What Lewis Hamilton could not achieve in Singapore, he did so with great conviction at Suzuka in Japan. Hamilton equalled his hero Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 race victories when he won the Japanese Grand Prix on September 27, 2015.
The Japanese victory ensured the Briton of a hat-trick of wins in Japan. Like Senna only two of Hamilton's triumphs have come at Suzuka, with his other coming at Fuji in 2007.
Hamilton who was deprived of a good fight in Singapore because of some technical issues with his car and had to retire, now has eight victories this season and needs just three more over the remaining five races to equal his personal best tally of 11 that he managed in 2014. Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg came in second. The German recorded his sixth second place finish of the season - and 16th over the past two years. For record’s sake, Rosberg has now spent 1,033 of his 9,697 Grand Prix laps to date in second place.
While Rosberg seems to have been destined for a second place every time, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel while coming in third seems to have been destined for a third spot. In fact he has spent more time in third place this season (289 laps) than any other position.
The good part of the entire race was that the Suzuka race was the first since the 2011 European Grand Prix in which every car was a classified finisher, except for Sauber’s Felipe Nasr who could not finish the race. He was the only driver not to take the chequered flag, but he had completed well over 90 percent of the race distance and hence was included in the results.
In the final standings, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was a distant fourth, just ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Vijaya Mallaya’s Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg came in sixth, followed by the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. The closely-matched Toro Rossos of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten.
With the win in Suzuka, Hamilton now has 277 points, Rosberg 229 and Vettel 218, with five races left. It was sweet revenge for Mercedes after the bout of bad luck in Singapore.
For Fernando Alonso of McLaren, it was a frustrating day as he his car experienced lack of power several times, but he drove on, eventually getting an 11th position, just outside the points. The battle for 12th, meanwhile, featured four cars and was eventually won by Force India’s Sergio Perez, who fought back from an off at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
1
LEWIS HAMILTON
Mercedes
2
NICO ROSBERG
3
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ferrari
4
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
5
VALTTERI BOTTAS
Williams
6
NICO HULKENBERG
Force India
7
ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Lotus
8
PASTOR MALDONADO
9
MAX VERSTAPPEN
Toro Rosso
10
CARLOS SAINZ
11
FERNANDO ALONSO
McLaren
12
SERGIO PEREZ
13
DANIIL KVYAT
Red Bull racing
14
MARCUS ERICSSON
Sauber
15
DANIEL RICCIARDO
Red Bull Racing
16
JENSON BUTTON
17
FELIPE MASSA
18
ALEXANDER ROSSI
Marussia
19
WILL STEVENS
20
FELIPE NASR
DNF
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