As far as the end results were concerned, it was the same old, same old in Formula One racing this weekend as Mercedes won yet another race – the only difference this time was the weather conditions and the crash of Marussia’s Jules Bianchi that was attributed to said weather conditions. Prior to the race, a typhoon had been bearing down on a section of Japan that was near the Suzuka race track where the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was being held but race officials decided to go ahead with the race anyway. Rainy conditions worsened as the race wore on and on Lap 40, Sauber’s Adrian Sutil hydroplaned and crashed into a tire barrier. Shortly afterward, Bianchi hydroplaned in the same spot and slid into the tractor that had been brought to lift Sutil’s car off the track, suffering a head and brain injury. Bianchi was flown out to a hospital where emergency brain surgery was successfully performed and Bianchi was said to be breathing on his own after the surgery.
As for the race, it was ended at Lap 44 and the leader at that juncture, Lewis Hamilton, was awarded the victory with his teammate Nico Rosberg coming in second and newly-Ferrarized four time defending champion Sebastian Vettel finishing third. It was not a good race for Ferrari as their lead driver – Fernando Alonso – retired early with electrical issues while second driver, Kimi Raikkonen was lapped and four of the bottom five finishers were Ferrari or Ferrari-associated teams.
In the season point standings, Hamilton adds to his lead over Rosberg with 266 points to Rosberg’s 256 followed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in third with 193 points.
The 2014 Formula One racing season continues with the inaugural Russian Grand Prix at Sochi on October 12, 2014.
2014 Japanese Grand Prix Results
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 1:51:43.021 2 25
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +9.1 secs 1 18
3 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +29.1 secs 9 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +38.8 secs 6 12
5 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +67.5 secs 8 10
6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 +113.7 secs 3 8
7 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 +115.1 secs 4 6
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 +115.9 secs 13 4
9 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 44 +127.6 secs 20 2
10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 11 1
11 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 43 +1 Lap 12
12 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 10
13 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 15
14 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 7
15 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 16
16 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 22
17 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17
18 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 21
19 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 19
20 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 41 Accident 18
21 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 40 Accident 14
Ret 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2 Electronics 5