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

The Midfield

McLaren didn't have the best race, as Jenson Button made a setup change on the grid and took some front wing off, which was the wrong thing to do and upset his car completely. He had a poor start, and then struggled badly with understeer through the majority of the race. For the final stint he went for option tyres and added more wing, bringing the car back to him which he enjoyed and overtook Di Resta and Massa by a hair to get two points for ninth. Perez had a poor race where everything went wrong on and off the track, with pit lane issues and then a puncture as he was touched by Rosberg's front wing, dropping him to P15 when he had threatened the points. Force India failed to score points again as Di Resta came home in P11. After a poor start he lost some positions, and then dropped behind Williams at his first stop. To counter it they stopped early for their second set of tyres, which left him with no defence as Button closed at the end of the race, dropping him just out of the points. Sutil drove to P14 after starting P20, easily jumping the Marussia's and Caterham's off the line, but continued to struggle with the issues that had hampered him all weekend with balance. Torro Rosso made it to the end but failed to get anything for it, as Vergne finished P12 and Ricciardo P13. Vergne felt they should have got more from their pace but some slow pit stops and strategy problems put them in traffic. Ricciardo was disappointed as he felt points were definitely on, but as he overtook Sutil on the outside of 130R on lap 30, he ran wide and then didn't give back the position, resulting in a drive-through penalty that dropped him out of the points. Williams failed to make much impression on the midfield as their lack of pace showed towards the end of the race, dropping back in the second and third stints after making a decent start ahead of some other midfield runners. The main talking point was how Maldonado ruthlessly threw an overtaking move at Bottas into the final chicane on the last lap, pushing the Finn off the track and squeezing past to take P16 ahead of Bottas in P17. Bottas was not pleased, and it will likely strain relations with the team.
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Self-confessed Geek; Aerospace Engineer with a passion for Formula 1, Engineering, Science and Cinema.