2018 Japanese Grand Prix preview

Hello again! It's the 30th time Suzuka hosts an F1 event. So many championships have been decided here and so many legendary memories.

Take a look at Ayrton Senna's pole lap from 1988:

My best memories are the Senna-Prost battles in 1988-1990, Häkkinen-Schumacher in 1998-2000 and also Kimi Räikkönen overtaking Fisichella on the last lap and winning the race in 2005.

 

Then of course four years ago Jules Bianchi had his accident which lead to his death a year later. Very sad stuff. Everybody will be thinking about him I am sure. I hope the safety is better this year.

Jules Bianchi

Let's move on to something less sad...

Lewis Hamilton has won the Japanese GP four times. He won last year, three years ago, the year before that and also the very wet Japanese GP back in 2007 only it was at Fuji, not at Suzuka. This track is more important for Hamilton than Fuji because his idol, Ayrton Senna, secured his championship here more than once. Hamilton will be very hungry for this win.

My guess is if Hamilton's car works he will have a perfect weekend and Valtteri Bottas will be right behind him. 

Here are my predictions:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Charles Leclerc will be phenomenal here! I am sure.