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Japanese GP Driver Ratings

Rating those who really did have an F1 Super Sunday - and those who had one to forget; PLUS: Vote in the head-to-head poll below for your most impressive Suzuka performer at each team!

Valtteri Bottas

Qualified 3rd, Finished 1st

A performance that Valtteri Bottas has been waiting for, evoking memories from the start of the season when he was a more consistent challenger to Lewis Hamilton.

Of the five sessions that did take place before the race, P1-P2 and Q1-Q3, Bottas was the quicker Mercedes in four of them, ultimately qualifying ahead of Hamilton for the first time in six races. He put that small start advantage to good use when he burst past the faltering Ferraris off the line and looked very comfortable once in a leading position. A one-stopper from his team-mate might have complicated matters but Hamilton did stop twice too and, in any case, Toto Wolff made clear "we are not playing team-mates against each other with race strategy".

"Suzuka has always been my favourite track even though I've never been particularly strong here - but now I like this track even more. It's been a while since my last victory, I missed that winning feeling," said the Finn of his third win of 2019 and the sixth of his career.

Mercedes explain '50-50' Hamilton call
Leclerc's double penalty loses position

To his credit, Bottas has only dropped two points to Hamilton since the summer break - his championship deficit was 62 points after Hungary and it's 64 now - and will hope his results keep his team-mate waiting for the crown at least a little longer than Mexico next week.
Rating out of ten: 9

Sebastian Vettel

Qualified 1st, Finished 2nd

A win that got away for Sebastian Vettel or one where second place between what appeared to be two faster Mercedes' was actually a strong result? Had he not started from the very front then the latter judgement would certainly have been obvious, but the impressive nature of the German's return to pole position just hours ahead of the race had raised expectations that he was in line for a fifth Suzuka win.

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Vettel scuppered his clearest route to victory by rolling before the lights, with the lost momentum/concentration meaning he was immediately overtaken from behind by Bottas. Saying that, losing just one position was probably fortunate in itself given the "really poor start" from pole.

He couldn't keep up with the lead Mercedes from there, but was canny enough to keep his tyres in for the race's closing laps to keep the other Silver Arrow of Hamilton at bay. After so many questions about his status within Ferrari recently, there was at least no question about the identity of the Scuderia's fastest driver at Suzuka.
Rating out of ten: 8

Lewis Hamilton

Qualified 4th, Finished 3rd

Winning from fourth at Suzuka was always going to be a tall order and, as it turned out, it was Bottas who really opened up the opportunity to become the first row-two Suzuka victor at the start. Despite winning at this track on four occasions, Hamilton says the figure-of-eight circuit isn't one of his very best and Bottas did hold the edge on him throughout Friday and then again when it mattered most in qualifying.

It was a strong race-day drive from the world champion, although a longer first stint ultimately neither opened up into a one-stopper or got him ahead of Vettel. Still, while his points lead may have been reduced by nine heading to Mexico, that sixth Drivers' Championship is, in reality, getting ever closer for Hamilton as the contenders drop out and the races run out. He's also just become the second driver after Michael Schumacher to be part of six constructors' championship successes with one team.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

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A Sky F1 must-watch: Good friends and racing rivals Alex Albon and George Russell compare their laps - and lines! - at the end of their debut Suzuka experiences

Alexander Albon

Qualified 6th, Finished 4th

Matching team-mate Max Verstappen's qualifying lap probably represented the most significant moment of Alex Albon's debut Suzuka weekend. Yes, fourth place in the race was his best F1 result so far, but his Red Bull bosses will probably be most encouraged by that earlier Sunday morning Q3 pace when he appeared to extract the maximum out of the RB15.

The race was a little more difficult, with his eventual 59-second deficit to the front not helped by a bad start when he dropped behind both McLarens. He overtook Lando Norris with a robust but, as judged by the stewards, fair move down the inside at the chicane and then won out on strategy and superior car pace against Carlos Sainz. "This weekend has definitely felt like my best with the team," said Albon, who now has five successive top-six finishes under his belt since stepping up from Toro Rosso two months ago.
Rating out of ten: 8

Carlos Sainz

Qualified 7th, Finished 5th

There were four groups of cars in the Japanese GP - the front runners, the midfield, the backmarkers and, nestled impressively between the first two of those, the group of one featuring fifth-placed Carlos Sainz. McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl described it as "a sensational drive" - the fifth time Sainz has finished in the top six in the last eight races - as he came home ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari on the road and a long way clear of Daniel Ricciardo's Renault.

One of the growing contenders for 2019's driver of the season is now ahead of Pierre Gasly for sixth in the Drivers' Championship too, with the promise of more strong results to come before his maiden McLaren season is out.
Rating out of ten: 9.5

Daniel Ricciardo

Qualified 16th, Finished 6th

Talk about a Super Sunday of two halves. Daniel Ricciardo's weekend's had again threatened to be headed for the file marked 'forgettable' after problems at the rear of his Renault helped knock him out in Q1. But if there's one thing you should never do with F1's Honey Badger - and, more pertinently, one of it's most accomplished overtakers - is underestimate his powers of recovery.

That was certainly underlined at Suzuka. Ricciardo was in the points by lap seven, didn't pit until lap 29 and then went on a late overtaking spree to pass a compliant team-mate, Perez, Stroll and Gasly. Leclerc's double post-race time penalty then gave Ricciardo an extra bonus place to cap what, in the end, was a performance to remember.
Rating out of ten: 8

Charles Leclerc

Qualified 2nd, Finished 7th

The damage to Charles Leclerc's weekend was done long before the stewards penalised him to the tune of 15 seconds in the hours after the race for two infringements related to his second-corner clash with Max Verstappen.

In comparison to all the other race weekends since the summer break, Suzuka was a relative struggle for Leclerc with Vettel re-emerging here as Ferrari's leading performer. As we've come to learn this year, Leclerc is his own harshest-critic so you can expect a response from him in Mexico and the USA to re-establish that Spa through Sochi momentum.
Rating out of ten: 5.5

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Pierre Gasly

Qualified 9th, Finished 8th

Whether or not he's simply more in tune with Toro Rosso's car than he was with Red Bull's, Pierre Gasly is doing exactly what he needs to do to rebuild his confidence and reputation following his summer demotion. Qualifying and finishing in the top 10 here was an impressive feat, particularly as the Frenchman battled against car handling problems in the race.

As Toro Rosso chief Franz Tost explained: "He was able to get the maximum out of the car, especially considering that we detected a problem on his suspension, which made his car more difficult to drive. Pierre had to be very careful - especially on the last laps - not to lose the rear, but he managed it in a professional way, showing very good car control." Sergio Perez was less happy with Gasly's car control in the last-lap clash which sent the Racing Point driver into the barriers, but the stewards saw it more 50-50 and so took no action.
Rating out of ten: 8

Sergio Perez

Qualified 17th, Finished 9th

How do you finish the race in the wall and still end up scoring points? Sergio Perez could thank a glitch in F1's electronic chequered flag system for erasing lap 53 from the 2019 Japanese GP, meaning his clash with Gasly didn't actually matter. In truth, that meeting with the barriers had been an unfortunate end to what had been a fine drive from Perez after a surprise Q1 exit earlier on Sunday had left him with it all to do to get back into the points.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

Nico Hulkenberg

Qualified 15th, Finished 10th

"It was an amazing recovery from this morning where our qualifying wasn't so good," said Nico Hulkenberg, who had only fared slightly better than Ricciardo on Sunday morning before a far-more competitive race performance. He was still the lead Renault, running in ninth with 10 laps to go before his team-mate, on much fresher tyres, and Perez moved ahead. He finished 11th, but was back into the points when the result was redeclared a lap early. Still without a drive for 2020, but Hulkenberg extends his points-scoring sequence to five races - his best run since 2017-18.
Rating out of ten: 7

Out of the points

One Racing Point profited from the chequered-flag glitch, but the other didn't, as Lance Stroll was reclassified in 11th place once his team-mate was reinstated in ninth. A one-stopper didn't quite work out for the Canadian, who had run eighth into the final 10 laps. A shame for him given a strong qualifying performance relative to Perez.
Rating out of ten: 6.5

Lapping nearly seven tenths of a second slower than his Toro Rosso team-mate, Gasly, in Q2 really proved Daniil Kvyat's undoing at Suzuka. He knew it too. "Starting the race from P14 was not ideal and I knew it was going to be tricky," said the Russian. "I feel like the race itself was strong, and even if we lost a couple of places at the start, from then on it was a solid recovery. We will need to work in order to improve our qualifying." Since Gasly joined him from Spa, the Saturday score is 4-1 in the Frenchman's favour.
Rating out of ten: 6.5

It was on lap four when Lando Norris, running well in seventh position, was forced to pit a long way out of sequence when debris from Leclerc's Ferrari lodged itself in the McLaren's right-brake duct. "In the chaos, I collected some debris in the brakes, which meant I had to box really early on and then the rest was pretty straightforward." Returning in last place, he fought back to 13th.
Rating out of ten: 7

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A brief look back at the 2019 Japanese GP as Valtteri Bottas ended his six-month wait for a GP win as Mercedes clinched their sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship.

The point-less run goes on for Kimi Raikkonen, who has remained stuck on 31 championship points since the start of August. "We always do all we can to bring home a good result and in the end the car was pretty good on the last set of tyres," said Raikkonen, who spent the last 15 laps on softs. "We were running three, four seconds faster than earlier in the race, but unfortunately by then we had lost a lot of time and our afternoon was compromised." 14th from 13th on the grid was far from ideal.
Rating out of ten: 6

A familiar tale for a Haas driver this season. Romain Grosjean made Q3 but finished the race well outside the points with the VF-19 not having anywhere near the same level of competitive pace over the long race distance as it does the shorter qualifying one. Losing four places on lap one complicated matters early on for Grosjean.
Rating out of ten: 6.5

Antonio Giovinazzi has had Raikkonen's number more often than not in qualifying recently and came within a tenth of putting one Alfa Romeo in Q3. Sunday afternoon was a different story though, with the Italian overtaken by Raikkonen in the closing laps.
Rating out of ten: 6

Kevin Magnussen knew he was in for an even longer Sunday than scheduled after he crashed within minutes of Robert Kubica at the same spot in Q1 as the wind whipped around Suzuka. A brilliant start to the race saw him gain six positions - including one from Grosjean, who had started 10th - but he fell steadily backwards from there.
Rating out of ten: 5

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Kevin Magnussen spins out into the wall at the same corner as Robert Kubica earlier in qualifying.

As shown in his SkyPad appearance alongside Albon on Friday, George Russell enjoyed his Suzuka debut, despite his car's limitations, and nearly took the scalp of Perez in Q1. But brake issues on the Williams made it an "incredibly tricky" race for the rookie, who dropped out before the end but was still classified 18th.
Rating out of ten: 7

Nine years on from what will stand as one of his finest F1 qualifying performances at Suzuka, when he took his Renault to fourth, Robert Kubica didn't get the chance for what might be one final flat-out lap around the famous figure-of-eight circuit when he crashed in Q1. The best news from there was that he at least got to race and finish. "The guys have done another amazing job, they are a really great group of people," said Kubica of his Williams crew. "I really appreciate their work, not only today but throughout the season."
Rating out of ten: 5

Did Not Finish

"Irresponsible" was Max Verstappen's verdict on Charles Leclerc's driving into Suzuka's second corner after the Ferrari slid into him, spun him around and damaged his Red Bull. Verstappen pitted for repairs but Red Bull called a halt on lap 15 owing to excessive damage. Will Mexico, the scene of back-to-back Verstappen wins, now offer some late-season cheer?
Rating out of ten: 6.5

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