I have waken up to this day three times. My first alarm was set at 3.50 am. All F1 action had been cancelled yesterday, because typhoon Hagabis had hit the Suzuka area on Saturday. Due to the typhoon, qualifying had been postponed to this morning. In spite of the qualifying taking place very early in the morning here in Finland, the qualifying turned out worth waking up for! Ferrari continued their superb performance, and once again Mercedes proved to be the underdog in terms of single-lap pace. Qualifying has been postponed to Sunday morning four times before this year, and there's an odd statistic involved with this procedure. Every time the qualifying has taken place on Sunday morning, there has always been a German driver on pole! And to my joy this year was no exception. Sebastian put together a perfect lap in Q3 and took his second pole of the season with a 0.189s-gap to his teammate. Sebastian's pole was the most perfect birthday present for me, although the official birthday is tomorrow. Mercedes had brought an upgrade package to Suzuka, but in spite of the new parts, they were unable to match the Red Team's pace. Bottas pipped his teammate, and the Silver Arrows had to settle for the second row. Red Bull's pace proved surprisingly tame; Verstappen and Albon set the exact same lap time, but as the Dutchman had set it first, he got P5 and Albon P6. McLaren proved the best of the midfield teams, and the orange cars locked down the fourth row.
My second alarm was set at 7.50 am, as the race start took place at 8.10 in the morning. The typhoon was gone, but the wind speed was still extremely high. Unfortunately pole-setter Sebastian screwed up the start. His Lina moved slightly before the lights had gone out, which cost him dearly. Bottas from P3 took a rocket start, and the Finn stormed into the lead. Charles' start was everything but smooth as well. The Monegasque's SF90 understeered going into Turn 1, which led into contact with Red Bull's Verstappen. Charles' front wing got bad damage, and Max spun and dropped down to the back of the pack. The left-hand side end plate of Charles' front wing was about to fly off, but Charles wanted to stay out, although the team told him to pit. Hamilton put intense pressure on Charles, who was in trouble with his damaged car. There was a close call, as the end plate and some other bits flew off from Charles' Ferrari in full speed. Some of that debris hit Hamilton's car, making Hamilton's right-hand side mirror to fly off. In the end, Charles had no option but to pit for a new nose cone. He also switched to the medium Pirellis, re-joining the track at the back of the field.
The stewards took Verstappen's and Leclerc's first-corner incident into investigation. Sebastian, too was taken into investigation for alleged false start, as his car had moved before the lights out. I was relieved to hear, that there was no penalty given for Sebastian, and that he got to keep his second place in the race! Verstappen, on the other hand, was forced to retire the race on lap 15. His RB15 had suffered too much damage due to the first-lap collision.
Sebastian pitted on lap 17, for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. This was a clear sign, that he was on a two-stop strategy. Race leader Bottas pitted on the following lap, opting for a fresh set of medium compound. This meant, that at least theoretically, the Finn could be on a one-stopper. The third free practice session had been cancelled, so tyre degradation was kind of a question mark for all teams. Initially, the team had planned a one-stop strategy for Hamilton, but it proved to be a no go. Hamilton's tyres were gone on lap 22, and the Briton had no chance but to pit for medium rubber, similar to his teammate. After the pit stops there was about a 10-second gap between the Mercedes teammates, and Hamilton questioned his strategy on the team radio. He asked, why the team hadn't put the hard tyres on his car. His race engineer answered, that the hard tyres hadn't seemed competitive on other cars. Charles pitted for the second time already on lap 27. He switched back to the softs.
Sebastian opened the second round of pit stops on lap 32. The German re-joined the track on fresh mediums, whilst the Mercedes aces opted for the softs for their last stint. After the pit stop roulette Bottas was still leading the race, with Sebastian second and Hamilton third. After the second pit stops Hamilton was literally flying, closing the gap to Sebastian radically. In spite of Ferrari's amazing single-lap pace, Mercedes still had the upper hand in terms of the race pace. Hamilton got within striking distance from Sebastian, but luckily the team told the German, that he was able to extract some extra power from his Lina to defend his position. Sebastian knew, what he had to do to keep Hamilton behind. Meanwhile, teammate Charles pitted for the third time already, and went for the fastest lap time. However, in spite of Charles having the fresh set of soft tyres, Hamilton snatched the fastest lap time under his belt.
Bottas took a sweeping victory, which was his first one since the Azerbaijan GP in April. In spite of the threat from Hamilton, Sebastian finished the runner-up. I don't know, whether Sebastian would have been able to take the victory, had he taken a dream start. I was so happy, that Sebastian drove a flawless race, in spite of the mistake at the start. He definitely drove his heart out, defending his second place like a lion. I was so proud of him and so happy to see him on the podium! Albon finished the race fourth for Red Bull, who were driving the home race of their engine supplier Honda. Sainz crossed the finish line in P5 for McLaren and Charles was able to fight it in P6 in the end. However, the young Monegasque was given penalties after the race. He was given a 5-second penalty for causing the collision in Turn 1 and an additional 10-second penalty for staying out on the severely damaged car, which caused danger to other drivers. The time penalties dropped Charles down to P7 in the final standings. On the other hand, Renault's Ricciardo, who was then promoted to P6, is also under investigation for a brake infringement.
By finishing P1 and P3, Mercedes secured their 6th consecutive constructors' title, which is a remarkable achievement indeed. It is also clear, that a Mercedes driver will win the drivers' world championship. It takes a miracle, if it will be Bottas, but the Finn still has a mathematical chance to take it. Now that all the pressure caused by the world titles is gone, Sebastian seems much more relaxed and comfortable in his Lina. I hope he keeps up this impressive work also in the last four races of the season! Forza Ferrari!
P.S. I woke up at two o'clock in the afternoon for the third time. I watched three episodes of Big Brother Finland and started to write my thoughts on the GP weekend :)
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