Formula One: The Drivers’ Championship after Japanese GP (Part 1)
An exciting and thrilling Formula One season finally approaches its final stations. The twenty four drivers and twelve teams haven't let their fans sit back even for a while as every single race of the season has been more nail-biting and nerve-tickling
than the previous one.
A battle, not seen in decades, was presented this year, with the top five drivers being equally competent and determined while all the top three teams equally hard working and fierce all through the season, ready to backlash anybody who came in their way.
Last Sunday, the Formula One cars rallied for the season's sixteenth round at the historic arena of Japan. The engines roared and tires shrieked as the battle began on the damp Suzuka track.
After a combat of around one and a half hours, the drivers and the teams left the track, moving one step further towards their final destination while leaving their trails behind.
Suzuka was conquered by the Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel for the second time consecutively. He showed some great form and pace all through the weekend and stayed at the front during both the practices as well as in the qualifying. With this victory,
he has been elevated to the third place from his previous fourth.
His team-mate, Mark Webber was also able to keep his top place in the Drivers’ Championship secured as he ended the race at 2nd place. Currently, he has a total of 220 points and stands 14 points ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Alonso ended
the Japanese Grand Prix at 3rd place behind the shadow of the two Red Bull drivers.
With this podium finish, the chances of the driver are still pretty good although his team has less hope left for the Constructor’s Championship now as the other Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa ended his day pointless right at the first lap.
As the cars stared off at the Suzuka track, six of the drivers got involved in a bad encounter, ending their day right at the first minute. The accident involved Massa of Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg of Williams-Cosworth, Renault's Vitaly Petrov, Vitantonio
Liuzzi of Force India and the virgin driver, Lucas di Grassi.
Even though, the dark clouds of Saturday shed away on the race day, yet for McLaren the day stayed dull and gloomy, just like the entire weekend. The first practice of Friday saw both the team drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button, going too wide off
the track and thus, ending with two damaged cars in the McLaren garage.
Later, again on the final race day, the 2008 champion Hamilton faced gearbox problem and had to change it due to which he dropped five places on the grid. He finally ended the race at 4th place while his team-mate at 5th.
The ill-fated weekend has brought Hamilton down to 4th slot from his previous third, having a total of 192 points, while his team-mate continues to stay at 5th after having bagged a total of 189 points.
This race has further widened the point’s gap between the chart's topper, Webber and Button as their previous difference of only 25 points has now been stretched to 31. With only three more races to go, the chances of Button have shrunk badly as now only
a race win could help him.
But, that also does not seem much likely for him as the team’s MP4-25 is currently far from being competitive as compared to the Red Bull and Ferrari cars. At the sixth place in Drivers’ Championship stands Massa followed by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
The German drivers’ race also ended poorly during the 47th lap due to a mechanical problem. He currently has 122 points and holds 7th place in the Drivers’ Championship.
(To be continued in Part 2)
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