Lewis Hamilton held on to clinch victory at the Japanese Grand Prix and take another step, the biggest perhaps, towards claiming his fourth Drivers’ World Championship as main rival Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire with engine spark problems.
The Briton survived a very late scare to take his eighth win of 2017 as Red Bull continued their recent purple patch with another double podium with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo second and third respectively.
At a race that did not see a single retirement in the last two years, Suzuka made up for that with five starting as soon as Lap 1 after Carlos Sainz saw his Toro Rosso finale end in the barriers through the Esses, causing an early Safety Car.
Vettel, who had the late engine issue on the grid, started to drop very early in the race after starting second, falling behind the Red Bulls and Force India’s before he was forced to retire as Ferrari’s reliability issues come into play once again and seemingly ended their title hopes.
Hamilton was able to get a good start and defend his lead at all stages as Verstappen kept putting him under pressure, but the Mercedes driver dealt with all the threats to put one hand on the championship crown which he can now clinch with a win at the next race in Austin if Vettel is lower than sixth.
Valtteri Bottas looked to use an alternate tyre strategy to make up for his five-place grid penalty but he would be up to fourth early on and from there wasn’t able to challenge Ricciardo for third as fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen recovered from his own grid penalty and running wide at Spoon on Lap 1 to claim fifth.
Esteban Ocon had a superb start and a good first stint that saw pass Ricciardo on the first lap to run third, however, his Force India was not able to fend off the Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari. behind as the Frenchman was forced to settle for sixth just ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. the team made their drivers hold station and grab yet another valuable double points result as they
The team would make their drivers hold station for much of the race to grab yet another valuable double points result as they further secured fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
For the first time since Monaco, Haas got both cars into the points as Kevin Magnussen crossed the finish line eighth completing some nerve biting overtakes once again, including what turned out to be the decisive move which allowed teammate Romain Grosjean to follow him past Felipe Massa in a double move at Turn 1.
That allowed the Frenchman up to ninth as the Brazilian held off Fernando Alonso in the final laps to complete the top 10 and snatch the last point available.
Jolyon Palmer finished his last Grand Prix in 12th for Renault ahead of Pierre Gasly who had eyes on the points before his tyres gave up and saw him drop back in the late stages.
Stoffel Vandoorne looked determined to get a good race once again but a two-stop strategy didn’t work for the Belgian driver as he was only 14th with Pascal Wehrlein the last car to finish the race.
His Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson would be the second retirement from the race following a crash into the wall at the second Degner corner and generating a Virtual Safety Car.
A late puncture to Lance Stroll’s Williams in the Esses would also require another VSC and caused the late drama which saw Hamilton, thanks to a little help from an Alonso block, just keep Verstappen at bay. Nico Hulkenberg was the other retirement as the DRS wing broke on his car.
With a 59-point lead, it is now surely a matter of time before Hamilton joins Vettel as a quadruple world champion, over the final four races Vettel and Ferrari have nothing to lose as Red Bull continue their comeback and look to end on a high and the next chapter will be written in Austin in two weeks time.
