Lewis Hamilton ran away with the trophy in the Formula 1 Japanese GP from Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ending up third.
Hamilton set the way on Saturday with pole position and eased into a fine win at Suzuka to extend his points lead to 67 from rival Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was only sixth after his tangle with Verstappen early in the race.
Bottas held on to second but had to fend off the Dutchman in the closing stages. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo fought back from 15th to finish fourth in a fine effort as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended up fifth from Vettel.
Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez was the best of the rest winner in seventh from Haas’ Romain Grosjean as Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Renault’s Carlos Sainz then completed the Top 10.
Here’s a statistical highlights from the race:
- Hamilton scored his career’s 71st victory and 45th from pole. It was his season’s ninth win and 50th with Mercedes.
- It was also Hamilton’s fifth Japanese GP win as he moved to second in the list headed by Michael Schumacher with six. Vettel is third with four wins.
- Mercedes scored its 85th win with its fifth in Japanese GP – it moved to third in the list to sit behind McLaren (9) and Ferrari (7). Red Bull is fourth with four wins. It was their 44th 1-2 finish
- It was Hamilton’s 131st podium, Bottas’ 30th and Verstappen’s 18th – it was also 20th podium for a Dutch driver.
- Vettel registered his career’s 35th fastest lap and season’s only second.
- Ricciardo gained 11 places in the race having started from 15th and finishing fourth. There were 48 overtakes recorded in the race.
- Hamilton moved to third in the all-time standings of every lap led in Japanese GP. It was his 14th race in his career, going past Jim Clark with 13.
- Perez moved to seventh in drivers’ standings with 53 points and is tied with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg – both of whom retired from the race. This was Magnussen’s first DNF since the season start in Australia.
- Six penalty points were given over the weekend to four different drivers with Ocon getting two in FP3, Stroll with also two in the race along with Verstappen and Alonso with one each in the race. Verstappen has a total of eight on his license currently with Stroll on six, Ocon on two and Alonso on one.
The stats were compiled by Darshan Chokhani and Jack Ekeller
[Check: Russian GP]
