Formula 1 2013 Japanese Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel Closes On Title

Race

Strategy intervened to deliver another Japanese Grand Prix to Vettel as he managed to run a two-stop race to take the win ahead of his battling teammate. The Red Bull cars easily had the pace to match Romain Grosjean after he jumped them with a brilliant start, leading the first stint quite comfortably as the Red Bull's cruised behind, and Vettel then managed his tyres effectively in the middle stint to stretch it to a two-stop that won him the race. Behind them it was disappointment for Mercedes as Hamilton retired early and Rosberg had penalty woes, leaving Hulkenberg, Alonso and Raikkonen to duel for fourth place in another fun race that saw the championship technically stay unfinished.

The Front Runners

Red Bull converted their front row lockout into a 1-2 finish that extended their already huge lead at the top of the constructors championship. Both cars started poorly, with Grosjean leaping into the lead and Vettel touching Hamilton's tyre to take him out of the race. They had the pace to deal with Grosjean and it was Vettel's long middle stint that gave him the victory after limited aggression throughout the race, overtaking Grosjean on new tyres for the lead. Webber drove a good race but the move to three stops hurt his chances, and despite his upbeat attitude at second the disappointment was clear. Lotus had another great day as Grosjean delivered beautifully on his way to third place, keeping it clean and holding pace good enough to stay out of reach of those behind. It was a drive that may well cement his race seat with Lotus for 2014. With Raikkonen managing to come through from ninth to a close fifth behind Alonso as his car improved in the latter half of the race, Lotus scooped 25 valuable points overall. Alonso finished in fourth place for Ferrari, overtaking Hulkenberg on lap 46 to bag 12 important points, and was generally pleased after the average weekend he'd had, but felt that the top three were out of reach on pace. Alonso became F1's highest points scorer with his 12 points, his total of 1571 points surpassing Michael Schumacher's total of 1566. Massa's race unravelled when he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him out into traffic and left him vulnerable to faster cars at the end. He eventually finished tenth, being beaten to ninth by Jenson Button in a tight battle over the last couple of laps to end a disappointing afternoon. Nico Hulkenberg continued to shine in the Japanese sunshine as things came together well for Sauber, taking sixth place. His tyres went off towards the end, causing him to drop from fourth, but he was still very pleased with the result. Behind him, teammate Gutierrez delivered a great seventh place result from 14th on the grid in his debut at Suzuka, holding off Rosberg for several laps at the end to help the team take 14 points over rivals Torro Rosso on a day they failed to score. Mercedes had a poor afternoon, with Rosberg only finishing eighth after a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane ahead of Perez. Following that they swapped him to a three-stop race to allow him to be more aggressive, before he tangled with Perez again later in the race, touching him at the final chicane and bursting his tyre, before hassling Gutierrez to the flag. Hamilton's day ended quickly, as after a great start he dove between the two Red Bull's, only to touch Vettel's front wing and burst his tyre. After limping back to the pits, he went back out for a few laps, struggling before retiring on lap nine with brake temperature issues, his first DNF of the year and for the Mercedes team.
Contributor
Contributor

Self-confessed Geek; Aerospace Engineer with a passion for Formula 1, Engineering, Science and Cinema.