The 2019 Japanese Grand Prix was a race which undoubtedly produced many talking points, on a day which saw both the qualifying and the race take place given that the qualifying was rescheduled due to Typhoon Hagibis.
.Mercedes champions AGAIN, though could they have claimed a 1-2?
After a slightly disappointing qualifying in which the Mercedes drivers started in third and fourth, Valtteri Bottas managed to take the lead of the race immediately due to a poor start by polesitter Sebastian Vettel. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton managed to move up into third place after contact at the start between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen which led to both drivers dropping down the order significantly, to the extent that Verstappen ended up retiring from the race. It was a race which saw the top 3 drivers make 2 pit stops each, however, after Bottas and Vettel both made their second stop, Hamilton was in the lead of the race ahead of Bottas and Vettel. It is fair to say that Mercedes' race pace was considerably superior to that of Ferrari, however, one could argue that at that point Mercedes should have somewhat rolled the dice and left Hamilton out there, and if necessary order him to let Bottas past in order to possibly earn a 1-2 for the team. Conversely, the team decided to pit Hamilton once again and he dropped back down to third place behind Vettel, and was unable to overtake the German despite having both a pace and tyre advantage.
Despite the fact that Mercedes did not manage to claim a 1-2, as a result of Leclerc only finishing sixth, in addition to Hamilton scoring an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race, the result was sufficient for Mercedes to seal an unprecedented SIXTH successive Constructors' Championship. In addition, it is mathematically guaranteed that this year's World Champion will be one of the two Mercedes drivers, thus another record has been the set as no team has ever managed to win six successive Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. It must also be said that Mercedes have fully deserved the Constructors' Championship this year, in a season where they have produced an impressive car (despite the fact that Ferrari have closed the gap, particularly since the summer break), been brilliant in strategy execution, consistent and have made without a doubt the fewest errors by any team.
Well done, Mercedes on sealing a sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship!
Leclerc shows he has a long way to go before becoming complete driver
It is fair to say that Charles Leclerc has had a positive first season with Ferrari, as he has claimed six pole positions, two race wins, and a total of 9 podiums whilst he lies in third place in the World Championship. However, one must point out that he has made several mistakes during the season, and in today's race the blame for the incident with Verstappen lies firmly at the feet of Leclerc. Moreover, instead of pitting immediately to replace a damaged front wing, he stayed out, which showed a lack of immaturity and it is safe to say that it was an extremely ill-advised move on his part. In the end, Leclerc was penalised with a 15-second time penalty which dropped him from sixth to seventh in a race which highlighted that, while yes Leclerc is a talented driver, he has still got a lot of learning to do before he becomes a top driver.
Despite error at start, Vettel continues strong form After he had a disastrous race in Monza (besides other disappointing races he has had this season), Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel has bounced back in impressive fashion as he won in Singapore. In the following race, Vettel got a brilliant start and led the race before he was extremely unfortunate to retire from the race with a PU (Power Unit) failure. Qualifying was moved to Sunday morning due to Typhoon Hagibis which hit Japan on Saturday. It is fair to say that Vettel could not have got off to a better start on Sunday in Suzuka as he produced a brilliant lap to claim pole position. However, his start on Sunday left a lot to be desired as he reacted too quickly and then stopped in realisation that he had jumped the start, and this enabled Valtteri Bottas to take the lead very early on. Vettel could probably count himself slightly fortunat, though having said that, he bounced back brilliantly and was particularly impressive in defending against Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the race when the latter was on fresher tyres and in a car which arguably had superior race pace. In conclusion, despite making the error at the start, Vettel continued the strong form he has been showing since the Singapore Grand Prix, and he is beginning to demonstrate once more why he is a four-time World Champion, and showing how wise and experienced he can be as a driver, something which arguably his team-mate is lacking in at the moment.
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