Formula 1, Motorsports

Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix [+video]

In a thrilling race at Suzuka, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wins the race narrowly by just 1.2 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen followed by Daniel Ricciardo in third place. Title contender Sebastian Vettel had to retire thanks to a technical issue with his Ferrari.

There is only 4 races to go and Hamilton has extended the driver’s championship lead by 59 points over Vettel.

 

Vettel’s car had suffered a faulty spark plug which saw him drop to 6th place after just 1 lap after starting second at the grid. At the end, Vettel had to retire from the race which was action packed. Without Vettel on the field, it was a battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

 

After a pit stop and multiple safety cars, Lewis Hamilton was facing a problem when his tires cooled down and Verstappen was following closely behind him. Thanks to Fernando Alonso who allowed Hamilton to overtake him but then proceeded to block Verstappen for a short while caused him to be investigated by the stewards.

It was a great day for Red Bull to achieve two podium finishes as Bottas couldn’t overtake Ricciardo. Daniel Ricciardo just finished nine-tenths ahead of Bottas to clinch the last podium position.

 

 

Here are the full results from the race.

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 1:27:31.194 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +1.211s 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +9.679s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +10.580s 12
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 53 +32.622s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 53 +67.788s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 53 +71.424s 6
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 53 +88.953s 4
9 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 53 +89.883s 2
10 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 52 +1 lap 1
11 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 52 +1 lap 0
12 30 Jolyon Palmer RENAULT 52 +1 lap 0
13 10 Pierre Gasly TORO ROSSO 52 +1 lap 0
14 2 Stoffel Vandoorne MCLAREN HONDA 52 +1 lap 0
15 94 Pascal Wehrlein SAUBER FERRARI 51 +2 laps 0
NC 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 45 DNF 0
NC 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 40 DNF 0
NC 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 7 DNF 0
NC 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 4 DNF 0
NC 55 Carlos Sainz TORO ROSSO 0 DNF 0