Typhoon Hagabis hit Suzuka area on Saturday, so all F1 action was cancelled that day. Qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning, which made Sunday an extra action-filled day. There was a good omen in the air in terms of the statistics; the previous four times, that qualifying had been postponed to Sunday morning, there had always been a German driver on pole. And to my joy this year was no exception to that rule! The Red Team still had the upper hand on Mercedes in terms of single-lap pace. Sebastian set the screens purple, setting the new track record in Q3! Teammate Charles was left 0.189s shy of Sebastian's benchmark, but there was an all-red front row! Bottas pipped his teammate, and the Silver Arrows had to settle for the second row. The Thai driver Albon has raised the bar race by race, and he clocked the exact same lap time as his teammate Verstappen. Because Max had set his lap time first, he qualified 5th and Albon 6th. McLaren had the honor of being the strongest of the midfield teams, and the orange cars locked down the fourth row.
At the time of the race start the typhoon was gone, but wind speed was still extremely high. The start was utterly breath-taking. Unfortunately pole-setter Sebastian screwed up his start. His Lina moved slightly before the lights out, which led into a lousy start. Charles' start was also quite mediocre, but Bottas in P3 took a rocket start instead. The Finn dived first into Turn 1, with Sebastian second. There was drama between Charles and the hot-headed Red Bull driver Verstappen. Charles' SF90 understeered going into Turn 1, and the Monegasque slid to Verstappen's RB15, causing the Dutchman to spin. There was severe damage to both cars due to the collision. Charles' left-hand side end plate of the front wing was broken, but he insisted to stay out and not to pit for a new nose cone. Hamilton was putting immense pressure on Charles. There was a dangerous-looking situation, as the broken end plate and some other bits flew off from Charles' Ferrari in full speed. One of that debris hit Hamilton's right-hand side mirror, which flew off. In the end, Charles had no option but to pit for a new front wing. He also switched to the medium compound. Charles re-joined the track at the back of the pack. Verstappen's race was ruined, too, and the Dutchman had to retire the race some ten laps later due to the damage caused by the collision.
I was holding my breath, as the stewards took Sebastian's start into investigation as an alleged false start. Luckily his Lina hadn't moved too much to get a penalty! I was so relieved that he got away with impunity! Sebastian opened the pit stop roulette on lap 17, opting for a fresh set of soft tyres. This was a clear indication of a two-stop strategy. The Mercedes duo of Bottas and Hamilton switched to the yellow-walled medium compound instead. Theoretically they had a chance to complete the race on a one-stop strategy. However, the tyre degradation was kind of a question mark for all teams, due to lack of running. After the first pit stops, Bottas was still leading the race, with Sebastian second and Hamilton third.
The second pit stops didn't change the pecking order. Sebastian was on the mediums, whilst both Bottas and Hamilton had the softs on for their last stint. Hamilton's pace on the fresh softs was remarkable. He had it easy to close the gap to Sebastian. In spite of the Red Team's amazing single-lap pace, Mercedes absolutely nailed it when it came to race pace. Luckily Sebastian knew what to do to defend his position. The team gave him some extra power, which helped the German to keep Hamilton behind. Towards the end of the race, Charles pitted for the third time already, as his sixth place was secured. On the fresh set of soft Pirellis he went for the fastest lap time. Ironically, the fastest lap time was snatched by Hamilton at the end of the race.
Bottas crossed the finish line as race winner for the first time since the Azerbaijan GP in April. Sebastian really drove his heart out, and finished the race as the runner-up. In spite of the mistake at the start, he had driven a flawless race. Hamilton completed the podium, which meant, that Mercedes clinched their sixth consecutive constructors' title. Albon finished the race fourth for Red Bull, which was a great result especially in front of the home crowd of the team's engine supplier Honda. Sainz brought valuable points for McLaren by driving to the chequered flag in P5. Charles fought his way up to P6 in the end, but he was given penalties after the race. He was hit with a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision with Max, and an additional 10-second penalty for staying out on a severely damaged car, which caused danger to other drivers. Due to the penalties Charles dropped down to P7 in the standings.
Now it's also clear, that the drivers' championship will be won by a Mercedes driver. It takes a miracle, if it's going to be Bottas, but the Finn still has a mathematical chance to take it. With all the pressure of the world titles gone, Sebastian seems much more relaxed andcomfortable in his Lina. I'm sure there is much more to come from him in the remaining four races! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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