@LewisHamilton edges closer to fifth world title with comfortable #JapaneseGP victory #F1

Lewis Hamilton drew ever closer to his fifth World Driver’s Championship crown by claiming a comfortable victory at the Japanese Grand Prix whilst title-rival Sebastian Vettel collided with Max Verstappen.

Hamilton’s ninth win of the season and Vettel’s sixth place finish at Suzuka, after spinning to the back of the field, gives Hamilton a 67-point advantage heading into the final four rounds of the championship.

This means that Hamilton just needs to outscore Vettel by eight points at next round’s United States Grand Prix to claim his fifth world title.

At the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, pole sitter Hamilton kept his lead at the start and held Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas with a small gap throughout the first stint, which was interrupted by the safety car.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen suffered a puncture when he moved right down the main straight defending from Sauber’s Charles Leclerc who ran into the rear of the Haas VF-18.

The Haas eventually lost its shredding tyre, and the VF-18 racer’s bodywork scattered thanks to the flapping rubber and the safety car was deployed to clear the debris.

At this point a brilliant start from Ferrari’s Vettel catapulted him from eighth to fourth, assisted by Verstappen’s clash with the German’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Verstappen locked up entering the Casio Triangle chicane on the opening lap and ran off track, tumbled over the grass and kerb as the Dutchman re-joined the circuit at the second part of the chicane.

The outcome resulted in light contact with Raikkonen’s Ferrari, who was forced wide as he tried to overtake the Red Bull around the outside and allowed Vettel to jump past his team-mate.

When the race resumed on the eighth lap, Vettel charged at Verstappen, who had been hit with a five-second time penalty for his collision with Raikkonen.

Vettel tried to slip by Verstappen at Spoon curve, but disaster struck when the German carried too much speed and made slight contact with the RB14 and spun into the runoff area.

Verstappen survived and was able to continue on without dropping track position to Raikkonen, but Vettel fell to the rear – the stewards investigated the incident and no further action was taken.

Despite being slapped with the time penalty, Verstappen was able to keep third place ahead of Raikkonen thanks to Ferrari stopping first and releasing the Finn into traffic.

This also allowed Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull, who started 15^th on the grid after an engine problem in qualifying, to slip ahead of Raikkonen as he flew through the field in a thrilling first stint.

The leading order settled from then onwards with Hamilton continuing to extend his lead as Bottas fell under threat in the later stages from Verstappen in a battle for second.

Bottas survived after locking up at the Casio Triangle with six laps remaining, which saw the Finn skate across the chicane, to give the Silver Arrows a one-two finish for the second consecutive race.

Raikkonen fell further away from the two Red Bull RB14’s to finish in fifth place, whilst Ferrari team-mate Vettel eventually made his way to settle home for sixth.

By the time Vettel cleared the rest of the pack, the German was already a minute behind rival Hamilton and 40 seconds behind team-mate Raikkonen.

The gap slipped to 18.8 seconds at the end of the Grand Prix as Ferrari decided to not switch positions, denying Vettel a crucial two points.

Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez finished in seventh place after getting the best of the Haas and Toro Rosso with a better strategy.

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly were running in seventh and eighth respectively early on, but Force India opted to pit Perez and Esteban Ocon earlier than their midfield rivals.

The fresher rubber allowed the VJM11 racers to jump past Gasly before Perez caught and overtook Grosjean after the Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to Charles Leclerc’s Sauber stopping near the hairpin.

Ocon was unable to replicate his team-mate and came home in ninth place with Renault’s Carlos Sainz snatching the final point position off Gasly in the closing stages.

This meant Toro Rosso failed to score any points at power-train supplier Honda’s home Grand Prix after qualifying in sixth and seventh respectively.

Brendon Hartley crossed the line in 13^th place at the end of a tough race after plunging from sixth to tenth on the opening lap due to a bad start.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson split the Toro Rosso pairing in 12^th while the two McLaren MCL33’s of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

The two Williams of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin were brought up the rear.

Three cars retired from the Japanese Grand Prix with Magnussen and Leclerc (who also got rear ended by team-mate Ericsson at the race restart) and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

The Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix Results Classification (53 Laps)

2018 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton – 331 Points.
2. Sebastian Vettel – 264 Points.
3. Valtteri Bottas – 207 Points.
4. Kimi Raikkonen – 196 Points.
5. Max Verstappen – 173 Points.
6. Daniel Ricciardo – 146 Points.
7. Sergio Perez – 53 Points.
8. Kevin Magnussen – 53 Points.
9. Nico Hulkenberg – 53 Points.
10. Fernando Alonso – 50 Points.

2018 Formula 1 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 538 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 460 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 319 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 92 Points.
5. Haas F1 Team – 84 Points.
6. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 58 Points.
7. Racing Point Force India F1 Team – 43 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 30 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 27 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 7 Points.

Round 18 of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in a fortnight’s time for the Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix from Friday October 19-Sunday October