Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix; Bianchi crashes, shifted to hospital
Suzuka, 5 October 2014: Lewis Hamilton won the shortened Japanese Grand Prix, the 15th of the 10-race Formula One World Championship here on Sunday to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 10 points. It is a hat-trick of wins for the British driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas team after he won at Monza and Singapore, the last two races.
The race was red-flagged twice and the Race Control declared that the race would not resume after the second Red Flag on Lap 46 as Bianchi and Sutil crashed out. Jules Bianchi, the Marussia driver was involved in a serious crash was said to be unconscious before he was shifted to an ambulance. Minutes before Sutil of Sauber too crashed as the same Dunlop curve. It appears that Bianchi hit the rescue vehicle and the FIA Press Officer Matteo Bonciani confirmed that Bianchi was shifted to a hospital.
With 75 per cent of the race distance completed Hamilton, who won after starting from P2, pushed aside his teammate and championship contender Nico Rosberg to second place. Sebastian Vettel, who announced that he would be leaving Red Bull Racing, had to be content with a third place where he won four times in the past. His Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.
The race started behind a safety flag due to heavy torrential rains following a typhoon and was Red Flagged by lap three. Resuming and seven more laps behind the safety car, the leaders started to pull away and Hamilton overtook Rosberg on lap 29.
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