Driver Ratings: 2018 Japanese Grand Prix
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The Mercedes juggernaut was back to its imperious best at Suzuka, as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas sealed a one-two for the Silver Arrows as Ferrari’s title challenge further declined.
While Hamilton led all three practice sessions, secured an 80th career pole and romped to a comfortable win, Sebastian Vettel’s weekend was one of strategic and driver errors.
In qualifying, Ferrari misread track conditions at the start of the all-important Q3 session. Sending both Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen onto the circuit with the intermediate tyres fitted, the pair returned to the pits after their outlaps to switch to the slicks that were the choice of the other eight Q3 runners.
Under pressure to deliver a lap and make up for lost time, Vettel suffered a snap of oversteer after touching the outside kerb at Spoon Curve. Running off track on his fastest lap of the session, Vettel ended up ninth in qualifying.
The situation further deteriorated in the race when at the same corner, Vettel opted for an ambitious move on the inside of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and when the door was abruptly closed, Vettel was pitched into a spin and fell to the back of the field.
Finishing in sixth, Vettel now enters the final four rounds of the 2018 season with his title hopes all but extinguished. Hamilton leads by 67 points and can claim title number five when the paddock reconvenes in the USA in two weeks time.
Here are our DRIVER RATINGS for the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton - 10
Qualified – 1st
Finished – 1st
Hamilton is unrelenting in his pursuit of title number five and this was his most dominant weekend of the season. The race was the first in 2018 in which he was able to lead 100 percent of the laps and but for a late surge from Vettel, Hamilton would have sealed a ‘Grand Slam’ with the fastest lap of the race to go alongside topping every practice session, securing pole position, leading every lap and winning the race. His 50th win for Mercedes.
Valtteri Bottas - 8
Qualified – 2nd
Finished – 2nd
Tasked by Mercedes to finish the race in second place, Bottas delivered what was required of him in his unofficial position as Hamilton’s 2018 championship aide. However, Bottas did not look comfortable when challenged by Red Bull’s Verstappen in the closing stages and two significant lock-ups threatened to open the door for the Dutchman to steal second place.
Max Verstappen - 8
Qualified – 3rd
Finished – 3rd
Verstappen delivered a very impressive weekend at a circuit in which he has shown form in the past. His third consecutive podium at Japan was secured in spite of a justified five-second time penalty served during his pitstop, as a result of crowding Raikkonen off track when recovering from a lock-up at the last chicane. It was a clumsy error from Verstappen, but his pace was strong enough to make up for it as the rest of the race unfolded, despite the floor damage sustained in a later incident with Vettel.
Daniel Ricciardo - 10
Qualified – 15th
Finished – 4th
An electrical issue affecting the power unit slammed the brakes on Ricciardo’s qualifying session. From 15th on the grid, is comeback drive was remarkably well executed on a circuit where overtaking can be difficult. His pace at the end of the first stint was superb considering the stress that his soft tyres endured during the opening stint and to have finished four seconds behind his team-mate was quite an achievement.
Kimi Raikkonen - 6
Qualified – 4th
Finished – 5th
While Verstappen’s penalty was justified, Raikkonen was ambitious to attempt a move around the outside of a recovering Verstappen on the exit of what is a tight chicane. Had he performed a switchback move, he would have likely passed the Red Bull easily on the exit of the corner. Floor damage as a result of the contact compromised his pace and likely had a negative effect on his tyre wear which forced him to pit earlier than those around him – proving costly in the battle with both Verstappen and Ricciardo.
Sebastian Vettel - 5
Qualified – 9th
Finished – 6th
Vettel’s worst weekend of the season could not have surfaced at a more inopportune moment. Two critical mistakes in qualifying – spinning at the hairpin before crucially sliding off the track at Spoon Curve – placed him out of position on the grid. Ferrari’s strategic misstep no doubt increased the intensity of Q3, but it was ultimately Vettel’s mistakes that proved decisive. In the race, the attempted pass on Verstappen was late, clumsy and unnecessary given Verstappen’s five-second time penalty. Vettel looked desperate in Japan.
Sergio Perez - 9
Qualified – 10th
Finished – 7th
Unable to take advantage of the dry track in qualifying, Perez faced a tricky task to start on the unfavoured supersoft tyres on the periphery of the top 10. It proved to be a smart strategy from Force India to pit Perez early on in the race, as he jumped Gasly through the pitstop cycle, but it required Perez’s finesse with Pirelli rubber to stretch his soft tyres from lap 13 to the chequered flag on lap 53. His late move on Grosjean at the chicane was beautifully executed.
Romain Grosjean - 9
Qualified – 5th
Finished – 8th
Grosjean’s drive to P8 was much more impressive than the result in isolation would seem. A rear brake fire during the safety car meant that Haas lost telemetry to his car, meaning that Grosjean completed the race without temperature data. He also grappled with the suspension moving on the straights and causing the car to inconsistently tow. In spite of the issues and but for the VSC bringing Perez into position to perform a late race move for seventh, Grosejan would have been best of the rest.
Esteban Ocon - 7
Qualified – 8th (started 11th)
Finished – 9th
Failing to slow sufficiently under red flags at the end of FP3 threatened to derail Ocon’s weekend. Dropping from eighth to 11th on the grid, he needed a strong start and duly delivered. Climbing to ninth, his strategy matched team-mate Perez, requiring a long stint on the soft tyres to complete the race. Perez outpaced Ocon, but the strategy was well executed by both drivers.
Carlos Sainz Jr - 7
Qualified – 13th
Finished – 10th
Squeezing through to Q2 doesn’t sound too impressive, but it was part of a weekend performance in which Sainz outpaced team-mate Hulkenberg while Renault struggled. Sainz’s race pace was stronger than his qualifying effort and a soft-medium strategy brought him into contention for points. Passing Gasly in the closing moments of the race delivered a well-deserved point from a difficult weekend.
Pierre Gasly - 7
Qualified – 7th
Finished – 11th
Sixth and seventh in qualifying, Toro Rosso looked set for a double-points finish on Honda’s home soil. However, the race was disappointing. Gasly ran deep into the race on his supersoft tyres which meant that he was undercut by four cars and dropped to 13th place. Forced to recover the track position, he managed to climb back to 10th but had used all of the performance offered by his soft rubber and his late race battle with Sainz was futile.
Marcus Ericsson - 6
Qualified – 20th
Finished – 12th
His crash in Q1 at the long right-hander of Dunlop was one thing, but ramming into the back of Leclerc during the safety car restart will not be something that Ericsson will want to watch a replay of. The Swede coped relatively well with the front wing damage and was able to continue on the planned one-stop strategy. However, points had become an impossibility.
Brendon Hartley - 6
Qualified – 6th
Finished – 13th
Qualifying in Japan was perhaps the highlight of Hartley’s season, let alone his weekend. Sunday did not unfold as planned. Sixth on the grid became 11th after a poor start and Hartley struggled for traction throughout the race. Once again convincingly beaten by his team-mate, despite qualifying ahead of him, Hartley failed to take advantage of a strong opportunity to impress the Toro Rosso hierarchy.
Fernando Alonso - 6
Qualified – 18th
Finished – 14th
Qualifying was another disaster for McLaren, but Alonso demonstrated the type of relentless determination that we have become accustomed to at the start of the race. Climbing from 18th to 13th early on, Alonso had elevated himself into the heart of the midfield in a car which had no right to be there this weekend. Squeezed off track by Stroll at the chicane, Alonso promptly threw his genius out the window by straight lining the gravel trap and gaining an obvious advantage for a slam-dunk five-second time penalty.
Stoffel Vandoorne - 5
Qualified – 19th
Finished – 15th
Half a second slower than Alonso in qualifying, Vandoorne’s qualifying woes continue. Slowest of all on Saturday was replicated on Sunday in the first stint as he trailed around at the back of the field. While he managed to pass a struggling Williams pair in the latter stages, he still finished behind Alonso despite gaining five seconds on account of the two-time champion’s penalty.
Sergey Sirotkin - 6
Qualified – 17th
Finished – 16th
Attempting the audacious when at the back of the field becomes a much more appealing prospect. Both Williams cars pitted during the safety car and in doing so, committed to a two-stop strategy. In the end, it didn’t pay off, as Sirotkin’s pace on the supersoft tyres was not strong enough to catch the McLaren duo ahead in the closing stages and he finished three seconds behind Vandoorne.
Lance Stroll - 6
Qualified – 14th
Finished – 17th
Stroll’s qualifying performance earned top marks, as he hauled the car through the Q2 and once again demonstrated his one-lap credentials. In the race, his pace declined and he was soon under attack. The five-second time penalty for forcing Alonso off-track was fully justified and allowed team-mate Sirotkin to edge ahead. Stroll had marginally faster pace on the supersoft tyres at the end but was unable to overhaul Sirotkin.
Charles Leclerc - 7
Qualified – 11th
Finished – DNF
Leclerc was unfortunate to hit the back of Magnussen after the Dane once again moved late in defence of his position in the early stages of the race. However, had it not been for a poor start, Leclerc would not have been in position behind the Haas. After his early pitstop, Leclerc’s pace was strong despite grappling with diffuser damage after having been hit by his team-mate. A textbook overtake on Hulkenberg was the highlight of Sauber’s race.
Nico Hulkenberg - 6
Qualified – 16th
Finished – DNF
After his Q1 exit, Renault rolled the dice with Hulkenberg by starting him on the medium tyre. The strategy did at least elevate Hulkenberg into points contention before he complained over significant oversteer and something “loose at the rear,” with the gremlin leading to retirement. Another forgettable weekend for a driver who has scored one point in the last six races.
Kevin Magnussen - 4
Qualified – 12th
Finished – DNF
While team-mate Grosjean ended Saturday in fifth, Magnussen was a comparatively lacklustre 12th. His benefit of enhanced strategic options was tossed aside when another late move in defence caught out a pursuing Leclerc. Magnussen’s second mistake was when he failed to nurse his resultant left-rear puncture back to the pits, driving too quickly and causing the flailing tyre to shred his floor and diffuser.