2017 F1 Round 16 Japanese GP – Hamilton beats Verstappen as Vettel retires

The 2017 Japanese Grand Prix ran for 53 laps at Suzuka. Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen in 1:27:31.194, with just 1.211 seconds separating them at the finish. Daniel Ricciardo was third. Sebastian Vettel retired early, allowing Hamilton to extend his championship lead to 59 points.

Vettel’s Ferrari was checked on the grid. He still tried to chase Hamilton after the start, but Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas soon passed him in succession. A spark plug failure prevented the car from recovering normal power, and he retired in the opening stages, further damaging his title hopes.

Carlos Sainz lost control at Turn 7 on the opening lap, bringing out the safety car. It was his final race for Toro Rosso before joining Renault. Marcus Ericsson later crashed at the second Degner corner, prompting a virtual safety car and another interruption to the battle at the front.

Verstappen pitted on lap 21, and Hamilton followed a lap later. After Mercedes switched to soft tyres, Red Bull maintained the pressure in pursuit. A front suspension failure on Lance Stroll’s car brought another virtual safety car period late in the race. When racing resumed, Hamilton’s tyre temperatures made defending more difficult.

Verstappen closed to around a second in the closing stages, but lapped traffic and track position limited his opportunities to pass. Hamilton held on to win. In the other Mercedes, Bottas also closed on Ricciardo, finishing about 0.9 seconds behind him as Red Bull secured third place and a double podium.

Kimi Räikkönen recovered to fifth after a gearbox grid penalty, with Ocon sixth and Sergio Pérez seventh. Kevin Magnussen passed Felipe Massa at Turn 2, and Romain Grosjean also took the opportunity to move ahead, giving Haas eighth and ninth. Massa held off Fernando Alonso to take the final point in tenth.

Nico Hülkenberg had been running in the points, but a DRS mechanism problem after his tyre change forced him to retire. Stroll, Ericsson, Vettel and Sainz also failed to finish. Jolyon Palmer ended his final race for Renault in 12th, ahead of Pierre Gasly in 13th and Stoffel Vandoorne in 14th.

With four rounds and 100 points still available, Hamilton’s advantage over Vettel stood at 59 points. His 25 points at Suzuka reflected both a controlled performance at the front and his successful defence against Red Bull’s late attack. Ferrari’s successive reliability problems had shifted the championship battle clearly towards Mercedes.