Hamilton’s fourth World Driver’s Championship isn’t sealed up just yet, but Ferrari aren’t making things any more difficult for him as of late. And for the FBC staffers that are continuing to take Vettel for the win, they’re steadily dropping down the order in the standings.
Paul kept his points lead thanks to Ricciardo in third, but Todd did close the gap up a bit by correctly choosing Hamilton for the win, as well as Raikkonen back in fifth position. What was a twenty-eight point gap following the last race has now been dwindled down to twenty-one. That close fight for second place did get blown apart with Ferrari’s mechanical woes.
What was once an eight point difference between five staffers now sees Todd six points up on third position. Tom picked up nine points for Lewis’ victory, moving him up to that spot, where he is also joined by Andrew, who took those nine points as well as the four for Danny in third. Those thirteen combined points moved him from sixth to that tie for third position. Tony and Dave, who had previously held that position, went scoreless in Japan and have now dropped back to fifth.
The eastern swing of the season has not been kind to Tony, as he’s dropped from second back to fifth over these last three rounds. Grace, meanwhile, was this week’s top scorer having correctly chosen Hamilton, Ricciardo and Raikkonen’s finishing positions. She’s now just sixteen points back from the duo ahead of her in fifth. J.P. picked up a few much needed points this week with Ricciardo’s podium finish, though he may be hard pressed to pull himself up out of last by season’s end.
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…and 2 measly points puts me back in a tie with Grace.