Japanese Grand Prix: Mercedes wins sixth title after Sebastian Vettel botches race start

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the Japanese Grand Prix and effectively secured the 2019 Constructors' Championship title. All they needed was to finish with 14 points more than Ferrari to clinch the title. After Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel botched the race start and squandered his team's front row lock-out, Bottas took advantage and secured both the race title and the team accolade.

Vettel and his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, were in the perfect position to keep Ferrari's championship hopes alive. Vettel secured pole position and his Monegasque partner was sitting beside him in second position on the grid. The Ferraris made a surprise front row lock-out during qualifying, which was postponed to Sunday morning due to super typhoon Hagibis. Ferrari's dominance at qualifying was unexpected, after Mercedes proved to be quicker during the Friday practice sessions.

Sadly, their stellar performance in qualifying was made irrelevant when Vettel made a false start and tried to compensate for it by backing off. As a result, he blocked the progress of his teammate and allowed Bottas to leapfrog both of them.

Due to the slowdown caused by Vettel, Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who was sitting in fifth position, managed to go side-by-side with Leclerc. They ended up colliding after Leclerc failed to give Verstappen enough room to race. Not only did the resulting damage send Leclerc into an very early pit stop, he received a post-race penalty as well.

After carving his was through the field, Leclerc finished in 6th place. He was demoted down to 7th position after receiving double time penalties. He was penalised for the understeer that caused the collision with Verstappen and also for driving in unsafe conditions. His car suffered front wing damage after the incident but Leclerc drove around and sent sparks and car parts into Lewis Hamilton's face.

In the end, what could have been a 1-2 victory for Ferrari ended up with Vettel in 2nd and Leclerc in 7th. Their mistakes handed the title to their rivals and it looks like Lewis Hamilton will soon secure the Drivers' Championship title as well.

Ferrari had a massive improvement in form during the second half of the season but this is the second race in a row where they completely ruined their own race. At the Russian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Vettel disobeyed team orders then unexpectedly retired after his pit stop. The incident lost caused his teammate to lose the lead. The unfortunate turn of events handed Lewis Hamilton the victory, even if Ferrari looked like they had the stronger car all weekend.

With only four races to go, it looks like the competition is over. There is no doubt that Ferrari is already looking at the 2020 championship. If they intend to win, they need to get their team dynamics sorted out.