Hamilton all in control, hara-kiri for Vettel

After a short lap of the race, the leader of Ferrari had however partly erased the strategic blunders of the day before in qualifying. Only 8th on the grid, Hag swallowed the Toro Rosso even before the sequence of Esses and took advantage of a squabble between Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen at the chicane to move up to 4th place.

Following contact between Kevin Magnussen et Charles Leclerc, the Safety Car was called onto the track. Time for the race commissioners to study the Verstappen/Räikkönen fight and inflict a time penalty of 5 seconds on the fiery Dutchman.

From then on, Vettel could have waited a little in the exhausts of the Red Bull but the German, perhaps feeling the title slipping through his fingers, was visibly impatient to clear the Verstappen obstacle to go and do battle with the Mercedes at the head of the race.

Vettel then attempted a very optimistic maneuver on the Batave in the Spoon curve and hooked the Red Bull after the re-start. Immediate punishment: spin for the Ferrari driver, who fell back to 19th position. The thrill is gone.

Even if he reported some problems with gear changes and other slight power losses, Hamilton was never worried and scored a 3rd success in a row, the 9th of the season, and the 71st of his career.

The Briton is also widening an almost definitive gap compared to Vettel, who took advantage of the striking superiority of his mount to climb up to 6th position.

Hamilton is in fact ahead of his rival by 67 points with four races to go and will be able to claim a 5th world crown in Austin in 15 days.

Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen animated the last laps of the race by offering a nice fight for the place of runner-up. It was ultimately the Finn from Mercedes who prevailed.

Forced to start 15th after suffering yet another reliability problem with his engine Renault SATURDAY, Daniel Ricciardo made a nice comeback in the race to cross the line in 4th position.

Ferrari drank the chalice to the dregs since Räikkönen was unable to compensate for the wanderings of his teammate. The SF71Hs concluded their Japanese weekend in 5th and 6th place.

The Top 10 is completed by Sergio Pérez (Force India), Romain Grosjean (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Force India), and Carlos Sainz (renault).

Pierre Gasly, who benefited from the latest Honda engine development on the grounds of the Japanese manufacturer, failed to score points after starting 7th on the grid.

His teammate Brendon Hartley lost everything initially due to average flight. The New Zealander, who is fighting to keep his seat next year, had to settle for 13th place.

McLaren et Williams brought up the rear at the end of another afternoon of suffering for the two British teams. In the abandonment section, we find Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Leclerc and Magnussen.

The next round of the world championship Formula 1, the United States Grand Prix, will take place October 19-21 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Find the analysis of the Japanese GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2186 of AUTOhebdo, available Monday evening in digital version and Wednesday on newsstands.

BREED CLASSIFICATION (LAP 53/53)

Another 1-2 for Mercedes, despite Verstappen pushing to the line #JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/SsYs1yNWvY

- Formula 1 (@ F1) 7th October, 2018