Lewis Hamilton wins a shortened Suzuka race - Mercedes dominate, as Alonso retires and Sutil crashes
Published by Christine
The rain came pouring down at Suzuka on Sunday, as expected, meaning the race began behind the safety car. After two laps, it was red flagged. The safety car pulled in to the pit lane, followed by all the other cars, and they lined up at the exit for the restart. It wasn’t too long a wait, and the action got going once more.
The track began to dry, and it got to the point where DRS was enabled. Lewis Hamilton had been keeping tabs on pole sitter Nico Rosberg up to that point, and as soon as he had the opportunity, he swept past into the lead.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso retired at the restart, his Ferrari giving up beneath him. Adrian Sutil crashed just a couple of laps from the end of the race when the rain returned. Jules Bianchi then crashed into the truck recovering the Sauber, and the race was red flagged whilst he received urgent medical attention. He was taken to hospital with a severe head injury. The race was not resumed, leaving Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel taking to the podium in very subdued circumstances.
