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| Race winner: Lewis Hamilton. |
It was back to usual running for the Silver Arrows at Suzuka as they picked up there 8th 1, 2 finish this season. The circuit which demands power as well as downforce was a much better suit than Singapore to Mercedes package. Nico Rosberg took the pole from Lewis Hamilton but lost the advantage right from the start. Lewis pushed Nico wide on the exit on Turn 2 and he dropped 4th behind Vettel and Bottas. Rosberg jumped Bottas and Vettel in his first and second pit stops to finish 2nd, whilst Hamilton led comfortably throughout to take 1st.
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| Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton (left) and Nico Rosberg (right) |
Ferrari had to play second fiddle to Mercedes in Suzuka. After a dominant race in Singapore many people were interested to see if the Scuderia's pace was permanent. It turned out to be a fairytale and Ferrari never looked threatening all weekend. Both Vettel and Raikkonen proved that there long run pace is much better than 1 lap pace after qualifying saw them only manage 4th and 6th respectively. Vettel jumped Bottas on the start and found himself 2nd behind Hamilton. He stayed there most of the race and got caught napping in the second pit window as Ferrari were too slow to protect from Mercedes undercut and he eventually finished 3rd. Kimi however only went forward, he managed to go from 6th to 5th off the start, and then play the undercut perfectly to jump Bottas in the second stops and finish 4th. Since Ferrari choose to undercut Bottas with Raikkonen, they had to wait an extra lap to box Vettel which cost him 2nd.
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| Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel locks up. |
Williams definitely did not have a good day after qualifying promised a lot. The team looked to be on par with Ferrari in qualifying as Bottas and Massa took 3rd and 5th respectively. Massa's day got off badly as he touched tires with Ricciardo off the start, puncturing his front right and dropping him to last. He never recovered and only overtook both Manors to finish 17th. Valtteri Bottas pitted early on lap 12 from 3rd to protect himself from an undercut from Nico Rosberg in 4th. 4 laps later Rosberg behind pit and it proved to early for Williams as Rosberg caught and overtook Bottas on lap 17 down the inside of the final chicane. Bottas would then be jumped by Raikkonen in the second stops and only managed to finish 5th.
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| Williams Driver Felipe Massa and his first lap puncture. |
Red Bull's promising FP3 pace was prevented from being turned into strong race results by a heavy crash for Kvyat in qualifying which saw him start from the pitlane and Ricciardo receiving a puncture off the start from Felipe Massa. Daniel Kvyat's race didn't get better after his big qualifying crash as he had brake problems throughout the race which saw him locking up and subsequently struggling on tires. However Kvyat kept fighting and managed a sneaky move on Marcus Ericsson late in the race when the Sauber driver slowed down to let Kimi Raikkonen through, Kvyat managed to also sneak through securing himself 13th place. Daniel Ricciardo didn't have an exciting race until the last lap where he made a dive from miles back on the brakes on Marcus Ericsson. The Sauber engineers thought Ricciardo was attempting to take there driver out. The move didn't stick and he settled for 15th. These results saw the team drop further behind Williams in the constructors and put Force India in a position to attack for the 4th place spot.
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| Daniil Kvyat's car is recovered after his heavy crash in qualifying. |
Force India knew they would be a strong prospect at Suzuka as they had a strong engine and aero package. It didn't go 100% to plan though as Sergio Perez became the 3rd victim of punctures off the start and consequently he found himself in the gravel of Turn 1 and in last place. It was the opposite for Nico Hulkenberg as he managed to go from 13th on the grid to 6th place in the opening laps. Hulkenberg then knuckled down and had a relatively quiet race all the while holding onto 6th place proving to be the best of the rest behind Mercedes, Ferrari and the Williams of Bottas. Sergio Perez however had an action packed race as he fought his way through the field to eventually a strong 12th place. Perez indefinitely provided the best battle of the race as he attempted to get by Marcus Ericsson with Daniil Kvyat behind him. Perez caught Ericsson at the end of lap 42 and began to pressure him. Lap 44 Perez attempted a move round the outside of Turn 1 and 2 but brilliantly driving from Ericsson saw him hold position. Perez tucked in behind the Sauber driver up to lap 50 when he finally made a move stick as Ericsson ran just inches wide at Spoon, a small mistake that saw Perez get by. Perez ran out of laps to challenge the much slower Alonso for 11th and even Sainz for 1 championship point.
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| Force India's Sergio Perez |
The last few weeks had been stressful ones for the Lotus team as they continued to have money debacles. After being locked out of there hospitality centers at the track the last thing the team needed was a bad result. However both Grosjean and Maldonado pulled together to find Lotus's first double points finish of the season, giving the team something to smile about. Like Hulkenberg both Lotus drivers drove quiet races and didn't have much action. Romain Grosjean finished 7th and recorded his 7th points finish of the season whilst Maldonado finished behind his team mate in 8th and recorded only his 3rd points finish of 2015.
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| Romain Grosjean of Lotus. |
The young guns of Formula 1 gave us a great show again in Suzuka as Verstappen went from 17th on the grid after a grid penalty and problems in qualifying to a 9th place finish. Sainz backed Verstappen up by finishing just behind him 10th. Carlos Sainz had some real pace during the race as he briefly held the fastest lap after his first stop. He also pulled off the first overtake off the race on Alonso round the outside of Turn 1. Verstappen showed some good racing intellect by pulling off a text book undercut on Felipe Nasr in the first stops. Overall not the most exciting day for the young guns, but a double points finish cannot be argued with.
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| Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz. |
Sauber didn't score any points in Suzuka after a disappointing qualifying which saw both cars out in Q1. The team showed fight during the race with Marcus Ericsson managing to hold Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat up from lap 42 all the way through to lap 50 which effectively ended any chances for Perez to score points purely from brilliant defending. Felipe Nasr's day didn't get to much better from being jumped by Verstappen and Button in the pits after overtaking both of them round the outside of Turn 1. His race came to an end just laps from the finish with car trouble. He was classified as he did cover 90% of the race distance.
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| Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson. |
McLaren - Fernando Alonso, 11th and Jenson Button, 16th
Not even a home race for Honda could see them pull something special out of the bag as the McLaren team continued to struggle at Suzuka. Alonso did well to gain 3 positions from his starting place of 14th and finish just outside points in 11th whilst Jenson Button could only manage a 16th place finish. The team were embarrassed by Fernando Alonso commenting that "They pass me on the straights like GP2, very embarrassing". The team was relatively quiet all weekend apart from Alonso's comments.
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| McLaren driver Jenson Button. |
Last but not least was Manor-Marussia who again finished last 18th and 19th will Alexander Rossi beating his team mate Will Stevens after the brit was handed a penalty. Stevens did lead his team mate most of the race until a high speed spin at 130R which he managed to keep on the race track and stop facing the right way. It was a real bullet dodge as he only lost between 5 and 10 seconds from what could have been a heavy crash. The Manor's were quiet all race and we didn't see much action from them.
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| Manor driver, Alexander Rossi on the grid. |
All images courtesy of Formula1.com
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