2018 Japanese GP Race report: Kimi P5, Sebastian P6. Race Results – 2018 Japanese Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton has won the Japanese Prix and has extended his championship lead to 67 points as his championship rival Sebastian Vettel was in the wars with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Hamilton dominated the race from start to finish, converting his pole position from Saturday into victory. The Briton inches ever closer to a fifth world championship while Mercedes took maximum points, with Valtteri Bottas coming home in second place.

Bottas managed to hold off Verstappen for second after the Dutchman applied the pressure in the final stages of the race. The 21-year-old took his third podium in five races despite being handed a five second time penalty in during the race.

At the end of the first lap Verstappen locked up heading into the final chicane and ran wide. He made slight contact with Kimi Raikkonen as he rejoined the track allowing Vettel to pass his teammate who was pushed slightly wide by the Red Bull. He was awarded a five-second time penalty for the incident, which he served at his pit stop.

It wasn’t too long before Verstappen became involved with a Ferrari again after he and Vettel came together on lap 10. Vettel attempted to overtake the former Toro Rosso driver heading into the Spoon curve but instead hit the side of Verstappen’s car which sent the German spinning out.

Vettel managed to recover and cut his way through the field to finish in suxth place. He ended up behind former teammate Daniel Ricciardo who finished in fourth despite starting the race from fifteenth on the grid, and teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

		Driver	Team	Difference	#
1.		Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1h28	53
2.		Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+ 12.919	53
3.		Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+ 14.295	53
4.		Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	+ 19.495	53
5.		Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+ 50.998	53
6.		Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 69.873	53
7.		Sergio Perez	Racing Point Force India	+ 79.379	53
8.		Romain Grosjean	Haas F1	+ 87.198	53
9.		Esteban Ocon	Racing Point Force India	+ 88.055	53
10.		Carlos Sainz jr	Renault		52
11.		Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso		52
12.		Marcus Ericsson	Sauber		52
13.		Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso		52
14.		Fernando Alonso	McLaren		52
15.		Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren		52
16.		Sergey Sirotkin	Williams		52
17.		Lance Stroll	Williams		52
Did not finish
18.		Charles Leclerc	Sauber		38
19.		Nico Hülkenberg	Renault		37
20.		Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1		8