The 2013 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 13 October 2013 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. The race was the fifteenth round of the 2013 season, and marked the 39th running of the Japanese Grand Prix. The race, contested over 53 laps, was won by Sebastian Vettel, driving a Red Bull after starting from second on the grid. Mark Webber, who started on pole position, settled for second after being forced to switch to a three stop strategy, which in the end was not successful. Romain Grosjean took his second podium in succession in third position for Lotus F1. This was Red Bull's 14th one-two finish in Formula One.

The result meant that the title was not sealed at Suzuka but Vettel could win the title with fifth place at the next race in India. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso stretched his lead to 30 points over Kimi Räikkönen but was still 90 behind Vettel's total. Räikkönen in turn also increased his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 16 points after the Briton retired from puncture damage after colliding with Vettel on lap one. The result also meant that only Alonso could deprive Vettel of becoming world champion as Hamilton and Räikkönen fell out of contention.

Report

Background Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its Orange-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the White-banded Medium compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre, as opposed to the previous year where hard and soft selection were provided. Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic were each given ten-place grid penalties after stewards found they had been speeding behind the safety car at the previous round in Korea. Both drivers were reprimanded for their actions, and automatically received a ten-place grid penalty as it was their third reprimand of the season.

Free practice Free Practice 1 saw Heikki Kovalainen drive for Caterham, in place of Charles Pic. The session was not without incident, as both Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) both went off at the exit of the second Degner corner. As a result of his accident, Bianchi was forced to sit out of Free Practice 2, while his car was repaired. Pastor Maldonado suffered a loose wheel up at Spoon Curve. Williams were later fined €60,000 for failing to attach the wheel properly. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the session, with teammate Nico Rosberg behind him.

Free Practice 2 saw Pastor Maldonado also going off at the second Degner corner, where he became stuck in the gravel. Sergio Pérez lost control of his McLaren going into Spoon, and slid backwards and made heavy contact with the tyre barrier. Fernando Alonso spun at the second Degner corner, but he was able to continue. Kimi Räikkönen spun into the gravel trap at the Dunlop corner and was forced to end his session. This time championship leader Sebastian Vettel finished the session fastest, with teammate Mark Webber behind him.

Qualifying In a first, Charles Pic was given a drive-through penalty for leaving the pits when the red light was displayed at the pit exit during qualifying. The penalty was to be served during the first five laps of the race.

Race

At the start, Romain Grosjean made a superb start to lead into the first corner, behind him there was drama with Sebastian Vettel making contact with Lewis Hamilton causing the latter to have a puncture, also there was a collision between the Marussia of Jules Bianchi and the Caterham of Giedo van der Garde sending both cars into the barriers at the first corner, fortunately both cars were removed quickly so no safety car was needed. Hamilton pitted to change his punctured tyre but retired on lap 7 with floor damage. Grosjean led until the pit stops but careful tyre management from Vettel during the second phase of the race meant he was able to pass Grosjean and go on to win the race. On the penultimate lap Mark Webber then caught and passed Grosjean to make it a Red Bull 1–2, with Grosjean having to settle for 3rd. Fernando Alonso claimed 4th with Nico Hülkenberg in fifth. Kimi Räikkönen managed 6th although he was some 40 seconds behind his teammate Grosjean. Esteban Gutierrez had the strongest race of his career with 7th beating Nico Rosberg who had to serve a drive through penalty for an unsafe release in the pits.

Classification

Qualifying Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 1 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:32.271 1:31.513 1:30.915 1 2 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:32.397 1:31.290 1:31.089 2 3 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.340 1:31.636 1:31.253 3 4 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:31.824 1:31.565 1:31.365 4 5 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.994 1:31.668 1:31.378 5 6 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:32.244 1:31.764 1:31.397 6 7 11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1:32.465 1:31.848 1:31.664 7 8 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:32.371 1:31.828 1:31.665 8 9 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:32.377 1:31.662 1:31.684 9 10 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.606 1:31.838 1:31.827 10 11 6 Sergio Pérez McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.718 1:31.989 11 12 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:32.286 1:31.992 12 13 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:32.613 1:32.013 13 14 12 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:32.673 1:32.063 14 15 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:32.875 1:32.093 15 16 19 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:32.804 1:32.485 16 17 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.890 22 18 18 Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.357 17 19 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1:34.320 18 20 20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1:34.556 20 21 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:34.879 19 22 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1:34.958 21 107% time: 1:38.251 Source: Notes:  — Adrian Sutil received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. However, he chose to be demoted two-five places for causing a deliberate accident at the previous race.  — Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi received ten-place grid penalties for receiving three reprimands over the season. However, due to Sutil's grid penalty Pic and Bianchi were promoted to 20th and 21st respectively.

Race Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 53 1:26:49.301 2 25 2 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 53 +7.129 1 18 3 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 53 +9.910 4 15 4 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 53 +45.605 8 12 5 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 53 +47.325 9 10 6 11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 53 +51.615 7 8 7 12 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 53 +1:11.630 14 6 8 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 +1:12.023 6 4 9 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 53 +1:20.821 10 2 10 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 53 +1:29.263 5 1 11 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 53 +1:38.572 12 12 18 Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 +1 Lap 17 13 19 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 +1 Lap 16 14 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 52 +1 Lap 22 15 6 Sergio Pérez McLaren-Mercedes 52 +1 Lap 11 16 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 52 +1 Lap 15 17 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 52 +1 Lap 13 18 20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 52 +1 Lap 20 19 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 52 +1 Lap 18 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 7 Collision damage 3 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 0 Collision 19 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 0 Collision 21 Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Sebastian Vettel* 297 2 Fernando Alonso* 207 3 Kimi Räikkönen 177 4 Lewis Hamilton 161 5 Mark Webber 148Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Red Bull-Renault* 445 2 Ferrari* 297 3 Mercedes* 287 4 Lotus-Renault 264 5 McLaren-Mercedes 83Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text and an asterisk shows drivers or teams that still had a mathematical chance of winning the championship.

References

External links