F1, Japanese GP: Valtteri Bottas fends off Sebastian Vettel

Japanese Grand Prix concluded its final on Sunday with Valtteri Bottas emerging victorious. Bottas mand to fend off a stiff challenge from Sebastian Vettel for a podium finish. Lewis Hamilton, champion of Russian Grand Prix and leader at World Drivers standing, finished third. Here are some key moments from race.

Mercedes wrap up Constructors Championship

Bottas and Hamilton securing a top 3 finish, sealed  constructors' title for Mercedes with four races to go. y have won a record 6th title in a row beating previous record set by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari from 2000 to 2004 and thus confirmed that this Mercedes team as greatest in F1 history.  result comes as a blow to Ferrari, however, as Vettel succumbed to a lockout handing over Mercedes title. Individual errors from both ir drivers, or one being Charles Leclerc cost Ferrari points as Vettel and Leclerc finished 2nd and 6th respectively. 

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Frustration for Hamilton

Hamilton was leading race with 11 laps to go when he was called for his second pit stop which ultimately resulted in Bottas winning with Vettel coming in second. Things might have been different for him had his first pit-stop timed a bit later in race as he was left with very few laps to close down gap. Hamilton was undoubtedly left frustrated with decision of his team which cost him 10 seconds. He expressed his anger to engineers, citing his ill-timed pit stop pitting him out of race before it ended.

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Vettel avoids penalty

Vettel's car had twitched forward before start lights were out, putting him in an instant investigation. Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen had got a penalty for a similar incident in Russia a month ago. Vettel, however, got car stopped again in time for official race to start and reby avoided being penalised. A statement released by F1A mentioned that  video showed some movement from Vettel, but that movement was within acceptable tolerance of F1 jump start system.

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Bottas wins big

Valtteri Bottas won Japanese GP over second-placed Vettel. This was 6th win for 30-year old and a much-needed one for him which comes after his last victory in Azerbaijan back in April. This means only Bottas can catch Hamilton in World Drivers Championship, 2019 with Bottas sitting at 274 points and Hamilton at 338 points. Up next is Mexican Grand Prix set for October 25, 2019.

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