Whatshot
The Rising Sun of Japan
The Rising Sun of Japan
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG 63 safety car was deployed for two laps and as soon as it moved out of the way Sebastian Vettel took off like a rocket, nobody could get near him.
Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi defended second place as long as he could, however Felipe Massa could not be contained and he kept Ferrari's hopes up when he followed Vettel 20.6 seconds later over the finish line. After a brave tussel for third place with McLaren-Mercedes' Jenson Button, Kamui Kobayashi became the third F1 driver in history to finish on the podium in Japan.
Michael Schumacher retired yet again from F1 racing, and the points standing looks like it is slowly becoming a two-man race for the driver's championship. However with the totally unpredictable nature of this year's season I will not be making any forecasts.
In the manufacturers points count Red Bull are racing ahead with 324 points, McLaren-Mercedes has 283, Ferrari 263 and Lotus 239.
In the driver's race to championship Fernando Alonso's dash ahead was curbed, he stayed on 194 while Vettel charged forward to 190, just four points the difference. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen continues to surprise onn 157 points in third place and Lewis Hamilton trails in fourth with 152.
Next weekend we're off to the Korean National Circuit with race day on Sunday starting at 08H00 local time.