Mercedes-AMG driver Lewis Hamilton consolidated his lead for the 2017 world title as he won the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who started at P2 on the grid suffered a spark plug failure early in the race, forcing him to retire in the opening stages. The move has further extended the difference between Hamilton and Vettel for the championship title as the former now leads with a gap of 59 points. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth and fifth respectively, after both get received penalties at the end of qualifying.
(Verstappen took a close second behind Hamilton in Japan)
The race started with Hamilton on pole, his first ever at Suzuka, while Vettel was a close second. Both drivers got off to decent start even as Hamilton continued to lead at Turn 1. Max Verstappen was quick to pass Daniel Ricciardo for P3 and was now trying to close in on Vettel to take P2. Hot on the Malaysian GP win from last week, Verstappen passed Vettel even as the German fought hard to regain the position. However, the latter's Ferrari started losing power due to a failing spark plug, dropping him to sixth place.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz Jr's final Grand Prix for Toro Rosso started with him in the gravel on the opening lap itself, which prompted for a safety car. However, Vettel continued losing power as he was slow on the straights and dropped further down to P8. By Lap 5, Ferrari asked Vettel to box as he was wheeled into the garage, spelling disaster for his hopes of closing in on the gap with Hamilton for the title.
(Sebastian Vettel said the Ferrari team will be going all out in the remaining 4 races)
While Ferrari now focused on gaining crucial points with Raikkonen, Hamilton comfortably extended his lead over Verstappen by 2.8 seconds at the end of Lap 10. The Red Bulls seemed to couldn't match up to the Mercedes' pace with the gap extended to 4 seconds by Lap 15.
By now, the second Mercedes driven by Bottas had picked up the pace and settled into fourth, having started sixth on the grid. Bottas managed to pass Esteban Ocon of Force India, who held P3 during the early stages but was passed by Ricciardo soon after.
(Max Verstappen finished second within of 1.2 seconds of Hamilton)
With the gap extended to over 4 seconds between Hamilton and Verstappen, the latter chose to pit on Lap 21 switching to supersport tyres in a bid to reduce the gap. Hamilton pitted immediately on Lap 22, but by now the difference was reduced to 1.8 seconds.
The Red Bulls finally had a chance to match up to Hamilton's pace. Verstappen set several fast laps going forward in a bid to further reduce the gap. It only helped further that Hamilton was impeded by Fernando Alonso on Lap 51, which helped Verstappen to close in on Ham to within 0.8 seconds. The Red Bull looked intimidating now. Nevertheless, Hamilton secured the win comfortably as Verstappen and Ricciardo finished on podium.
(Carlos Sainz Jr crashed in the opening lap, in what was his last race with Torro Rosso)
Further down, Ocon and Sergio Perez of Force India finished sixth and seventh respectively, behind Bottas and Kimi; while Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean of Haas finished within points at P8 and P9. Felipe Massa of Williams completed the top 10 taking the last point, ahead of Alonso. Renault's Jolyon Palmer, in his last race for the team, finished 12th while Torro Rosso's new rookie Pierre Gasly took P13 ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) and Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber).
With respect to retirements, apart from Vettel and Sainz, Marcus Ericsson of Sauber, Nico Hulkenberg of Renault and Lance Stroll of Williams saw their race end earlier than expected.
