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The 2013 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2013 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was the fifteenth round of the 2013 Formula One Season. It was the 29th running of the Japanese Grand Prix as a round in the championship and the 25th at Suzuka. It took place over the weekend of 11–13 October 2013.

Mark Webber took pole position ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who suffered from KERS issues.

In the race, Vettel won, with Webber second. Romain Grosjean, who took the lead at the start from fourth on the grid, came third.


Background[]

The Suzuka circuit is unchanged for this year's event, with one DRS zone planned for the event, along the start-finish straight. The detection point will be just before the Casio Triangle chicane.

Pirelli will bring their hard and medium tyres to Japan as "prime" and "option" compounds respectively.

During the previous round in Korea, both Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic were reprimanded for exceeding the maximum safe speed while behind the safety car. This was both drivers' third reprimand of the season, earning both a 10-place penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel leads Fernando Alonso by 77 points ahead of this race. With only five races remaining, Vettel can wrap up a fourth consecutive title this weekend if he outscores the Spaniard by 23 points (by winning with Alonso outside of the top-8). Red Bull lead Ferrari and Mercedes by 118 and 119 points respectively in the Constructors' Championship. Unlike the Drivers' title, Red Bull will have to wait at least until India in two weeks to claim their fourth title.

During the weekend, Spanish driver María de Villota, was found dead in her hotel room. She died of cardiac arrest, believed to be a result of her testing accident in May 2012.

Entry list[]

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Infiniti Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB9 Renault RS27-2013 P
2 Australia Mark Webber Austria Infiniti Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB9 Renault RS27-2013 P
3 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari F138 Ferrari 056 P
4 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari F138 Ferrari 056 P
5 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-28 Mercedes FO 108Z P
6 Mexico Sergio Pérez United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-28 Mercedes FO 108Z P
7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus E21 Renault RS27-2013 P
8 France Romain Grosjean United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus E21 Renault RS27-2013 P
9 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W04 Mercedes FO 108Z P
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Germany Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W04 Mercedes FO 108Z P
11 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Switzerland Sauber F1 Team Sauber C32 Ferrari 056 P
12 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Switzerland Sauber F1 Team Sauber C32 Ferrari 056 P
14 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India VJM06 Mercedes FO 108Z P
15 Germany Adrian Sutil India Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India VJM06 Mercedes FO 108Z P
16 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams FW35 Renault RS27-2013 P
17 Finland Valtteri Bottas United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams FW35 Renault RS27-2013 P
18 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR8 Ferrari 056 P
19 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR8 Ferrari 056 P
20 France Charles Pic Malaysia Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT03 Renault RS27-2013 P
21 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde Malaysia Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT03 Renault RS27-2013 P
22 France Jules Bianchi Russia Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR02 Cosworth CA2013 P
23 United Kingdom Max Chilton Russia Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR02 Cosworth CA2013 P
Free Practice 1 only
20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT03 Renault RS27-2013 P

Practice Overview[]

FP1[]

FP2[]

FP3[]

Practice Results[]

No Driver Team FP1 FP2 FP3
Time Pos Time Pos Time Pos
1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 1:34.768 3 1:33.852 1 1:33.036 9
2 Australia Mark Webber 1:34.787 4 1:34.020 2 1:32.053 1
3 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 1:35.154 6 1:35.087 10 1:32.800 5
4 Brazil Felipe Massa 1:35.126 5 1:34.698 8 1:32.815 6
5 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.868 11 1:34.912 9 1:32.869 7
6 Mexico Sergio Pérez 1:35.450 9 1:35.709 16 1:33.158 11
7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 1:35.364 8 1:34.202 4 1:32.946 8
8 France Romain Grosjean 1:35.179 7 1:34.411 5 1:32.707 4
9 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 1:34.487 2 1:34.114 3 1:32.355 3
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1:34.157 1 1:34.442 6 1:32.187 2
11 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.900 12 1:35.182 13 1:33.076 10
12 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez 1:36.760 18 1:35.089 11 1:33.732 16
14 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Force India-Mercedes 1:36.399 17 1:35.275 14 1:33.600 15
15 Germany Adrian Sutil 1:36.165 14 1:35.341 15 1:34.773 18
16 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams-Renault 1:36.178 15 1:36.722 18 1:33.638 14
17 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1:36.340 16 1:36.136 17 1:33.955 17
18 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.066 13 1:35.109 12 1:33.260 12
19 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 1:35.635 10 1:34.473 7 1:33.490 13
20 France Charles Pic Malaysia Caterham-Renault DNP 1:37.630 19 1:35.518 20
Finland Heikki Kovalainen 1:37.595 19 DNP DNP
21 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde 1:38.205 21 1:37.905 20 1:35.473 19
22 France Jules Bianchi Russia Marussia-Cosworth 1:37.629 20 no time 22 1:39.378 22
23 United Kingdom Max Chilton 1:38.763 22 1:38.121 21 1:35.844 21

Qualifying[]

Q1[]

Q2[]

Q3[]

Qualifying Results[]

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 1 ______________
Mark Webber 2
______________ Sebastian Vettel
Row 2 3 ______________
Lewis Hamilton 4
______________ Romain Grosjean
Row 3 5 ______________
Felipe Massa 6
______________ Nico Rosberg
Row 4 7 ______________
Nico Hülkenberg 8
______________ Fernando Alonso
Row 5 9 ______________
Kimi Räikkönen 10
______________ Jenson Button
Row 6 11 ______________
Sergio Pérez 12
______________ Paul di Resta
Row 7 13 ______________
Valtteri Bottas 14
______________ Esteban Gutiérrez
Row 8 15 ______________
Pastor Maldonado 16
______________ Daniel Ricciardo
Row 9 17 ______________
Jean-Éric Vergne 18
______________ Max Chilton
Row 10 19 ______________
Giedo van der Garde 20
______________ Charles Pic*
Row 11 21 ______________
Jules Bianchi* 22
______________ Adrian Sutil

Notes:

  • * Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi were both given ten-place grid penalties for incurring their third reprimands of the season.
  • Adrian Sutil received a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox.

Race[]

Report[]

Before the start of the competition, a minute's silence was held in memory of María de Villota.

Romain Grosjean made an excellent start from fourth to take the lead at the first corner as both Red Bulls bogged down at the start. Lewis Hamilton cut across Sebastian Vettel, with the German's front wing hitting Hamilton's right rear tyre and giving the unfortunate Briton a puncture that he would eventually retire from. Mark Webber ended the first lap second, followed by Vettel, who had no front wing damage, while Nico Rosberg had overtaken Felipe Massa for what became fourth. Fernando Alonso made a strong start as usual to move to sixth, while Esteban Gutiérrez made up five positions (including Hamilton).

At the back, Adrian Sutil efficiently made his way past the backmarkers before Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi collided at the first corner, knocking both drivers out, and disabling DRS when it usually would have become active on lap 3. At the end of the lap, Charles Pic took the drive-through penalty he received before the race.

Once the accident was cleared, and DRS enabled, drivers started overtaking. On the first corner of lap seven, Kimi Räikkönen overtook Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo got past Valtteri Bottas, while Alonso started attacking Massa for fifth.

On lap 7 Jean-Éric Vergne became the first driver to make a scheduled stop, followed by Button, Bottas and Sutil the following lap. Mercedes retired Hamilton's ailing car at the same time.

Webber was the first frontrunner to make a pit stop, pitting on lap 11. Massa and Räikkönen also pitted on the same lap. Leader Grosjean reacted immediately, pitting on lap 12, emerging ahead of Webber, while Rosberg reacted to Massa's stop. Alonso pitted on lap 13 and Vettel was the last of the drivers on the medium compound to pit on lap 14.

After the pit stops, Grosjean lead Webber, with Vettel close behind. Ricciardo, who was on the hard tyre, was fourth due to not pitting. Rosberg was fifth, but had to perform a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release, in which he nearly crashed in Sergio Pérez. As a result, Nico Hülkenberg took fifth place, overtaking both Ferraris, with Massa ahead of Alonso again. Gutiérrez was eighth, Räikkönen ninth, Pérez tenth ahead of Button after an overtake and Rosberg twelfth.

Ricciardo's strategy meant held up Hülkenberg and the two Ferraris, which allowed Alonso to get past his teammate as they started lap 20. Ricciardo, having been overtaken by Hülkenberg at 130R, fell into the clutches of the train of cars that now also contained Gutiérrez, Räikkönen and Pérez, finding himself overtaken by Alonso before he pitted and fell to sixteenth. In the chaos caused by the bunching up of the pack, Gutiérrez nearly overtook Massa before the Mexican was overtaken by Räikkönen. Behind them, Rosberg overtook Button into 130R. As Ricciardo held up the group, the leading trio had pulled out a gap of 20 seconds.

Button pitted, from 11th, on lap 23. His mechanics had a problem with his right rear wheel, which struggled to come off, losing him time. Rosberg pitted the following lap, without causing any problems. Webber pitted on lap 25, changing his intended strategy from a two-stop to a three-stop, falling to third. Massa pitted on lap 28 from sixth. Further back, Ricciardo passed Sutil at 130R, going off track in the process, which gave him a drive-through penalty.

Grosjean pitted for the final time on lap 29, falling behind Webber, who was driving very quickly, and allowing Vettel a second stint in the lead. Hülkenberg also pitted on lap 29. Alonso, Gutiérrez and Pérez pitted on the following lap; Hülkenberg remained ahead of Alonso, while the two Mexican drivers fell down the order, Pérez unaided by problem with his right rear. Räikkönen's pit stop on lap 31 placed him back behind Massa. Massa then received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him to 11th behind Gutiérrez.

Vettel was staying out for longer than expected on his second stint, which meant he could put on the quicker medium compound or push hard on new hard tyres, while in just five laps Webber had pulled out ten seconds on Grosjean and was quickly closing down on Vettel. Vettel pitted on lap 37, allowing Webber to take a clear lead and the German was three seconds behind Grosjean. Vettel immediately started setting very quick lap times, and was very soon on the back of Grosjean.

Rosberg and Button each pitted for a third scheduled time on laps 39 and 40 respectively. Rosberg found himself in tenth and Button fourteenth. The Brit started attempting to carve his way back up the field.

Vettel overtook the Frenchman as the drivers began their 41st laps, and was just under 15 seconds behind leader Webber. Webber pitted the following lap, putting on the medium tyre, falling to third and setting off on a charge against the two leaders. Pérez picked up a left rear puncture in a collision with Rosberg and had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 42. The McLaren driver dropped down to 17th, his race ruined.

Webber set the fastest lap of the race on lap 44 as he closed down on Grosjean, getting within DRS range two laps later. Alonso finally managed to pass Hülkenberg going into the first corner of lap 46, with the German immediately being put under pressure by Räikkönen; and the following lap Massa was overtaken by Rosberg. Behind them, Button overtook Paul di Resta to bring himself back into a points scoring position.

Grosjean held off Webber for five laps, which allowed Vettel to extend his lead and to make sure of victory. Gutiérrez held off Rosberg to hold onto seventh, while Hülkenberg defended well against Räikkönen, until the Finn found a way past.

As Grosjean and Webber encountered a large amount of traffic, the Australian finally found a way past the Lotus with two laps left. However, Webber was left without enough time to catch Vettel. Button, on fresher tyres, overtook Massa for ninth with about a lap left.

Vettel won the race, seven seconds ahead of Webber, with Grosjean a further three seconds down, the Frenchman stopping his car soon after he crossed the finish line. Alonso finished fourth, 45 seconds behind Vettel, with Räikkönen close behind. Hülkenberg crossed the line sixth. Gutiérrez held off Rosberg for seventh, the Mexican scoring points for the first time and the German finishing the race low on fuel and stopping just after the pit lane exit. Button was ninth and Massa tenth, and Di Resta finally finished a race, unluckily in eleventh but still on the lead lap. Vergne, who was the first of the lapped runners, came twelfth, followed by Ricciardo, Sutil, Pérez, Pastor Maldonado, Bottas, Pic and Max Chilton.

Post-race[]

Red Bull scored their second one-two of the season, and extended their Championship advantage to 148 points. With just 172 points remaining, it is likely that Red Bull will secure their fourth consecutive title in India.

Sebastian Vettel's Championship lead was extended to 90 points, and with four races remaining, he has all but sealed the title as there are only 100 points available. To take his fourth consecutive title, Vettel needs to finish the next race in fifth place, for even if Vettel only scores a total of ten points in the final four races and second-placed Fernando Alonso wins said four races, Vettel will have nine wins to Alonso's six, and will take the title. Alonso admitted after the race that he had given up on the title.

Results[]

Race[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 53 1:26:49.301 2 25
2 2 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 53 +7.129 1 18
3 8 France Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 53 +9.910 4 15
4 3 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 53 +45.605 8 12
5 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 53 +47.325 9 10
6 11 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 53 +51.615 7 8
7 12 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 53 +1:11.630 14 6
8 9 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 53 +1:12.023 6 4
9 5 United Kingdom Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 53 +1:20.821 10 2
10 4 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 53 +1:29.263 5 1
11 14 United Kingdom Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 53 +1:38.572 12
12 18 France Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 +1 Lap 17
13 19 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 52 +1 Lap 16
14 15 Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 52 +1 Lap 22
15 6 Mexico Sergio Pérez McLaren-Mercedes 52 +1 Lap 11
16 16 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 52 +1 Lap 15
17 17 Finland Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 52 +1 Lap 13
18 20 France Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 52 +1 Lap 20
19 23 United Kingdom Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 52 +1 Lap 18
Ret 10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 7 Collision damage 3
Ret 21 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 0 Collision 19
Ret 22 France Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 0 Collision 21


Fastest lap[]

Laps in the lead[]

Lap-by-lap[]

Total laps lead[]

  • Romain Grosjean: 26
  • Sebastian Vettel: 22
  • Mark Webber: 5

Milestones[]

Standings after race[]

Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts
1 Germany Sebastian Vettel 297
2 Spain Fernando Alonso 207
3 Finland Kimi Räikkönen 177
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 161
5 Australia Mark Webber 148
6 Germany Nico Rosberg 126
7 Brazil Felipe Massa 90
8 France Romain Grosjean 87
9 United Kingdom Jenson Button 60
10 Germany Nico Hülkenberg 39
11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta 36
12 Germany Adrian Sutil 26
13 Mexico Sergio Pérez 23
14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 18
15 France Jean-Éric Vergne 13
16 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez 6
17 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado 1
18 Finland Valtteri Bottas 0
19 France Jules Bianchi 0
20 France Charles Pic 0
21 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde 0
22 United Kingdom Max Chilton 0
Constructors' World Championship
Pos. Team Pts
1 Austria Red Bull-Renault 445
2 Italy Ferrari 297
3 Germany Mercedes 287
4 United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 264
5 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 83
6 India Force India-Mercedes 62
7 Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 45
8 Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31
9 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 1
10 Russia Marussia-Cosworth 0
11 Malaysia Caterham-Renault 0

Notes[]

V T E 2013 Formula One Season
Teams Red Bull • Ferrari • McLaren • Lotus • Mercedes • Sauber • Force India • Williams • Toro Rosso • Caterham • Marussia
Engines Renault • Ferrari • Mercedes • Cosworth
Drivers Vettel • 2 Webber • 3 Alonso • 4 Massa • 5 Button • 6 Pérez • 7 Räikkönen • 7 Kovalainen • 8 Grosjean • 9 Rosberg • 10 Hamilton • 11 Hülkenberg • 12 Gutiérrez • 14 di Resta • 15 Sutil • 16 Maldonado • 17 Bottas • 18 Ricciardo • 19 Vergne • 20 Pic • 21 van der Garde • 22 Bianchi • 23 Chilton
Other Drivers Buemi • Félix da Costa • Sainz Jr. • Gené • De la Rosa • Rigon • Paffett • Turvey • Magnussen • d'Ambrosio • Prost • Valsecchi • Hartley • Bird • Frijns • Sato • Sirotkin • Rossiter • Calado • Wolff • Juncadella • Kvyat • Rossi • Ma • Stevens • Canamasas • Razia • González • Ellinas
Cars RB9 • F138 • MP4-28 • E21 • F1 W04 • C32 • VJM06 • FW35 • STR8 • CT03 • MR02
Tyres Pirelli
Races Australia • Malaysia • China • Bahrain • Spain • Monaco • Canada • Great Britain • Germany • Hungary • Belgium • Italy • Singapore • South Korea • Japan • India • Abu Dhabi • United States • Brazil
Tests Jerez • Barcelona 1 • Barcelona 2 • Young Driver Test
See also 2012 Formula One Season • 2014 Formula One Season • Category
V T E Japan Japanese Grand Prix
Circuits Fuji (1976–1977, 2007–2008), Suzuka (1987–2006, 2009–present)
SuzukaCircuit2005
Races 197619771978–1986 • 19871988198919901991199219931994 • 19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
See also Pacific Grand Prix
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