For only the third time this season, Scott Speed's Toro Rosso Cosworth suffered a mechanical failure during a race. Still, America's only F1 driver completed 48 of the 53 laps on a circuit he adores - the challenging Suzuka track that played host to the Japanese Grand Prix.

The race in Japan was just one week after the Chinese Grand Prix, and so Speed headed straight for the Suzuka track. He spent the next several days hanging out with his crewmembers.

"It was cool because I had absolutely nothing to do," he said, "and I was hanging out at the track the whole time. It kind of reminded me of the go-kart days, just hanging out with the guys. I don't get to see a lot of these guys most of the time, anyway, so it was cool to spend time with the team."

Speed also sang karaoke with his teammates at The Log Cabin, a famous karaoke bar near the circuit that many of the F1 fraternity have visited.

This was the last Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka as the race moves to the Fuji circuit next year. Speed has wanted to race at Suzuka for years, and he finally got his chance.

"It is probably the most challenging track that I have ever driven," he said. "It is certainly a very special place, and I just feel lucky that I was at least able to drive on it once before it goes away."

He posted the 21st-fastest time on the opening day of practice, Friday, Oct. 6. It rained for much of the day.

"Although the track was easier to learn than I expected, doing so in the wet is not ideal!" he said. "It's a great track, like Spa, and it's cool that I have had a chance to race here. With only a couple of laps in the dry, the car seems quite well balanced. But it is too early to have a clear picture of anything."

It was dry the next day for qualifying, but things did not go well for California native Speed.

"My qualifying lap started great, and I had a good first sector," he said. "Then, going into Turn 9, Jenson (Button) was trying to let me go, and I caught up to him too quickly and lost some downforce.

"So when I exited the corner, I ended up going over the exit curb, stayed on it too long and then ran onto the grass, got dirt on the tires, and that was really the end of my lap. Here, Lap 1 is the only one that you have.

"We haven't hit traffic in the last five qualifying sessions, so I guess it was about time for it to happen again. It was unfortunate as the car was handling good. We did some guesswork on setup going into the session, and it was working well."

Speed lined up 19th for the race and did one of his trademark great starts to vault to 14th on the first lap.

In the early stages of the race, he dueled with David Coulthard, who drives for sister team Red Bull Racing.

"At the beginning, I had a good battle with DC," he said. "I was holding him off."

Then a less-than-stellar pit stop dropped Speed in the running order.

"After we lost all the spots in the pits, I was being too aggressive and I spun," he said. "It was a difficult corner so see, and I just hit the inside of the curb and that threw the car into the air. I am not sure if the car was OK after that, but to me it did not feel any different."

Five laps from the finish, Speed pulled his car into the pit garage.

"The power steering went out," he said. "The reliability up to this point has been really good."

The next and final race of Speed's rookie F1 season will be the Brazilian Grand Prix on Oct. 22. Next year, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will play host to his home United States Grand Prix on Sunday, June 17.