Japanese GP: Bottas finishes 5th for Williams Martini

Qualifying for the Williams Martini team had seen Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa start the fifty three lap 2015 Japanese GP from third and fifth. Of the grid only Button would start the race on the hard tyre while those outside the top ten hd the luxury of starting on used rather than used option medium tyres. Kvyat would start the race from the pit lane after his car had to be rebuilt. The grid would form uip and with the lights going out it would be Hamilton leading while Rosberg would go off at Turn two and drop to fourth. Felipe would be seen limping back to the pits with damage to his car. Vettel was up to second while replays had shown Felipe and Ricciardo making contact with both cars having to make it back to the pits. Felipe would get a new nose coming back out a lap down.

Perez had also gone off at Turn one while it was shown that Ricciardo had tried to squeeze between Raikkonen and Felipe and ran out of space. Perez would also pit coming back out a the rear of the field. Felipe had a front puncture and when he stopped he would take on new hard tyres. While all this was taking place Hamilton was leading comfortably from Vettel, Valtteri, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Sainz, and Ericsson tenth. It was shown that Perez had made contact with another car and was shot off the track and into the gravel, but he was able to continue.

By lap ten Hamilton was now leading by 6.5 seconds over Vettel while Valtteri had dropped away from Vettel. Valtteri would pit on lap twelve joined by Grosjean. The order was now Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Maldonado, and Sainz in sixth. Maldonado would pit the next lap seeing Sainz now fifth and Valtteri sixth. Lap fourteen and Vettel would pit seeing Hamilton and Rosberg leading the field. At the rear of the field were Ricciardo and Felipe. Sainz was now fifth with Vettel fourth. Raikkonen and Sainz would pit on lap fifteen. This would see Vettel third and Valtteri fourth. Hulkenberg had been able to get past the Lotus pair after the first pit stops. Lap sixteen and Rosberg would pit seeing Vettel and Valtteri second and third. In his stop Valtteri had taken on medium tyres while others would take the hard.

Hamilton was leading Vettel by 28.1 seconds and was told to pit. He would come in on lap seventeen. Hamilton would also take on a new set of mediums as he came back out still in the lead over Vettel by 6.7 seconds. Rosberg was now in third and Valtteri fourth after Rosberg was able to pass Valtteri at the chicane. Grosjean and Maldonado were seventh and eighth with Hulkenberg sixth. Sainz had dropped to ninth while at the front Hamilton would set a lap time that was 1.2 seconds faster than Vettel. Felipe had pitted again taking on the option tyre but was running last. Lap nineteen and Hamilton was leading by 10.0 seconds. In third Rosberg was starting to close the gap to the Ferrari. Lap twenty one and it was 1.9 seconds. Valtteri was 5.2 seconds behind Rosberg losing time to the hard tyre shod Rosberg.

Raikkonen was now closing onto Valtteri with the gap just 0.6 seconds. Alonso was now in tenth but had Verstappen was right behind him. Both of the Manor cars were now a lap down with Stevens ahead of Rossi. Raikkonen was running close behind Valtteri but was not able to pass. Lap twenty six and Hamilton was now leading by 13.7 seconds over Vettel, Rosberg, Valtteri, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Maldonado, Sainz and Verstappen. Verstappen had finally being able to get past Alonso. This would see Alonso and Button eleventh and twelfth. Lap twenty eight and Sainz would pit from ninth with the team having to replace his front wing causing a delay in the pits. Button would also come in while at the front Raikkonen would pit on lap twenty nine. He would take on another set of hard tyres looking to do the undercut with the Williams of Valtteri.

Lap thirty and Rosberg would also pit with Valtteri also coming in. Valtteri would switch to the hard tyre coming out in eighth. Lap thirty one and second placed Vettel would pit seeing Hamilton and Rosberg second and third. Valtteri would pass Maldonado for seventh with Vettel back out on hard tyres running third. Lap thirty two and Hamilton would pit taking on new hard tyres returning in the lead with Rosberg 9.5 seconds behind his team-mate. Hulkenberg had pitted and was currently eighth. Hamilton would respond with some very quick laps, 1m:36.145, on his first flying lap of this stint. The gap to Rosberg was out to 10.7s. Vettel was third and Raikkonen fourth while Valtteri was running in fifth. Grosjean would pit on lap thirty five coming out in eighth. Team-mate Maldonado was now sixth but he would pit on lap thirty seven. Perez would also pit from tenth coming back out in thirteenth.

Valtteri was told "almost no threat behind" and that he is likely to finish where he is in
fifth. Valtteri was 4.1 seconds behind Raikkonen. Sainz and Verstappen were ninth and tenth while for Lotus Grosjean and Maldonado were seventh and eighth. There were just ten laps remaining in the race with Valtteri fifth and Felipe eighteenth. Verstappen would pass Sainz at the chicane taking ninth. At the front Hamilton continued to lead Rosberg by 17.8 seconds. Vettel was still third having been unable to close the gap to Rosberg. Raikkonen was fourth followed by Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Maldonado, Verstappen and Sainz. Hamilton would start his last lap and would easily take victory in the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix. Rosberg and Vettel would complete the podium positions.

Another points scoring finish for Williams but for the Williams team Japan was a race that again promised a lot but delivered only a handful of points. Felipe's race was ruined before the first corner while for Valtteri he really did not have the pace in the race to challenge for a podium finish. Felipe would finish in seventeenth on a day where he must have hoped fro a far better result.