Japanese GP 2012 was an eventful and epic race! At Suzuka the start and the first corner were fateful for some drivers. Vettel on pole was able to maintain his lead but there were a few of collisions right behind him. Alonso in his Ferrari had an incident with Lotus´s Kimi Räikkönen in the first corner. On the TV screen it seemed like Alonso forced Kimi to go off track and Kimi´s front wing hit Alonso´s rear tyre causing a puncture for the Spaniard. Alonso spun and his race was over. Kimi´s front wing had a minor damage but the Finn continued the race. And once again Romain Grosjean in his Lotus was involved in a collision! The Frenchman crashed to Webber´s Red Bull in the first corner and they both had to pit but were able to continue the race. Senna collided with Rosberg which lead to Nico retiring the race on the opening lap. Due to these incidents the safety car was deployed. Grosjean got a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for causing a collision and Senna was handed a drive-through penalty for colliding with Nico. What an eventful opening lap...!
Vettel in the lead was totally untouchable today. The German cruised away from his rivals and his race pace was incredible. Massa, Kobayashi and Button were the drivers fighting for a podium finish as well. Kimi was fifth but lost a position to Hamilton after the first pit stops. The race pace of his Lotus seemed quite unambitious and the Finn just couldn´t match his rivals´ speed. I´m sure the slightly damaged front wing didn´t make Kimi´s driving any easier. On lap 19 there was intense battle going on with Kimi, Hamilton and Perez. But when the Mexican Sauber driver made a move on Hamilton at the hair pin he spun off the track and his race was over! Perez was driving such an impressive race, why did he have to ruin his race with that idiotic move...!
There was absolutely no one who could challenge Sebastian today! He took an absolutely sweeping and delicious victory at Suzuka today! Massa in his Ferrari did a perfect job today: the Brazilian started in P11 today and finished 2nd! Button and Kobayashi had an intense battle for the 3rd place but although Button was allowed to use DRS on the closing laps he had no real chance to get past the Japanese who took the first podium finish of his F1 career! So Button finished 4th and was followed by his team-mate Hamilton in P5. Kimi managed to finish 6th and hold off Hulkenberg who challenged the Finn at the end of the race.
Sebastian had an absolutely perfect Sunday at Suzuka! This is the best possible result in terms of the championship battle: Seb scored 25 points and Alonso got none! This means Alonso is leading the standings by only 4 points while there´re still 5 races left! Kimi is still 3rd in the WDC standings 37 points behind Alonso. This could well be the turning point in the championship battle. Red Bull have finally found their race pace and Sebastian was frighteningly fast today. It was a grand slam for Sebastian today: starting on pole, leading the race from start to finish, the fastest lap of the race and the victory! This must be a good omen in terms of the championship battle...
The championship battle continues in Korea next weekend. Lotus will get some new upgrades to their car and it´s about their last chance to stay in the championship battle. Grosjean needs to shape up: he can´t afford any more fooling around! This implies to Perez as well. But the crucial question is... Will Ferrari be able to match Red Bull´s pace at the end of the season?
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