosberg then has Buemi behind him making up the top 10 cars.

You will notice that neither of the Ferrari’s (who have an amazing facility on the new site) are not to be seen in the top 10. Rakkonen does start ‘best of the rest’ in 11th spot, with the bonus consolation prize of being allowed to choose his fuel.

Fernando managed only 16th spot in his last drive for the French Renault team, struggling for grip apparently.

Kovalainen struggled with the McLaren and only managed 13th spot. It looks almost certain that he will not retain his McLaren seat next year, with rumours of Toyota and Lotus running around the grid.

The lineup should give us an interesting race, with the only kicker being that the KERS powered McLaren could run away at the start of the race.

Lets hope the newest track, gives us one of the greatest races of the season.

The story however is the world championship wins by Brawn, both Constructors and Drivers world championships have been wrapped up at the track.

However it was a great race from start to finish, with some great overtaking moves, and some great strategy by all the teams.

A great drive from Lewis Hamilton to come from 18th on the grid to take 3rd spot, with a great piece of strategy by the team, combined with a little luck of a first lap incident allowing them to use the soft tyres for 1 lap, and switch over to effectively a one stop strategy. Has to be my driver of the day.

Jenson made some great overtaking moves to get himself from 14th to finish 5th, that combined with some bad luck from Barrichelo allowed him to take the championship.

Kubica had a strong race for BMW, showing the car had decent pace this weekend.

A strong drive from Vettel also, showing that the Red Bull was certainly the car on form this weekend, he came from 16th on the grid to take the 4th spot.

So, a new track for the next race at Abu Dabi, and no titles to wrap up, so it could be an all out race. With little or no consequences for the result. It should be a good one.

Full rundown after I have had a chance to re-watch all the action, but for now here’s the finishing lineup.

It has been 40 years since we had a British driver hand his drivers title over to another British driver. Jenson will make a worthy world champion, and be a true ambassador for the sport.

Brawn also celebrate by taking the constructors championship, a true achievement when you consider the issues they had at the start of the season.

Congratulations to all the team on their achievements this year.

Gives a great insight into what goes on in the leadup to the race weekend, and shows what the team back in Woking can and does do for the race team all the way from the UK.

Other good news was that Toyota got their second second place finish in two races, this time with Jarno getting the teams podium spot. Almost certainly cementing the Japanese constructor in the championship next year, which is good news. However the rumours about drivers are strong, with all sort of names being banded about for the team.

That second spot really should have been Hamilton’s however, but his McLaren had KERS issues after the last stop, allowing Trulli to pass him during the pit round. However it does bode well for the team next year, with a car based on the current one meaning the team should be quick from the off.

Räikkönen put in a decent drive to get his Ferrari into the fourth spot. He had a very quite race, just pounding round with good times and a well deserved fourth for it.

Rubens and Jenson finished 7th and 8th after the penalties from not lifting during qualifying, this leaves the team still needing a few points to take the championship for Brawn, which I’m sure will be clinched at Sau Paulo.

But the drivers championship is still up for grabs, and surprisingly the drivers championship still a three way challenge.

The last 2 races are going to be great!

However the big news is the controlled, mature drive by Jenson Button to bring himself home in fifth spot, crucially just behind Vettel and ahead of his team mate and closest title challenger Barrichello.

A good day, and our drive of the day for Timo Glock in the Toyota, not only was it unseen, and highly deserved, but the team needs it to keep the Japanese pay masters on board and hopefully ok the funding for next years racing.

The Red Bull cars all seemed to be struggling with brake issues, with Mark Webber loosing his front right brake, and crashing out at the end of the main straight. The Toro Rosso cars were then stopped, with at least one of them suffering brake issues as well. Vettlel was warned his brakes were struggling as well, as were both of the Brawn cars towards the end of the race.

A good race from Fernando, giving the Renault team it’s first good press all weekend, and the teams first podium of the season, finishing his car in third spot, ING getting some ‘free’ sponsorship from the press briefing as he still has the logo’s on the suite.

Nikko had an unfortunate event where he lost the back end of the car coming out of the pit’s and crossed the white safety line just as a safety car session started. This forced him to take his drive through penalty shortly after the safety car was brought in, ruining what could have been a good battle between Lewis, him, Vettel and Timo.

Vettel then had to take a drive through for speeding on pit entry, ruining his race chances. He also seemed to damage the rear diffuser when he ran wide over the kerbs.

This all adds up though to mean that in theory Jenson can take the championship at the next race if he finishes 5points ahead of Rubens.

The last three races could well be good, as the Red Bulls look to be back on form, the Toyota’s will try be quick in Japan, Brawn seem to be there or there about, and the McLaren’s seem to be the cars to beat in the race.