Suzuka race … in deep water! Dramatic race wins by Hamilton; Bianchi unconscious in hospital!

UPDATE:

Jules Bianchi has been taken to hospital after being left unconscious following an accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Just one lap after Adrian Sutil had gone off the track at Turn 7, Bianchi crashed at the same place and his Marussia car hit the recovery vehicle. The incident was not caught on the TV world feed but soon after the safety car was deployed along with the medical car to the scene of the accident.

The FIA confirmed Bianchi was unconscious and taken to hospital by ambulance soon after the race, although further details about his condition are not known at this time.

Hamilton leads the driver’s championship by just three points from Nico Rosberg, but the feeling is that the Brit is in, er, pole position to go on and take the title this season. His rival may literally be in pole position today, but over the past two races has been plagued with technical problems and the suspicion is that Rosberg may not be quite so mentally resillient as Hamilton.

What no one is expecting is a runaway winner today. If we get a race at all it’s likely that the safety car is going to be used extensively, given the encroaching typhoon. Everyone involved is hoping that the weather stays away long enough for us to get a race in, but, quite frankly, the idea of liveblogging an actual typhoon sounds like a lot of fun to me!

START

Marcus Ericsson has already spun out into the gravel, just coming through the final corner. Looks like his race is over. Replays suggest he just lost it coming round the curve. Oh dear, such a good qualifying for Ericsson yesterday and it looks like it’s all come to nought.

“Make sure Rosberg doesn’t do any dramatic stops as I can’t see him!” complains Hamilton after coming very close to the back of his team-mate.

he medical car has parked up by Sutil’s Sauber. I thought I saw Sutil get out of the car so let’s hope that’s just a precaution.

There’s complete confusion out there currently, there’s not a train of cars behind the safety car but a lot of cars travelling around the circuit slowly.

Hamilton is still on the intermediates.

The medical team have pulled a stretcher out of the medical car. Sutil appears to be standing behind the fence.

There’s also a Marussia down there as well, Jules Bianchi’s car appears to have gone off at the same point.

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 Winner 2 25
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +9.1 secs 1 18
3 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +29.1 secs 9 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +38.8 secs 6 12
5 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +67.5 secs 8 10
6 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 + secs 3 8
7 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 + secs 4 6
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 + secs 13 4
9 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 44 + secs 20 2
10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 11 1
11 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 43 +1 Lap 12
12 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 10
13 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 15
14 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 43 +1 Lap 7
15 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 16
16 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 43 +1 Lap 22
17 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17
18 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 43 +1 Lap 21
19 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 19
20 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 41 +3 Lap 18
21 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 40 +4 Lap 14
Ret 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2 +42 Laps 5

Note – Vergne qualified P11, Maldonado P17; both dropped 10 grid places for engine change