Drivers’ championship
| Position | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 297 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | 207 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | 177 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | 161 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | 148 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | 126 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | 90 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | 87 |
| 9 | Jenson Button | 60 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | 39 |
| 11 | Paul di Resta | 36 |
| 12 | Adrian Sutil | 26 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | 23 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | 18 |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | 13 |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | 6 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | 1 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | 0 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | 0 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | 0 |
| 21 | Giedo van der Garde | 0 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | 0 |
2013 Japanese Grand Prix
- Grosjean voted Driver of the Weekend for first time
- Webber still has doubts over Japanese GP strategy
- Japanese Grand Prix gets average rating for 2013
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image ?é?® Red Bull/Getty
OmarR-Pepper (@)
13th October 2013, 8:39
Vettel is the king of Suzuka!!!
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
13th October 2013, 9:15
RBR were too fast . Romanin drove beautifully today and in my book definitely was the better driver out there . The king of suzuka as you call him had a scrappy race today by his own standards .
TheBass (@)
13th October 2013, 9:40
So did Webber (he did lock up a couple of times, too) and Grosjean (went off the track once). They all made little mistakes.
F1 Noob (@noob)
13th October 2013, 10:56
@omarr-pepper In the words of Martin Whitmarsh, that was a ‘Classic Grosjean’… DotR for me… But I am sure that as he can go from zero to hero, he can follow the path back much faster, just wait for another ‘first lap nutcase’ incident
iAltair (@)
13th October 2013, 8:40
Vettel points tied with Ferrari.
MNM101 (@mnm101)
13th October 2013, 8:53
I’m sorry but that is hilarious
iAltair (@)
13th October 2013, 13:11
The Championship battle between Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari is too dam close. The championship might be decided in Brazil.
MNM101 (@mnm101)
13th October 2013, 16:03
@ialtair I think this is the championship battle I’m going to follow now :) it should last until the final race
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th October 2013, 8:56
@ialtair even better, on race wins (and assuming Webber was a non-points scoring drone) Vettel would actually be leading the constructor’s championship!
World Constructors Champions 2013: Vettel Racing Renault ;)
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
13th October 2013, 9:16
LOL
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th October 2013, 11:37
Haha thanks guys @hamilfan @woshidavid95 :)
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
13th October 2013, 10:20
@vettel1
I lol’ed xD
iAltair (@)
13th October 2013, 13:09
Congratulations to Vettel for being runner-up in the World Constructor’s Championship in 2013.
World’s Driver Championship + World’s Constructor Championship.
MNM101 (@mnm101)
13th October 2013, 16:05
@vettel1 LOL I love you man
tmax (@tmax)
13th October 2013, 9:01
Yeah I too noticed that…..
GeeMac (@geemac)
13th October 2013, 8:41
The most interesting battle in the drivers championship seems to be the Raikkonen/Hamilton/Webber battle for P3. On the constructors side its the Ferrari/Mercedes battle for P2 keeping things interesting. They’ll both have to watch out for Lotus though…
Very glad Gutierrez has opened the 2013 rookies accounts!
Eric (@)
13th October 2013, 10:25
@geemac
Raikkonen still has a good chance of finishing 2nd this year. Just 30 points between Alonso and Raikkonen.
F1 Noob (@noob)
13th October 2013, 10:59
@geemac
Congratulations to Esteban, hope his seat is secure at Sauber, he turned out to be the best among the rookies. I was really looking forward to his scoring points in Suzuka as the trend was showing in his last 4 finishes (14,13,12,11).. On the other hand Riccardio is tending to be ‘rookiesh’ lately, beaten fair and square by his team mate JEV
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
13th October 2013, 11:52
@noob, all it took for Vergne to beat Ricciardo was a drive-through and for STR to mess up Daniel’s strategy twice. Yeah, great drive by Vergne.
I guess it’s to Ricciardo’s credit that he has a hater already. Now all he needs is someone to boo him and he’s half on his way to greatness.
Eggry (@eggry)
13th October 2013, 8:42
I’m enjoying WCC battle…I mean for 2nd place.
erix
13th October 2013, 8:54
If Lotus can have reasonable thinking, they would rather give Kimi a priority so they can get 2nd in WCC and perhaps in WDC, who knows?
Off course, if Ferrari already pays Kimi, whilst Lotus has not, that plan would not work!
danclapp (@danclapp)
13th October 2013, 8:56
Merc will get 2nd in my opinion in the WCC, they have had their bad luck surely. We know Ferrai wont have 2 drivers being consitent every race and same for Lotus.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
13th October 2013, 11:15
@danclapp actually it’s pretty close as far as luck . Massa had a bad weekend in korea . So it hinges on alonso . If he gets a couple of Podiums , its going to be tight despite Massa finishing further back to the Mercs . However , the same is true for Merc . If they end their unlucky end and sort out their strategy and tyres , they can outwit ferrari on this one.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
13th October 2013, 11:59
@danclapp, I think the problem for Mercedes is that they don’t have the speed advantage they used to have around the summer break, on top of the fact that they haven’t had a good weekend since Belgium.
Lotus is on a roll, qualifying and racing very near the front, and although Ferrari are also floundering a little of late, you can count on Alonso to keep bringing in the maximum points.
The situation reminds me a little of the way 2012 ended for Hamilton and McLaren. At one point it became clear that Hamilton wouldn’t be challenging for the title anymore, but surely he would finish ahead of Raikkonen? And McLaren, despite having had the fastest car (certainly in qualifying) for a decent part of the year ended up losing out to Ferrari. Things kept going wrong for them, just as they are for Mercedes four races running now.
puneeth Bharath (@puneethvb)
13th October 2013, 9:21
By priority you mean asking someone who was leading the race early on to move over and let the guy who was in the tail end of top 10 past him… :)
erix
13th October 2013, 10:10
I mean by slowing down the pack just like Massa, Fisichella, or Barichello in the past. But points for Kimi would increase Lotus debt anyway..unless they can steal 2nd place in WCC, the less he is getting points the better for Lotus.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
13th October 2013, 8:45
eight next race and Seb clinches 4th WDC!!!
OmarR-Pepper (@)
13th October 2013, 8:46
Oops, noo , it’s 5th
Diego (@ironcito)
13th October 2013, 8:55
Mathematical possibilities aside, he’s already the champion. Even if he suffers an accident that sidelines him for the rest of the season, it would be highly unlikely for him to lose the championship.
Hyoko
13th October 2013, 9:35
Yes, at this point Alonso would need 3 victories and 1 second. Even without Vettel ahead, that’s a tall order. Not quite impossible, the recent Alonso string of 3 seconds would have been 3 victories without Vettel around.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
13th October 2013, 10:44
Even if Vettel retires he is most likely world champion already. With Lotus and Mercedes closely competitive and Webber unlucky streak ended finishing 2nd will be a challenge for Alonso.
Alonso must win or finish 2nd else Vettel is champion.
If Alonso wins Vettel only needs to be 5th
If Alonso is 2nd Vettel only needs to be 8th
Karthikeyan (@ridiculous)
13th October 2013, 8:45
So where exactly can RedBull wrap the WCC?
Hyoko
13th October 2013, 9:54
In all likelihood, next race in India. With 3 races left, RBR will need only to be (25+18)x3 +1 points ahead, that is 130 points. They are already 148 points on top of Ferrari, 158 of Merc, and Lotus is already out. So Ferrari needs to score 19 points more than RBR at Buddh to stay in the fight, and Merc 29 more. Even a Ferrari 1-2 wouldn’t be enough for them if RBR gets a 3-4.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
13th October 2013, 10:40
The +1 point is not even needed 129 will do as Red Bull by far has won the most races
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th October 2013, 10:47
@jelle-van-der-meer beat me to it as I went on a massive tangent!
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th October 2013, 10:46
They don’t actually need the +1 point – Red Bull have won (well, Vettel has won) 9 races this season of a possible 19: since Ferrari (Alonso) have won only 2 races, and Mercedes only 3, neither can possibly win 9 races anymore. So Red Bull will win as long as they are 129 points ahead at the end of the Indian Grand Prix.
The rest of course is as you’ve said! Essentially, the minimum needed by Ferrari to stay in the hunt would be a 2-9 or a 4-6 (both 20 points), with Red Bull having a double non-score (highly unlikely considering their last was Italy 2012) or, with a 1-2, Red Bull would need to be no higher than a 3-6!
Also, on the likelihood of a Ferrari 1-2 and Red Bull scoring a 3-6 or lower (in equivalant points): the last occasion that occurred was the 2010 German GP (coincidentally, exactly those finishing positions!) and the last occasion in which Ferrari outscored Red Bull by 20 points was the 2013 Chinese GP (Ferrari 1-6, 33 points vs RBR 4-DNF, 12 points).
Probability therefore states that Red Bull should wrap up the constructor’s championship in India, and also for reference the last time Alonso out-scored Vettel by 16 points (he needs to have a 74 point or less gap to Vettel to be mathematically in it – 75 is not enough due to race victories) was the 2012 European GP, of course where Vettel retird from the lead to gift Alonso the win.
Andre (@lheela)
13th October 2013, 11:01
Actually they only need to be (25+18)x3 ahead after India, since RBR got 9 wins so far, no other team can match that. So on a tie on points, RBR would still be WCC.
Diceman (@diceman)
13th October 2013, 8:47
If Sauber keeps scoring points like this, they could even catch Mclaren by the end of the season. Who would have thought after the first half of the season?
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
13th October 2013, 8:51
Grosjean will likely pip Massa for 7th and maybe even Rosberg for 6th in the WDC standings if he keeps up this excellent form. The battle for 2nd in the WCC between Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus is on.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
13th October 2013, 8:52
Come on Fernando, you can still do this! :-P
Hyoko
13th October 2013, 9:59
Yuppers, win all four races left and make sure Seb doesn’t score a paltry 10 pts in the meanwhile. Easiest thing in the world for FA, isn’t it?
Gary308
13th October 2013, 8:53
Can Sauber catch Force India?
Hyoko
13th October 2013, 10:18
Well of course, it’s only 17 points in 4 races and they are really doing better now. I was specially pleased to see Gutierrez scoring his first points today, I fully expect they won’t be the last this year and Sauber will snatch a decent 6th, top of the midfield (that’s assuming Macca are not in the midfield this year). Well, they might even get ahead of Macca (extremely unlikely, I know), wouldn’t it be awesome?
Gary308
13th October 2013, 11:22
Grabbing the 5th they deserved let year? Yeah, that would be really amazing.
danclapp (@danclapp)
13th October 2013, 8:55
Lol it was hilarious seeing Massa actualy fight for once, too little too late sunshine.
erix
13th October 2013, 8:56
The more points Kimi is getting every race, the more bankrupt Lotus will be.
Sorry about that Kimi!
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
13th October 2013, 9:18
Can Lewis come third ? He needs some better luck and mercedes need to try to close in on ferrari . Come on guys !!
Hyoko
13th October 2013, 10:09
Of course, it’s only 14 pts to Kimi. Lewis can even be second, but 46 points to Alonso seems like too much.
I’d say SV has pretty much already won this WDC and Alonso will be very hard to beat for 2nd, but 3rd is still open. Well, they say nobody remembers the 2nd, but when things go down to the wire it’s not true (has anybody forgotten Felipe Massa was 2nd in 2008?). But I’m afraid it’s true that nobody remembers the 3rd.
knightameer (@knightameer)
13th October 2013, 14:28
So, interesting battle for 2nd in both championships.. And one more interesting thing to watch out.. Can Vettel win the rest of the races and better his 2011 points total.
Cosmas (@cosmas)
13th October 2013, 15:22
Vettel has 297 points , the same Ferrari as team has.
If RedBull didn’t had Webber at all, they would still lead the constructors!!
Lotus are 33 points behind Ferrari with 4 races left.
Today the closed the gab by 12 points ( [25 Lotus]vs[13 Ferrari])
If they continue with this momentum the second place in the constructors is a realistic target for them.
After Alonso “almost certainly” lost the WDC he keeps seeing they should score better than Mercedes considering them as the main threat for the second position but maybe he has to think about Lotus too.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th October 2013, 17:05
@cosmas
Assuming Webber still prevented others from scoring points, which is why I said “non points scoring drone” ;)