Schumacher and Bridgestone Take ‘Home’ Grand Prix

After fears that a so-called super typhoon would halt the Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher has won his 13th race of the season. The fact that qualification was more than a little disrupted by an “undriveably” wet track only meant that more emphasis was put on tyres. After the first ever Sunday morning qualification, Michael Schumacher’s Bridgestone equipped Ferrari blew away the opposition.

Williams’ Ralph Schumacher took second place, with Britain’s Jenson Button taking the third podium spot. According to Button: “I went for the two stops because it worked pretty well for me in the last race.” Michelin drivers took the majority of the other point scoring positions.

When the reigning world champion was asked what it felt like to back in winning form, having set a new record for the number of wins in a season, the Ferrari driver commented: “Yeah. It is obviously nice, for other reasons, particularly that it is Bridgestone’s home Grand Prix and we wished to do well for them and we did. We did very superb in being basically fastest all weekend and finally get the win and it is the way to pay back something to our partners.”