The Singapore Grand Prix was one of Red Bull’s finest this season. A second and a third meant that they outscored Mercedes for the first time in a race this season, and they also appeared to have closed the gap significantly to the front two cars. What will be interesting is whether this will be the case at Suzuka, a completely different track. Suzuka is absolute Vettel territory. He has won there four times in five attempts, and in the other attempt he walked away with a World Championship, so on paper it is difficult to see him not performing here.
Red Bull Japanese GP Preview
No. 1 Sebastian Vettel (GER) – 5th
Form: 4/7/5/6/2
2013: Grid: P2, Race: P1
Despite not having a working KERS here last year, Vettel managed to place his Red Bull second on the grid. He went on to take a remarkable fourth victory at Suzuka, a circuit that is clearly his favourite. It will be interesting to see how Vettel goes around here, as he will almost certainly not have the quickest car here. On every other occasion that he has been here, the Red Bull was clearly the car to beat. Given his impressive Sinagpore race, Vettel will be hoping that these last flyaway races will at least prevent this season from being a complete disaster.
No. 3 Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) – 3rd
Form: 6/1/1/5/3
2013 (Driving for Toro Rosso): Grid: P16, Race: P13
It was a pretty normal 2013 race for Ricciardo last year, outqualified Jean-Éric Vergne, but got outraced by him. In fact, Ricciardo has scored just one point so far at the Japanese Grand Prix, so he will be hoping to at the very least improve on that. Given his form (which despite being beaten by Vettel is still remarkably impressive) it will be highly unlikely that Ricciardo will fail to improve on that. Although his chances at the title remain incredibly slim, he shouldn’t be completely ruled out as a title contender at this stage. Another back-to-back streak of victories with Mercedes hitting trouble and suddenly Ricciardo is just ten points behind.
Anyone for chess #F1 style? It’s your turn Suzuka… #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/wRZP7kSGqu
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 1, 2014
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