"I am sure it will be a great place to race and, hopefully, there will be some overtaking opportunities because of the really long start-finish straight," he comments, "We will have to wait and see what it is going to be like, as I do not really have a major image in my mind at the moment.
"I have to say when I was first asked about my feelings of Fuji, I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t be getting to race at Suzuka because everyone goes on about how great it is, but this season I have really enjoyed going to new tracks and learning them. It provides a slightly different challenge, so I am looking forward to it. Everyone will be in the same boat and it should be quite exciting. Everything is so close in the Championship now, so we have to go out there in Fuji and get as many points as possible. It would be great to win."
With the exact nature of Fuji still to be established, opinions are divided as to whether the venue will favour
McLaren or Ferrari, and McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh remains unconvinced as to the advantage his team could hold.
"It is always interesting to be racing at a new circuit, it will place more importance on Friday’s running and we expect to see a lot of track action as everyone becomes acclimatised to the track and its new layout," he muses, "From what we understand of the track layout, it should lead to some exciting racing. In addition, its characteristics will suit the MP4-22, but not necessarily with the margin we have seen at some tracks such as Monza and Indianapolis. Three races to go, two points separating Lewis and Fernando with the two main rivals both within 20 points, it is going to be an absorbing end to what we feel has been an exciting season for the sport."
Renault – Giancarlo Fisichella (#3), Heikki Kovalainen (#4):
This time last season, Renault travelled to the Japanese GP attempting to keep
Fernando Alonso in the world title fight with
Michael Schumacher and
Ferrari. Twelve months on and the team is having to content itself with fourth place in the constructors championship, while fighting for every point it can get.
Rookie Heikki Kovalainen has proven to be the team's motive force in recent races, scoring at six races in a row while veteran team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella struggles to make his mark, and is hoping that previous experience of Fuji - however slight - will allow him to maintain his run.
"Like Monza and Spa, Suzuka was a really challenging circuit, for the drivers and the car, but times change, F1 changes," he says, masking the disappointment of not going to Suzuka, "Fuji is a track I already know a little bit about after doing a promotional event for our partners there last year. I think it will make for good racing, which will be good for all the Japanese supporters, who are always really enthusiastic about
F1.
"The circuit includes a long straight of around 1.5km, and I think that the aero level will be a very important thing to calculate well. There are also some sequences of medium- and slow-speed corners, particularly the last five corners which are all in second gear, so we will be working hard to find the right aero compromise, and also to get good mechanical grip in the slow sections. In terms of overtaking opportunities, turn one is probably the most obvious one, with a lot of passing. I am really looking forward to racing there!"
