Sebastian Vettel expects close fight with Lewis Hamilton at Suzuka

Sebastian Vettel says he took an extra risk in the final part of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix because of Valtteri Bottas’s grid penalty, but it “didn’t work”.

“The next challenge comes in the form of Suzuka, a circuit which will ask very different questions of our vehicle than Sepang”, said Wolff referring to the Japanese track where Mercedes haven’t been beaten for the last three years. Bottas finished second and Vettel was third. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will start from the back of the grid.

“It has been an interesting day, said Hamilton“.

“It’s not done until there’s nowhere left to push it basically”, added Hamilton, who has won seven of the 15 races so far this year. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) – 247 (-34) 3.

That meant that the drivers in the drop zone were suddenly robbed of the chance to improve their standings – and Lewis Hamilton, who had never previously been on pole here, stayed in P1.

“The last race the auto was a disaster, so second place was not too bad”, Hamilton said.

Vettel, also on the super softs, did a 1:28.482.

“I have been here a long time, I don’t know how many more I have left in me but this has been a strong season in terms of qualifying – all my laps were bang on the mark”. The world champion responded with a faster time of 1m29.047s.

Q1 was red-flagged with just over a minute remaining when Romain Grosjean suffered a nasty shunt that he was thankfully able to walk away from.

World championship leader Hamilton went fastest in that session, setting a time of one minute, 48.719 seconds, kicking up a dense mist of spray as he toured the circuit, almost 20 seconds off Vettel’s morning best on a dry track.

Sauber drivers Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the order, but will gain positions on the grid due to the litany of penalties that have already been awarded. That penalty will elevate Ferrari’s Vettel one place after he set the third fastest time – 0.140s off Bottas’ time and 0.472s off Hamilton’s benchmark.

The five drivers who were eliminated at the end of Q2 were: Vandoorne, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Palmer and Sainz.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who overtook Hamilton easily early on to win the race in Malaysia, is sixth in the standings and will be looking to build on his momentum in Japan.

Hamilton started Q3, followed by the rest of the field except for Alonso. All three sessions were filled with drivers locking up and running wide as they continued to explore the limits. Bottas initially set the pace on 1m27.986s but Hamilton beat that after his first lap.

The arrival of heavier rain in the final 10 minutes ensured Vettel’s time would go unchallenged in the closing stages.