Nico Rosberg capped off the weekend in style. In the build up to the Grand Prix, drivers participate in three practice sessions followed by a qualifying session, which decides the grid position of the drivers before the Grand Prix. Not only did Rosberg lead all the sessions, but also went off to win the Grand Prix on Sunday. Every year 11 constructors battle it out, with two drivers representing each constructor. A total of 21 Grand Prix are held every year. With nine wins this season, Rosberg leads Lewis Hamilton by 33 points now, with four races still to go. His brilliant drive took him a step closer to the championship. Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate Hamilton managed to finish on the podium despite having a poor start. With both drivers in the top three, Mercedes Benz sealed the Constructor’s Championship for a third time in a row.
The Suzuka circuit has been recognized over the years for its narrow track and unpredictable weather. With the sad death of Jules Bianchi during a qualifying accident in the year 2014, the circuit is known for being dangerous. It is also considered the home circuit for Honda. McLaren Honda was surely looking to be in the points table on Sunday. However, considering the poor qualifying result, they changed the engine unit of Jenson Button’s car, thus incurring a 25 place grid penalty. The grid penalty meant that he started behind all the drivers, crashing all hopes of a points finish, much to the dismay of the Honda fans.
After the qualifying session, the front lineup consisted of the Mercedes duo, Rosberg and Hamilton, followed by the Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen, however, had to go for a gearbox change. For every six races, the cars are supposed to use the same gearbox, but with the change in gearbox, Raikkonen had to incur a five place grid penalty. Hence, he started from the eighth grid position, giving way to nineteen year old prodigy Max Verstappen into the fourth grid position. Verstappen took complete advantage of the new position, and managed to get behind Rosberg as soon as the race set pace. Hamilton, on the other hand, suffered from a terrible start and dropped six places behind Raikkonen. Hamilton later tried to pick up pace, but as he got past Nico Hulkenberg for seventh place in the fifth lap, Rosberg already seemed to be beyond his grasp with a sixteen second lead.
Although he was criticized for his poor start, Hamilton showed immense character to catch up again. He managed his tires well early on and jumped over Raikkonen and Perez in the first round of pit stops by prolonging his stint on the first pair of tires. He was able to squeeze more laps using the same tires, maintaining the same lap time, which helped him save time in the long run. He got past Daniel Ricciardo and
Felipe Massa soon after. With Vettel ahead next, he beat him at the second round of pit stops. Vettel went on a softer version of tire which provides more grip, improving vehicle performance, but was still not able to catch up with the speeding Mercedes. Hamilton closed in on Verstappen soon enough using the drag reduction system (DRS). The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile has introduced DRS in order to aid vehicle overtaking in Formula 1. It allows a rear wing adjustment from the driver at pre-defined points in the circuit, which helps the car move at speeds faster than normal once it is in overtaking range of the vehicle ahead. Hamilton with his aggressive style of driving, made complete use of it and tried getting past Verstappen whenever possible. Verstappen, however, remarkably hung on to his place, using the Energy Recovery System (ERS) efficiently. ERS is the Formula 1 version of regenerative braking that we see in modern day cars such as Tesla. ERS harnesses energy not only from the kinetic energy lost during braking, but also recovers waste heat. Every time it seemed like Hamilton was close enough to overtake, Verstappen magically pulled away from him, thanks to ERS. The closest Hamilton got to beating Verstappen was in the last lap. However, Verstappen managed to veer him off the track, causing Hamilton to settle for the third position. As Verstappen blocked Hamilton from moving ahead, it also ensured Rosberg’s win who went cruising to the finish line. The next race is in Texas on Oct. 23. Rosberg will be looking forward to the upcoming race and will be hoping to win the championship here, just as Hamilton did a year ago.
