Japanese Grand Prix race day

By: Geoff Creighton

Summary


	Hamilton takes a dominant Japanese Grand Prix victory
	Vettel fights back through the field to finish sixth, but is 65 points behind Hamilton in the championship
	Bottas second, Verstappen third
	Promoted: For the latest odds and offers, download the Pitstop Betting app andplay along today

Status: Stopped

08:05 Driver, Team
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Valterri Bottas, Mercedes
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Sergio Perez, Force India
Romain Grosjean, Haas
Esteban Ocon, Force India
Carlos Sainz, Renault

09:59 With the podium ceremony complete, we're going to bow out and leave you with our full Japanese GP report. Thanks for joining us nice and early for today's race, and keep up with all the reaction from the paddock this afternoon with Autosport and Motorsport.com.

Japanese Grand Prix: Hamilton wins, Vettel clashes with Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton moved to the brink of the 2018 Formula 1 title by claiming victory in the Japanese Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel clashed with Max Verstappen

09:56 Verstappen isn't best pleased about his penalty for his incident with Raikkonen: "I braked a bit too late into the chicane, I did everything I could to get back on the track.

"I think I did it in a safe way because I was not crazy-fast onto the track, but Kimi chose the wrong line into the chicane - he could have waited for me to come back on the track - and we touched a little bit. But I think it is really ridiculous those five seconds."

09:53

09:51

Date:

09:51

09:48

09:48 "Not much to say. Enough's been said," says Vettel. "I don't know. If I don't go for that gap and that gap was there, I might as well go home. Sorry for the result."

09:47 "I loved it. The whole weekend's been very strong from the team, it's a great 1-2 from Mercedes, it shows the great strength in depth we've got," says Hamilton in the post-race interviews.

09:46 Final order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Bottas; 3 Verstappen; 4 Ricciardo; 5 Raikkonen; 6 Vettel; 7 Perez; 8 Grosjean; 9 Ocon; 10 Sainz; 11 Gasly; 12 Ericsson; 13 Hartley; 14 Alonso; 15 Vandoorne; 16 Sirotkin; 17 Stroll; DNF Leclerc; DNF Hulkenberg; DNF Magnussen

09:44 "I hope you guys are not getting bored of this, because I'm definitely not!" says Hamilton.

09:44

09:43

09:43 Perez, Grosjean and Ocon all finished on the lead lap in seventh, eighth and ninth, while Sainz completes the points.

09:42 Vettel sets another new fastest lap on the final lap, but he finishes only sixth.

09:42 Raikkonen's pace at the end was very slow, but he doesn't slow so much that team orders are employed and crosses the line fifth.

09:41 Bottas successfully fends off Verstappen for third.

09:41 Hamilton crosses the line to win the Japanese Grand Prix and take another big step towards his fifth world championship.

09:40 Perez has done a brilliant job in seventh since passing Grosjean. He's within six seconds of Vettel - who admittedly is most likely cruising - and keeping pace with the Ferrari's lap times.

09:40 Vettel pinches fastest lap from Hamilton.

09:40 Verstappen is giving this everything, but has quite a big lock-up into the hairpin. That gives Bottas some breathing space again.

09:39 Verstappen is given permission to use "mode 7" for the last lap. He starts it back under a second behind Bottas...

09:38 "And you're still fastest man on track," Mercedes tells Hamilton.

09:38 Hamilton sets a fastest lap of 1m32.785s, just because he can. His lead is 11.5s as he begins his penultimate lap.

09:37 Verstappen has got the gap to Bottas below two seconds again, but with three laps left the Mercedes one-two now looks pretty safe after that brief period of tension.

09:37 Sainz gets by Gasly for the final point on the run to Turn 1 with three laps to go.

09:37 Red Bull gives Verstappen some advice on where to change gear to try to get smoother performance. He replies that he's "been doing that for 10 or 15 laps already".

09:36 "I am so much quicker but I can't get by," says Hartley, who is locked in a battle with Ericsson for 12th.

09:35 Grosjean hasn't stuck to target and is now outside the five-second window to Perez ahead. He's still got his mirrors full of Ocon.

09:35 "The engine is so rough, unbelievable," declares Verstappen, who is now 2.6s behind Bottas.

09:34 No sign of Ferrari doing anything to get Vettel ahead of Raikkonen yet - that gap remains 35s.

09:34 Mercedes lets Hamilton know there are five laps left and to "be careful" lapping Gasly and Sainz ahead as "they are fighting for points".

09:33 Toro Rossos started the race from sixth and seventh, but the team faces a bit of a sweat to hang on to a point here. Sainz, who ran longest of all, is just half a second behind Gasly in the fight for 10th now.

09:33 "Keep him under pressure, keep it clean," Red Bull urges Verstappen.

09:33 Bottas tidies things up and gets his gap to Verstappen back over a second.

09:32 But now Bottas brakes too late into the chicane and runs wide, skittering over the kerbs and that's let Verstappen right back onto his tail!

09:31 Promoted: For the latest odds and offers, download the Pitstop Betting app and play along today

09:31 Top six gaps: 1 Hamilton; 2 Bottas +9.9s; 3 Verstappen +11.7s; 4 Ricciardo +18.4s; 5 Raikkonen +29.5s; 6 Vettel +1m07.3s

09:30 Bottas appears to have his medium tyres back in shape - he sets the fastest first sector of the race so far and is back up to 1.6s clear of Verstappen.

09:30 Rather than keeping up with Perez, Grosjean is slowly falling into the clutches of Ocon. The second Force India is now within a second of the Haas.