The Orient had it all this week, Formula E in Hong Kong and F1 in Japan. As interesting as Formula E is F1 is still the pinnacle. There was some good dicing in Formula E and given that Nelson Piquet led from pole with his team mate acting as rear gunner it's quite something that he finished out of the points. Reigning Champ Buemi came through to win but Di Grassi was quite amazing coming back to finish second after pitting with a broken wing.
Formula E is interesting and healthy but all the talk this weekend will be about Nico Rosberg's faultless performance in Suzuka. We think of Hamilton as being blisteringly quick in qualifying but Rosberg snatched pole position by the slimmest of margins at the last moment and its not his first pole position at Suzuka either. It was his first win there however, one of several circuits he's won at this year for the first time. He really is driving like a champion.
Rosberg and Hamilton have been rivals right from their youth, right through the climb to F1. Hamilton now has three world championships, Rosberg none. Psychologically next year will be interesting. If Rosberg wins will he soar, much like Hakkinen did, after for a while at least, being apparently under Coulthard's heel? If Hamilton pulls it back at the last will Rosberg be crushed?
It's my opinion that Rosberg has been driving like a champion this year, if he wins it will be on merit, despite Hamilton's engine failures. For one of the most privileged men on the planet Hamilton can be more than a little petulant, with the media and sometimes with his team too.
Nico is now 33 points ahead in the championship and second in the last four races would see him crowned, a strong position, but racing is unpredictable. A non points finish for Nico and a win for Lewis would open it right up again. Given technical failures do happen, tyres do puncture, accidents do happen and drivers can be caught up in someone else's calamity nothing is certain till the mathematics say so.
What the mathematics do confirm is that Mercedes are again constructors champions and that only a Mercedes driver can win the championship, Ricciardo can no longer overtake Rosberg, only Hamilton could do that, so for Mercedes both championships are effectively won. Many congratulations.
If you missed the race Hamilton started on the damp side, spun the wheels and dropped to eighth position. His fight back took him to third, not second as young gun Verstappen hung on dramatically in the closing laps. He defended hard and Hamilton had to take to the escape road at his last overtaking opportunity. Hamilton complained Verstappen had moved under braking, ie too late a move to be legal, but the stewards took no action.
As someone who likes to see racing and NOT courtroom dramas I kind of approve, but if there are rules they have to be applied equally all the time. My own view is there are too many rules, but that's another matter.
Both Ferrari drivers drove great races, but Vettel lost track position due to Ferrari strategists getting it wrong yet again, a previous post refers to that weakness. Vettel made a couple of nice overtakes on Ricciardo and Perez and Raikkonen on Hulkenberg lap 6 I think, but expecting Vettel to overtake Hamilton just because he had softs at the end was asking too much. The Mercedes is a superior car and the Ferrari just couldn't do it in the dirty air.
Vettel may not have got a podium anyway, although he always has at Suzuka. Ferrari need to work harder on strategy, they have such a great team in so many other ways. Honda really disappointed at their own track and Williams appeared to be out of the hunt too, slipping further behind force India in the constructors championship and ultimately if they don't pull it back in financial terms.
Interestingly there were no safety cars, no virtual safety cars and all twenty two cars finished. There may be big performance gaps between teams and it would be nice to see things get closer, but the professionalism displayed was top notch from almost everyone.
Car nut?
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