Weather update - mixed opinions for race 09 Oct 2005
Welcome to race day at the Japanese Grand Prix, penultimate round of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Following Saturday’s dramatic rain-afflicted qualifying session, the big question today is will it rain for the race? Opinion is divided. Some forecasts are adamant that conditions will be the same as they were on Saturday afternoon, which means we could see a race similar to 1994’s; but some local sages think the bad weather has exhausted itself and that it will be dry. The ambient temperature is expected to be around 25 degrees Celsius, and at present Suzuka is bathed in warm sunshine and is bone dry.
The race should be gripping with the four leading drivers in the title points table all having to thread your way through from the back of the grid.
Suzuka is largely unchanged since it was threatened by typhoon in 2004. The lap length is 5.807 kilometres (3.608 miles) and the race will run over 53 laps for a distance of 307.573 kilometres (191.126 miles). It starts at 14.00 hrs local time which is nine hours ahead of GMT.
