The F1 Japanese GP had a ‘Super Sunday’ with qualifying and the grand prix on one day itself which had plenty of statistics on display.
Ferrari woke up well after Typhoon Hagibis hit as Sebastian Vettel secured pole on Sunday with Charles Leclerc alongside. The grand prix, though, went the other way as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas got past Vettel to secure the F1 Japanese GP win at Suzuka.
A false start, which was said to be under the tolerance level of the FIA rules, saved Vettel from further damage as he was second still with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton third. A fastest lap from Hamilton was enough to hand Mercedes, the 2019 constructors’ title.
Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon fought well to be fourth with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz doing a solid job in fifth. Ferrari’s Leclerc finished sixth but a double penalty dropped him to seventh with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo promoted to seventh.
With the Japanese GP finishing on Lap 52 due to a mistake, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was eighth with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez ninth and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the Top 10 drivers.
Here’s how the F1 Japanese GP panned from stats point of view:
- Bottas scored his first F1 win in Japanese GP since the Azerbaijan GP, his third of the 2019 season. It is his career’s sixth and first in Japan.
- By winning from the second row, Bottas became the first in the history of the Japanese GP to do so. It is also his 100th points finish as he moved to seventh in the all-time list with 1237 points, moved ahead of Jenson Button with 1235.
- Mercedes secured its 99th F1 win, their sixth in Japan and also equaled Ferrari with its sixth consecutive constructors’ championship win – Ferrari won it between 1999 and 2004 straight, while Mercedes has it from 2014 and 2019 (ongoing).
- The Japanese GP also ended the title chances for Vettel, Leclerc and Max Verstappen and so only one of two Mercedes drivers will win the drivers’ championship, which will create a record six consecutive drivers’ championship titles for a constructor.
- Hamilton had his 148th F1 podium, Vettel his 119th and Bottas’ 43rd.
- Hamilton took the fastest lap for the second race in a row, his fifth of the season.
- Vettel scored his 57th career pole, his second of 2019 as he ended his nine race streak of being out-qualified by Leclerc. Ferrari have taken the last five pole positions, every since the summer break. It was also their third front-row lockout, 64th in all as they matched Mercedes to it.
- It was only the fifth time that qualifying took place on a Sunday with the last happening during 2015 US GP. Interesting all the Sunday poles have been taken by German drivers so far with Nico Rosberg taking it in 2015.
- Ricciardo gained the most positions in the race, starting 16th and finishing sixth. He was helped by one place via penalty to Leclerc.
- Fifth place in Japanese GP for Sainz has moved him to sixth in the drivers’ championship with 76 points, now ahead of Gasly. He scored for the 50th time in his career too.
- Verstappen was the sole retirement from the race on Lap 15 after his first lap collision with Leclerc. Teammate Albon was fourth as the lead Honda in their home grand prix as he also registered his F1 career best finish. They also had the same lap time in qualifying at 1m27.851s but Verstappen started ahead as he set it first.
- Hamilton continued his consecutive points finish streak with 29 races now since the 2018 British GP. He has to score in four more to equal his own record and six to better.
- Verstappen and Vettel are tied on 212 points but Verstappen leads in fourth due to having more wins.
- Likewise Nico Hulkenberg, Perez and Lando Norris are all tied with 35 points as well with Hulkenberg leading as he has nine points finishing races.
- Perez was out-qualified by Lance Stroll for only the second time in 2019 F1 season after the former’s Q1 exit.
- The Japanese GP results stands provisional due to Racing Point’s protest.
- Leclerc was given two penalty points and a five second time penalty for the first lap collision, while he was also given a ten second penalty for not pitting when told to due to the damage sustained in the collision. He has only two points on his license.
.@R_Kubica again! @WilliamsRacing were quickest at changing tires once more in the #JapaneseGP and are now just two points behind @redbullracing in the overall standings! #F1
All pit stop times:➡️https://t.co/J27YVFsufC pic.twitter.com/xXsF0GdjJc— DHL_Motorsports (@DHL_Motorsports) October 13, 2019
The stats were compiled by Jack Elleker and Darshan Chokhani
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