#F1 2018 @Honda #JapaneseGP Preview

After Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 50 points over Sebastian Vettel in Russia following team-orders, round 17 of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship heads straight to the fast and flowing Suzuka International Racing Course for the Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix. This will be the 43^rd Japanese Grand Prix, the thirty-third edition as part of the Formula 1 World Championship since the sport began in 1950 and the twenty-ninth time the event has been held at Suzuka.

 

 

A look at the Suzuka International Racing Course

 

 

Suzuka circuit is a permanent racing circuit located Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by the Mobilityland Corporation a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Located in a theme park with the big wheel dominating the Suzuka Skyline, the circuit was designed as a test track for Honda in 1962 by John Hugenholtz (most notable designer of the Zandvoort, Zolder, Jarama and the stadium section of the Hockenheimring circuits), Suzuka is one of the few circuits in the world to have a figure-eight layout with the 1.2km back straight passing over the front section by an overpass. The circuit features some of the most challenging corners on the calendar including the Esses, the high-speed 130R and the famous Spoon Curve. The circuit has been modified four times during its time.

 

In 1987, having hosted sportscar racing and Formula 2 and having lost out initially to Fuji Speedway in the race to host the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda finally succeeded and Formula 1 had a new Japanese home (2007-2008 aside when the race was held at Fuji Speedway), the circuit has stayed ever since and has provided the scene for many nail-biting title deciding finales including the famous collisions between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in 1989 and 1990. These moments added to Suzuka’s appeal with fans around the world and of course the circuit is a favourite amongst the drivers due to its difficult and demanding challenges.

 

The Suzuka Circuit is 5.807km (3.609 miles) in length with 18 corners and runs uniquely in both a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 307.471km (109.062 miles) in length with 53 laps in total.

 

Kimi Raikkonen holds the fastest lap record with a 1:31.540 set in 2005 in his McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20.

 

Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories at the Japanese Grand Prix with six.

 

McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Japanese Grand Prix with nine victories.

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2013: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them the red-branded Supersofts, the yellow-marked Soft tyres and the white-branded Medium rubber along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.

 

Ferrari have gone the most aggressive with its tyre choices for the Japanese Grand Prix, selecting more sets of the red-branded Supersoft compounds than the entire field.

 

The Maranello-based squad is looking to get back in the World Championship fight with Mercedes and has opted for ten sets of the supers for both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

 

This has left Vettel and Raikkonen with two sets of softs and one set of mediums each.

 

Mercedes on the other hand have gone more conservative with seven sets of the supersoft rubber available for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, giving them four sets of softs and two sets of mediums each.

 

McLaren have gone in the complete opposite direction compared to Ferrari with their tyre allocations, opting for a very conservative approach in Japan selecting just four sets of the supersofts for Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

 

The Woking-based squad has chosen five sets of the softs and four sets of the mediums.

 

DRS Zones

As in 2017, there will only be a single DRS Zone at Suzuka which is on the main straight. The detection point is 50 metres before turn 16 and the activation point is 100 metres before the control line.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Russian GP Rewind – Hamilton claims Russian GP victory after Mercedes team orders

 

 

Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead over Sebastian Vettel taking victory at the Russian Grand Prix after Mercedes told Valtteri Bottas to move aside.

 

Bottas was leading the race from pole and was de-facto race leader behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was yet to pit, when he was ordered by Mercedes to let Hamilton through to protect him from Vettel.

 

Hamilton’s eighth victory of the season propels him to a 50-point advantage over Vettel with five races remaining and 125 points still available after Bottas, who sacrificed his maiden victory of 2018 for his Silver Arrows team-mate and restricted Vettel to settle for the final podium place.

 

When the 53 lap Russian Grand Prix began, Bottas kept his lead as Vettel got a great launch to attack Hamilton through the first corner kink, but Hamilton resurged gaining a good slipstream behind Bottas and countered the SF71-H racer.

 

Hamilton had a great run behind his Finnish team-mate that he closed right up and had a slight lock up under braking into turn two, which gave Vettel the chance to attack the Briton again through the long left-hander, but Hamilton remained ahead.

 

Bottas stayed in the lead until pitting on lap 12, with Vettel following suit the next lap and Mercedes leaving Hamilton out an extra lap longer.

 

Mercedes ordered Bottas to back up Vettel, but it didn’t work out as Hamilton came out behind the Ferrari and dropped into de-facto third.

 

The Briton refocused and quickly responded, getting into Vettel’s slipstream a couple of laps later on the rundown to turn two, but the Ferrari moved to the right to cover Hamilton off.

 

Hamilton charged with a great run out of the corner fought hard around the outside through the long turn three left-hander and made the move stick past Vettel into the inside of turn four.

 

Hamilton caught Bottas and followed his Mercedes team-mate for a few laps but started developing a blister on his left-rear tyre, and with Bottas stuck behind Verstappen who was running longer on his yellow-branded soft compounds it didn’t help the Briton either.

 

Mercedes made the move on lap 25 telling Bottas to slow down and let Hamilton through at turn 13, which he obliged.

 

Hamilton took second place but did not charge at Verstappen, which annoyed Bottas and made Mercedes strategist James Vowles tell Bottas over the team radio that he understood his concerns and had to make the team order move to secure Hamilton’s position.

 

Verstappen continued to lead quite comfortably and extended his long impressive first stint after flying from 19^th on the grid to fifth in just seven laps.

 

Hamilton reported “engine issues” but those concerns eased as he charged at Verstappen on lap 42 but the Dutchman slammed the door on the Mercedes.

 

Verstappen pitted from the lead a lap later, releasing the Mercedes duo with 10 laps remaining to take a comfortable one-two and a crucial maximum 43 points for the Constructors Championship.

 

Bottas asked the team how they would finish the race, hinting he wanted to be let back in-front, but they told him to hold position.

 

The other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen came home fourth after Verstappen could not extract the pace out of his fresh set of ultrasoft tyres to challenge the Finn in the closing stages.

 

Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in sixth in the sister Red Bull, after being passed by team-mate Verstappen at the start and could not replicate the Dutchman’s early push through the field.

 

Sauber’s Charles Leclerc ended the Russian Grand Prix in seventh place after running a high of fifth in the early stages.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen clinched eighth for the American squad after keeping the two Force India’s at bay for most of the race including defending hard against Esteban Ocon earlier on.

 

Ocon finished in ninth and ahead of Force team-mate Sergio Perez who rounded out the top 10.

 

The other Ferrari-powered Haas VF-18 of Romain Grosjean took 11^th place and in-front of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who was 12^th and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson who claimed 13^th.

 

The two McLaren MCL33’s of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished in 14^th and 16^th respectively with Williams Martini Racing’s Lance Stroll sandwiched in-between.

 

Renault’s Carlos Sainz and the other Williams of Sergey Sirotkin ended the race at the rear.

 

The Russian Grand Prix featured only two retirements, with the two Honda-powered Toro Rosso’s of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley suffering spins and both returning to the pits after brake failures ended their race early.

 

The cause of the retirements was not immediately known but the Faenza-based outfit changed the brake ducts before the race.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to the land of the rising sun sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 306 points and 50 ahead of title-rival Sebastian Vettel who is second on 256 points whilst Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas is a further 117 behind the Briton in third on 189 points.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport comes to Suzuka sitting on top of the Constructors Championship with 495 points and a 53 point-advantage over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 442 points while Red Bull Racing are a further 203 points behind the Silver Arrows in third on 292 points.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton – 306 Points.
2. Sebastian Vettel – 256 Points.
3. Valtteri Bottas – 189 Points.
4. Kimi Raikkonen – 186 Points.
5. Max Verstappen – 158 Points.
6. Daniel Ricciardo – 134 Points.
7. Kevin Magnussen – 53 Points.
8. Nico Hulkenberg – 53 Points.
9. Fernando Alonso – 50 Points.
10. Sergio Perez – 47 Points.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 495 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 442 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 292 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 91 Points.
5. Haas F1 Team – 80 Points.
6. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 58 Points.
7. Racing Point Force India F1 Team – 35 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 30 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 27 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 7 Points.

 

The Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday October 5, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 6 and the 53 lap Race Sunday October 7.