Suzuka Circuit was build in 1962 as a test track for road cars and motorbikes of Honda. In 1987, having hosted various sports car and F2 races and having lost out to Fuji in the race to host the Japanese Grand Prix. Finally Honda’s influence finally gave the Grand Prix a new Japanese home in Suzuka.
Suzuka as a track offers a massive test of a car and driver ability with some of the F1 most challenging corners. One of the most popular being the high speed 130R and Spoon Curve. In addition it’s eight layout makes a unique F1 driving experience. This track is known to provide many nail-biting end of the season deciders (such as collision with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna). We hope we will not witness any collisions, but be sure it will be a thrilling race.
Hamilton seemed to be on a good road to get his 3rd title in a row, but only 1 event was enough to make it much harder for him to achieve it. Anyone who has been a fan of F1 for a while knows there can be unpredictable events taking place either right before the start of the race or at the finish line. Even though they happen rarely, every time they do it has a huge effect. One of the unlucky coincidences happened to Hamilton in the last race in Malaysia, where he was driving to victory, only for his engine to blow up a few laps before the finish line.
Was it a result of dark forces or Mercedes simply does not want Hamilton to win is unknown, but one thing is for sure. When things like that happen, you simply cannot feel sorry for that driver. With that, Hamilton could have lost his title and the bookmakers know that, as they have increased the odds from 1.30 to 2.64 on Hamilton winning the title. Whereas Nico Rosberg’s odds dropped to 1.62. Despite my sentence before about “dark forces” being more of a joke than not, there are theories floating around about Mercedes cheering for Rosberg instead of Hamilton. Well, Mercedes is a German manufacturer and them wanting a German driver to win, is not that unlikely. Hamilton did not stay quiet about it with his statement; ” “Why are my engines always failing when Rosberg’s always work?”. Either you believe in theories like that or not, it’s still a topic worth of a discussion. After all Hamilton’s bad performances can be linked to engine failures, but teh engine failures are not the only reason for his downfall. He has shown lack of concentration and maturity before, especially at the start of the season and he will most likely do it again. He could be described as “F1 Ballotelli”, huge talent, but his behaviour could cost him a good result.
Looking at practise results, Rosberg took the 1st place, followed by Hamilton and Vettel. As for the race itself I am a bit concerned about Mercedes performance, due to the latest technical trouble. They said they will not run their power units on full, as they need to investigate what caused the engine failure, so they will be in a disadvantage. This just might give other drivers a good chance to prove themselves. For this race I will not predict an outright winner, but rather a top 3 finish from Daniel Ricciardo. He has won the last week’s race with 2.4s to spare ahead of Verstappen and 25.5s ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo is not going to win the title, that is for sure, but the latest win just might give him a confidence boost he needs to repeat a great performance and finish in the top 3.
Prediction : Daniel Ricciardo To Finish in the Top 3
Odds : 1.70 SBOBET
