Japanese GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results

It was a tough weekend for the teams as they headed back to Suzuka Circuit in Japan. Just last year, Jules Bianchi had his crash during the race in poor weather conditions & He was on everyone's minds this year. Teams, drivers, fans and media were all thinking of him & keeping his family in their thoughts.

    This time around the weather was luckily sunny and there was no rain in sight. Nico Rosberg started on Pole Position, but when the lights went out, it was Lewis Hamilton who easily passed him and took the lead.

    On lap 1 there was a collision between Massa and Ricciardo. They bumped wheels, causing them both to have a tyre explode. During their wheel-to-wheel collision, Perez was the unlucky driver who got tagged by Massa when he bounced off of the Red Bull driver. Perez was sent out into the grass and had to cut all the way across before he was able to rejoin the track. He was forced to pit early so the team could check the car for damage. When he finally got out of pit-lane, he was in 18th.

 The only retirement of the race was Felipe Nasr and it was with only a few laps to go. There were 'Unidentified' problems with the car and the team had to bring him in.

    McLaren-Honda had an overall good race. While neither driver was able to bring any points home for the team, they both finished the race & Fernand Alonso was only one spot outside of the points. Button finished in 16th. While they've had quite a few double-retirements throughout this season, things still continue to look up for them as they figure out certain issues with the cars.

    Up in front it was clear that Lewis Hamilton was going to take the win and bring Mercedes another good results & more points. Rosberg was right behind him in second, trying to keep Sebastian Vettel behind in 3rd. Anyone who was doubting Mercedes in Singapore, could now be sure that the team had definitely not lost their pace.

Next up the teams head back to Europe, for the Russian GP. Here are the race results.

RESULTS:

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 18 Points
3. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 15 Points
4. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 12 Points
5. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / + 10 Points
6. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / + 8 Points
7. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Mercedes / France / + 6 Points
8. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Mercedes / Venezuela / + 4 Points
9. Max Verstappen / Toro Rosso-Renault / Netherlands / + 2 Points
10. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain / + 1 Point
11. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain 
12. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
13. Daniil Kvyat / Red Bull-Renault / Russia
14. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
15. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia
16. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain
17. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
18. Alexander Rossi / Manor-Ferrari / America
19. Will Stevens / Manor-Ferrari / Great Britain
20. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil / RETIRED - Unknown (Qualified As Finished)

----
Article Written By: Amy Hawk
No copyright infringement intended
Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78