The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 5 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie. It was the 15th race of the 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the 30th Formula One Japanese Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 44-lap race starting from second position. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, finished second and Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel was third. It was Hamilton's eighth victory of the season and the 30th of his Formula One career.
Going into the race, Hamilton led Rosberg by three championship points in the World Drivers' Championship and their team led the World Constructors' Championship by 174 championship points over Red Bull. Heavy rain from Typhoon Phanfone made the track surface wet and reduced visibility. Starting from behind the safety car, the race was stopped after two laps and resumed 20 minutes later. Rosberg immediately blocked a pass by Hamilton heading into the first corner. His car then experienced oversteer, and Hamilton reduced the time deficit between them. Hamilton challenged Rosberg for the lead over the next four laps, before overtaking him on the 29th lap and pulling away.
The race was scheduled to run for 53 laps, but was brought to an end on the 46th lap (with the result taken at the end of lap 44) after an accident involving Jules Bianchi. Bianchi lost control of his Marussia at the Dunlop Curve on the 43rd lap and collided with a tractor crane that was tending to Adrian Sutil's Sauber, which had spun off on the previous lap. Bianchi sustained severe head injuries in the accident, from which he died in France on 17 July 2015, thus becoming the first driver to die as a result of injuries sustained in a Formula One race since Ayrton Senna in 1994. The accident prompted Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to investigate the incident with a ten-person panel in which it was determined there was no single cause that prompted the crash. The investigation led to the virtual safety car (VSC) being introduced from the 2015 season onwards.
The victory allowed Hamilton to increase his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to ten championship points over Rosberg, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant third. Mercedes extended their advantage over Red Bull in the World Constructors' Championship, and Williams remained ahead of Ferrari in the battle for third place with four races left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was the 15th of the 19 races of the 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the 30th running of the event as part of the Formula One World Championship. It was held on 5 October at the 18-turn Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie. The event's official name was the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, and it was scheduled to last 53 laps over a distance of .
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four types of tyre to the race: two dry compounds (the white-banded medium "options" and the orange-banded hard "primes") and two wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet). The drag reduction system (DRS) had one activation zone for the race, on the straight linking the final and first corners. The circuit underwent changes following the previous year's race; parts of the track between the 14th and 15th turns were resurfaced, TecPro barriers were installed on the inside after the exit of turn 15 and lamp posts near debris fences outside turns 13 and 14 were moved back.
Going into the race, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship with 241 championship points, three ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg, with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo third with 181. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was fourth with 133, followed by Ricciardo's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 124. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship with 479 championship points, having won 11 of the previous 14 races of the season, while Red Bull were second with 305 championship points, having won the other three races; they were followed by Williams (187), Ferrari (178) and Force India (117). Mercedes had to outscore Red Bull by 41 championship points to clinch the Constructors' title in Japan.
Despite reclaiming the Drivers' Championship lead at the preceding , Hamilton said that he was not relieved because of the closeness of the race. He said that he would take Rosberg's race-by-race approach and was happy to be performing well. Hamilton, who had yet to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, aimed for a victory at the circuit. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that the championship was out of their reach, although he hoped further reliability problems with the Mercedes cars would prolong the battle. Horner ruled out team orders favouring one driver over the other. Rosberg said he was looking forward to the race, and his car's speed gave him hope for a good result.
Typhoon Phanfone, classified as a category-four storm, was forecast to make landfall over the eastern Japanese coast on race day with heavy rain and winds of up to . Although the storm was predicted to miss Suzuka, heavy rain from its northern edge was expected to drench the circuit. The , scheduled for the following week, made it impossible for the Japanese Grand Prix to be postponed until Monday due to freight schedules to Russia for the teams' equipment. Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Formula One's commercial rights, raised the possibility of moving up the start time, but later said that the event would proceed as planned. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) race director, Charlie Whiting, suggested to race organisers that the start time be moved and warned them that the race would not take place unless it was declared safe, but they refused. Honda, the owners of the track, reportedly rejected the start time change to allow spectators to arrive at Suzuka in time for the start. Whiting was also overruled by senior FIA officials, who opposed the disruption of the event's worldwide television coverage.
There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two race drivers for the event and two free practice session participants. Red Bull selected Formula Three driver Max Verstappen to replace Jean-Éric Vergne to test him as part of his preparation for a full-time seat at Toro Rosso in the season. Aged 17 years and three days, Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. Caterham confirmed that Roberto Merhi would replace Marcus Ericsson, and Kamui Kobayashi would drive in the race. Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Will Stevens was announced as participating in the first practice session in Max Chilton's car, but a problem with paperwork sent to the FIA Contract Recognition Board due to an industrial action in Germany prevented him from driving.
Practice
There were three practice sessions – two on Friday and a third on Saturday – preceding Sunday's race. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted 90 minutes each; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning. Mercedes conducted race simulations to see how the cars would behave with a heavy fuel load. Rosberg was fastest in the first practice session with a lap time of 1:35.461, ahead of teammate Hamilton in second. Alonso was third-fastest, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Räikkönen, Kevin Magnussen, Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Vettel and Daniil Kvyat. Verstappen's run ended early when he pulled over to the side of the track at the S curves with smoke billowing from his engine because of a broken exhaust valve, while Merhi spun at turn 13, causing Bottas to swerve to avoid him.
In the second session, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day at 1:35.078. Rosberg, Bottas, Button, Vettel, Räikkönen, Alonso, Magnussen, Kvyat and Ricciardo completed the top ten. Some cars went off the track; Ricciardo disrupted the session for eight minutes when an oversteer sent him into a barrier at turn 18. Kobayashi lost control of the rear of his Caterham at turn three, damaging his rear suspension and front wing, while Vergne stopped his car on the back straight after exiting the Spoon Curve with a fuel pump problem. Esteban Gutiérrez later lost control of his Sauber entering the Spoon Curve and crashed into a tyre barrier. Vergne stopped a second time with an electrical problem after exiting turn 14; this resulted in a second red flag stopping the session early due to limited time available. Rosberg recorded the fastest lap of the third session at 1:33.228, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. Felipe Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Vergne, Kvyat and Button occupied positions four through ten. Hamilton drove quickly into the first turn but ran wide onto a run-off area and collided with a tyre barrier, damaging the left front quarter of his car. Gutiérrez lost control of his car's rear at the exit of turn 15 but avoided a crash.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect during this part, requiring drivers to set a time within 107 per cent of the fastest lap in order to qualify. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final session lasted 12 minutes and determined pole position to tenth. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Rosberg set the fastest time in the second and third sessions to clinch his eighth pole position of the season, the twelfth of his career with a lap of 1:32.506. He was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton, who missed out on pole position when, on his final lap, he hit the chicane curb before accelerating too fast into the final corner. Williams teammates Bottas and Massa qualified third and fourth, and Alonso and Ricciardo took fifth and sixth. Magnussen, whose mistakes on his quickest timed lap cost him time, took seventh. His McLaren teammate, Button, secured eighth and locked one of his tyres—flat-spotting it and slowing him. Vettel, struggling on corners due partially to Red Bull's use of wet tyres, took ninth. Räikkönen was tenth, encountering problems with his car's balance which prevented him from pushing.
Vergne was the fastest driver not to advance into the final session. Because his team had changed his engine, he received a ten-place grid penalty, his sixth of the season. This promoted Force India's Sergio Pérez to 11th position; he had encountered slower cars entering the final chicane, which forced him to slow and lose brake and tyre temperature. Kvyat's final timed lap was disrupted by slower cars; when he entered the first corner his tyres had not reached their optimum temperature, compromising his run and leaving him 12th. Nico Hülkenberg qualified 13th in the other Force India car after he locked his tyres at the final chicane. Adrian Sutil progressed to the second session after making balance set-up changes, and took 14th in its closing seconds; his Sauber teammate, Gutiérrez, struggled with tyre temperature and was delayed by traffic on his out-lap, leaving him 15th. Pastor Maldonado failed to advance beyond the first qualifying session, but Lotus installed a new engine (his sixth of the year) in his E22 chassis on Friday morning. Like Vergne, he incurred a ten-place grid penalty (carried over to the next race because he qualified within the top-ten bottom positions). His teammate, Romain Grosjean, took over 16th position and aimed to qualify higher; however, a change in wind direction prevented him from recording a faster lap time. Ericsson and Jules Bianchi started from 17th and 18th, with Kobayashi 19th and Vergne 20th. Chilton lost control of his Marussia's rear, causing him to start 21st.
Qualifying classification