Back then the Brackley team was still largely a midfield runner. While Nico Rosberg had won the Chinese GP early in the year, he and team-mate Michael Schumacher scored only two podiums over the rest of the season as the team slumped from fourth to fifth in the constructors' championship.
It had previously failed to make Q3 with either car at Spa and only just scraped into the top 10 shootout in the previous round at Singapore, so missing the cut at Suzuka with Schumacher 13th and Rosberg 15th was not a total surprise.
