The 2018 Japanese Grand Prix is in the books and it was a snoozer of a victory for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who is on his way to another F1 world title. Meanwhile, the second and third positions of Hamilton’s Mercedes’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen contained slightly more drama.
While Hamilton was effortlessly cruising to his expected win, Bottas was hanging on to his coattails and Verstappen was busy knocking both of the Ferrari’s out of podium contention with demolition derby-style driving. ASN awards the easy points to Hamilton and Bottas and gives the third-place point to Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who started in 15th and moved up to finish in fourth – just off the podium. With this victory, Hamilton has virtually clinched the 2018 ASN driving title.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award was another easy call as the category leader – Verstappen – made his case early on by clashing with both Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, receiving a five-second penalty for the hit on Raikkonen. Verstappen, who is what Maldonado would have been like if Maldonado would have had a consistently good car, has virtually clinched the 2018 Maldonado title.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award is split between Verstappen for complaining about receiving his well-deserved penalty for hitting Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc, who clashed with Kevin Magnussen and then exclaimed “Magnussen is, and always will be, stupid”. Verstappen moves ahead of Hamilton in this category.
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award goes to Verstappen for continuing his whinging about his penalty during and post-race in full doofus mode. Verstappen moves into a tie with Hamilton for the lead in this important category.
2018 ASN Formula One Driver Rankings – after Japanese Grand Prix
1] Lewis Hamilton – 34 points
2] Sebastian Vettel – 22
3] Valtteri Bottas – 13
4] Kimi Raikkonen – 10
5] Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen – nine
7] Sergio Perez – three
8] Pierre Gasly/Nico Hulkenberg – two
2018 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award – after Japanese Grand Prix
1] Verstappen – 6.33 points
2] Romain Grosjean – two
3] Vettel – 1.5
4] Bottas/Hulkenberg/Perez/Sergey Sirotkin/Stoffel Vandoorne – one
9] Gasly/Brandon Hartley/Raikkonen – .5
12] Red Bull/Ricciardo – .33
2018 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award – after Japanese Grand Prix
1] Verstappen – 4.5 points
2] Hamilton – four
3] Fernando Alonso – 3.5
4] Bottas/Raikkonen/Vettel – one
7] Leclerc/Perez/Minttu Raikkonen/Verstappen pit – .5
2018 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award – after Japanese Grand Prix
1] Hamilton/Verstappen – 2.125 points
3] McLaren/Mercedes – 1.5
5] Toto Wolff – 1.125
6] Canadian Grand Prix officials/Ferrari pit [Raikkonen]/Force India/Mercedes pit [Hamilton]/Monaco Grand Prix officials/Vettel – one
12] Bernie Ecclestone – .625
13] Azerbaijan Grand Prix officials/Nico Rosberg/Spanish Grand Prix officials – .5
16] Gasly/Grosjean/Hulkenberg/Kevin Magnussen – .125