Jenson lost a point to Rubens at Suzuka today, but drove the better race.
Just as he did last week in Singapore, Jenson started behind his team mate – this time 4 places behind rather than 2.
Last week he made up 3 places on Rubens to finish one place ahead of him. This week he also made up 3 places, but finished one place behind.
But what must have been really frustrating is the FIA only announcing the final grid positions 3 hours before the race.
So qualifying for the Brawns went something like this:
- At the end of Q3 yesterday: Rubens 5th, Jenson 7th.
- After initial penalties applied: Rubens 10th, Jenson 12th
- 3 hours before the start of the race: Rubens 6th Jenson 10th.
How can you map out a strategy in those circumstances!?
And despite a search of the online reports, I can’t find why it was that the FIA only saw fit to confirm the starting grid this morning and, in particular, why they penalised Rubens and Jenson differently for the same error.
Still, Jenson made up 2 places over the course of the race (and 3 places on his team mate) to finish 8th and get a point – another masterful damage limitation exercise, because he could have lost 3 points had they finished in the order in which they started.
So now the gap between him and Rubens is back to 14 – the same as it was before Singapore.
And Rubens now has to score 6 points more than Jenson in each of the last 2 races to take the title.
Again – not impossible at all, but better (from Jenson’s point of view) than the 5 points a race he required after last week’s race.
