Valtteri Bottas wins Japanese GP, Mercedes crowned as constructor champions

Mercedes secured its constructor championship victory after Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton crossed the chequered flag at Suzuka Circuit, Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas YouTube grab/ Formula 1

Despite the dominance of Typhoon Hagibis in Japan for which the Formula one race authority decided to postpone the qualifying, both Ferrari drivers locked the first two places after Sunday's final qualifying session at the Japanese Grand Prix.

It was a sunny Sunday at Suzuka Circuit when all the F1 drivers started the final race hours later the qualifying sessions.

The Mercedes star Valtteri Bottas surpassed the pole position holder Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at the start of the race and continued as the leader.

In a post-race interview, Sebastian Vettel said "It was a really poor start. Then it was difficult, Mercedes had more pace than us. It was a tough afternoon to keep second, but overall it was a positive day"

The Suzuka Circuit witnessed lots of excitement at the starting of the race after Ferrari's new star Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen went wheel to wheel and ended up crashing into each other.

After the contact, the Dutch driver took a pit stop while Charles Leclerc continued on track with front wing damage till the 4th lap, as he said over the radio that the car looked fine according to him.

This incident was investigated by stewards initially but they decided not to take any action. Unfortunately, the superstar of Red Bull had to retire from the race in the 15th lap.

The five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton initially complained about the debris coming out of the damaged wing of Charles Leclerc's car. But the Briton continued the race to bag maximum points to secure his sixth victory as a world champion.

The Racing Point driver Sergio Perez crashed the car during the final lap after contact with Toro Rosso.

However, it should be noted that Mercedes secured its constructor championship victory after Valtteri Bottas crossed the chequered flag at Suzuka Circuit, Japanese GP and Lewis Hamilton finished at third.

"I'm very happy. I had a really nice start. The pace was super good. I could control the race. I'm really proud to be part of the team. A sixth title is really impressive," Bottas said.

Hamilton congratulated the team and said, "So well deserved to win six years in a row. I just wanted to get the best points for the team today"

The next F1 race Mexican Grand Prix will take place Monday, October 28 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

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