F1 » Vettel takes Suzuka pole.

How much is 0.6s worth? Australia 3 grid spots Malaysia 6 China 5 Bahrain 3 Spain 5 Monaco 6 Turkey 7 Britain 4 germany 5 Hungary 6 Europe 5 Spa 9 Monza 3 Singapore 3 Japan 5 0.6s gap in qualifying is equivalent to an average of 5 spots this year.

F1 » Brawn pair amongst five given Suzuka penalties

Rules are to provide safety and fairness. Rosberg exited the pitlane early in Singapore, a dangerous move because he can cause an accident with a driver running at racing speed. It's totally appropriate to be penalized. But when half the field incur penalties in a 40-second interval, there's something wrong with the rules. It's a trap. It means no one knows the right thing to do. It's arbitrary, ridiculous and par for the course in F1.

F1 » Brawn pair amongst five given Suzuka penalties

I agree Martin it was a crash party. Alan D, I read your comments about the motorway. I get that, but Button cannot claim ignorance. This is what I mean - qualifying under yellow is meaningless. It's not qualifying. A yellow during a race is a temporary, brief thing. A yellow during qualifying is the same time duration, but proportionately it's a much larger part of the session. It distorts the session and makes it ridiculous. No one knows the right thing to do.

F1 » Vettel: That was fantastic

Vettel has a nasty habit of winning poles and losing the position before the first corner. He needs to make a good start here.

F1 » Brawn pair amongst five given Suzuka penalties

I don't understand the "split second" thing with Button. He has on his steering wheel, a yellow flag indicator. www.grandprix-live.com/2009/03/28/steering-wheels-pictures-of-formula-1-cars/ he knew there was a yellow, 20 seconds before he came upon it.

F1 » Brawn pair amongst five given Suzuka penalties

the way the FIA manages the safety flags during qualifying is ridiculous. They treat yellow in qualifying the same as yellow in the race. Problem is, the qualifying session is 10 minutes, not 2 hours. Any yellow flag completely destroys the session. Qualifying loses all meaning under yellow. The right thing to do is to suspend the quali session and add back 2x the lap time. Anything else has no chance of being fair or appropriate. So here we have a guy, Alonso, who didn't even finish the lap and he's given credit for his time and then penalized. We have other guys, the Brawns, who never lifted and they get the same penalty. Makes no sense. Oh, wait, I forgot. It's F1.

F1 » Massa blanks Piquet amid Singapore fall-out.

He's a competitor, it's understandable that he feels ripped off. On the other hand, he had plenty of opportunity to lock down the championship last year, and didn't. He spun 5 times at the British GP. He spun out of P2 in Malaysia. He lost the lead in Monaco by driver error, giving the win to Hamilton. He had a terrible outing in Italy. Had any of these things been different, he'd be champion. I like Massa but he just couldn't make it happen last year.

F1 » Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying times.

I agree with StopWatch - if the session gets red flagged, they should add 2x the lap time back in. These days quali is half the race. It makes no sense to just melt it away like that with an incident. And - on the slowing through the yellow - no, we don't need telemetry. They posted their qualifying times during the yellow, the fastest times of the day for both Brawns. They were not slowing. They should have been 5s off the pace, at least. I don't think they should move to the back of the grid, but they should get their prior lap times and positions. Like P11 and P13, while Rosberg and Alonso should move up into the top 10.

F1 » Vettel takes Suzuka pole.

Rosbberg didn't make it out of Q2 - he is provisionally 11th. I think only the Brawns posted new fast times. Barichello was on camera at full gas through the debris. of course, this is F1, so anything can happen. poor Heikki - he needed some good showings at the end of the year. This isn't helping.

F1 » Vettel takes Suzuka pole.

I just read on autosport that the Q2 results for Button and Barichello are being protested by Alonso, since they posted them during the yellow and obviously did not lift. If the protest is upheld, Rosberg and Alonso might move to P7 and P8, and Barichello and Button would fall back. Either way, not vevry satisfying. If they have a red flag incident, they should extend the session, at least 2x the lap time. Despite the crashes, I'm happy to see racing on a proper circuit again. Suzuka has some beautiful curves. So much better than Singapore.