Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Japanese GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results


JAPANESE GP - RACE - RE-CAP & RESULTS

    Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead with his eighth victory of the season at Suzuka whilst a spark plug problem for Vettel brought an early end to his Japanese Grand Prix.

    After taking his first pole at Suzuka in qualifying, Hamilton made a perfect get away as Max Verstappen jumped up to second. A handful of quick laps brought up the gap to Verstappen, more than three seconds ahead of the Red Bull driver by the pit stop window.

    Verstappen pitted before Hamilton, putting in the fastest lap of the race at that point after running side by side with Kimi Raikkonen at pit exit. He was about a second behind Hamilton when the Mercedes emerged from the pits, but the gap extended when Valtteri Bottas let his team-mate past but held up Verstappen.

    The gap was closing again in the final stages of the race. Hamilton was complaining about vibrations and losing pace in the closing laps, allowing Verstappen to close in, but traffic in the form of a battling Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa prevented a last lap shoot out.

    Hamilton finished 1.2s ahead of Verstappen to extend his championship lead to 59 points over Vettel.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished third, a second ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen.

    After frantic work on the Ferrari of Vettel on the grid, he was able to get off the line and was running third before his car started to slow halfway around the opening lap. He complained about lack of power as he dropped back down the order before coming into the pits to take his third retirement in four races.

    Esteban Ocon was once again best of the rest in sixth. The Force India driver made a stunning start and was running third when an early safety car – Carlos Sainz had skidded into the barriers on the opening lap – neutralized the race. It put Ricciardo and Bottas on his tail but Ocon held firm until a virtual safety car – this time Marcus Ericsson had run into the barriers – paused the racing once again.

    Riccardo and Bottas found their way past on the restart. Raikkonen managed to jump Ocon in the pits, dropping him down to sixth and just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez. The Force India duo have come together on multiple occasions whilst battling this season, leading to the team warning the drivers not to fight one another on track. Perez was asking over the radio if he could pass his team-mate, but was told he couldn’t attack. He finished three and a half seconds behind his team-mate.

    Lance Stroll suffered a strange retirement late in the race. The rookie ran through the gravel after his left front tyre deflated. He pulled to a stop and, though he tried to get going again, was left stranded at the side of the track, bringing out the virtual safety car.

    Nico Hulkenberg also retired late in the race, a mechanical problem leading to his DRS becoming stuck open. He was brought to the pits to retire.

    Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finished eighth and ninth, with Massa rounding out the top 10 after holding off attacks from Alonso.

    Jolyon Palmer, in his last race for Renault, finished 12th, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Stoffel Vandoorne. Pascal Wehrlein in 15th was the final finisher.

RESULTS:

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands / + 18 Points
3. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia / + 15 Points
4. Valtteri Bottas / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland / + 12 Points
5. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 10 Points
6. Esteban Ocon / Force India-Mercedes / France / + 8 Points
7. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 6 Points
8. Kevin Magnussen / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark / + 4 Points
9. Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France / + 2 Points
10. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 1 Point
11. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain
12. Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain
13. Pierre Gasly / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
14. Stoffel Vandoorne / McLaren-Honda / Belgium
15. Pascal Wehrlein / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany

RETIRED - Lance Stroll / Williams-Mercedes / Canada / Tyres
RETIRED - Nico Hulkenberg / Renault-Renault / Germany / DRS Failure
RETIRED - Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden / Collision
RETIRED - Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / Spark Plug Failure
RETIRED - Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain / Collision

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
No copyright infringement intended
Follow us on Twitter @Bethonie_Boost & @F1Insider78

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