Sebastian Vettel (surprise, surprise) clinched his fourth victory around the iconic Suzuka circuit. The German didn’t, however, lead from the start of the race, Romain Grosjean launching from the line perfectly and taking the lead into turn one.

Behind the Frenchman, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton’s cars clashed as the Brit attempted to split the Red Bull cars. This punctured Hamilton’s tyre which led to a bitter retirement. Meanwhile at the back of the pack, Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi made contact, pitching the Caterham into the barrier and leaving the Marussia beached in the kitty litter.

The main talking point throughout the race was strategy. A two-stop race was predicted to be five seconds faster, but Red Bull put Webber on a three-stopper, to his surprise, which cost him the race win. Grosjean held the early lead and looked mature out front before dropping behind Webber in the pit stop sequence.

Vettel eventually found his way through and pulled away in the final stint. Webber had dropped back behind the Frenchman on his final stop and just couldn’t find a way through despite being on the faster option compound tyre. He did make his way past Grosjean on lap 51 after a late move on the pit straight.

The German crossed the line to record his fifth consecutive race victory and the fourth Japanese Grand Prix win of his career. However, it wasn’t the usual faultless run to