28 Sep 2015

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F1 race analysis: 2015 Japanese GP

Suzuka, Japan - Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix to equal the late Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 Formula 1 victories and move 48 points clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg with five races remaining.

Team by team analysis of the Japanese Formula 1 GP (listed in current championship order):

Read: As it happened: 2015 Japanese GP

Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton 1, Nico Rosberg 2)

Hamilton's eighth win of the season and 41st of his career, equalling the tally of the late Ayrton Senna. Mercedes' eighth one-two finish. Rosberg started on pole for only the second time this year but lost out at the start. Hamilton set the fastest lap and is now 48 points clear of his team mate in the standings. Mercedes have now won 11 of 14 races.

Ferrari (Sebastian Vettel 3, Kimi Raikkonen 4)

Vettel's championship hopes receded despite chalking up his third successive podium finish. Ferrari pulled further away from Williams.

Williams (Valtteri Bottas 5, Felipe Massa 17)

Massa was in a collision with Ricciardo at the start, suffered a front right puncture and had to pit for new tyres and front wing. Bottas was jumped by Vettel at the start but ran third in the early stages.

Red Bull (Daniil Kvyat 13, Daniel Ricciardo 15)

Kvyat started in the pitlane after his car was rebuilt following a big crash in qualifying. Ricciardo was caught between Massa and Raikkonen as he went for a gap at the start. He suffered a puncture and floor damage.

Force India (Nico Hulkenberg 6, Sergio Perez 12)

Force India lost two points to Lotus. Perez suffered a puncture on the opening lap after avoiding Massa but being hit by Sainz. Hulkenberg started 13th after collecting a grid penalty at the previous race in Singapore.

Lotus (Romain Grosjean 7, Pastor Maldonado 8)

A double points finish a day before the team are due in court to battle against being put into administration for unpaid taxes. Both cars were in the top eight for the first time since India in 2013.

Toro Rosso (Max Verstappen 9, Carlos Sainz 10)

The team's second double points finish in a row. Verstappen started 17th after a three-place penalty from qualifying. Sainz damaged his front wing when he hit a bollard on the pits lane entry, which cost him time on the stop.

Sauber (Marcus Ericsson 14, Felipe Nasr retired)

Nasr retired at the end due to an unidentified problem. Ericsson spun at the end of his first stint.

McLaren (Fernando Alonso 11, Jenson Button 16)

Both drivers were unhappy with the lack of performance from the Honda power unit, which Alonso likened to that of the GP2 support series. Alonso had started 12th, Button 14th.

Manor Marussia (Alexander Rossi 18, Will Stevens 19)

Rossi finished his second race ahead of his team mate again. Stevens had a five second penalty imposed for exceeding the pitslane speed limit. He also spun on lap 42, making an impressive save and continuing but on damaged tyres.

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