While gathering material for this, I realized just how often these two have hit each other!
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX RESULTS
After a bit of a delay, here are the much anticipated official results from the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix!
Practice showed an ominous level of advantage for the Silver Arrows, and as such nearly everyone picked Hamilton to win: the only exceptions being Jezza13, who decided to take a risk on Vettel winning, and Bentrovato, who took an even bigger risk on Verstappen. These risks did not pay off, and as a result they lost a huge number of points to everyone who climbed aboard the silver bandwagon.
In the end, it was a Mercedes 1-2, a result predicted by roughly half the field. But the third-placed car was something more of a surprise. Having made mistakes at the Spoon curves throughout the weekend, it was only fitting that Sebastian Vettel's podium challenge would end there in a cloud of smoke as Max Verstappen drove away from the scene of the accident. It was Verstappen who would go on to complete the podium, a result foreseen by very few indeed...
But not completely unforeseen. One entrant correctly placed Max in third alongside Hamilton and Bottas in the first two places, and to that entrant goes the coveted Perfect Podium, his second in as many races: congratulations,
Jenson's Understeer! 
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First Place - 14 points
Jenson's Understeer
Second Place - 8 points
Espo, cm97, Exediron, Remmirath, TheDamus, coulthards chin, Mod Blue, Flash2k11, Herb, Icemanjee1
Third Place - 6 points
Lotus49, P-F1 Mod
The Rest
Mod Titanium, CarlPotter, Mod Onyx, robins13, Mayhem, Black_Flag_11 -
5 points
Jezza13 -
1 point
Bentrovato -
0 points
Did Not Start
TypingChicane
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Individual Standings - Round Seventeen
There's no change at the top of the standings on the individual side - but only just: cm97 retains a lead of 2 points over Jenson's Understeer, who has rocketed up the standings lately on the back of back-to-back Perfect Podiums. Another such result - in addition to being unprecedented in the competition - would place him firmly in the lead. Remmirath stays firmly in the picture in third place, losing a position to the winner.
Further back, it's Mod Titanium in fourth place: having lost the lead in Russia, he is now in danger of losing touch with the championship battle entirely as the top three continue to pull away. Remaining in fifth place is robins13, the 2016 champion having lost his early season momentum but still within striking distance as the championship enters its final act.
Mayhem moves into sixth place, being the first to benefit from Jezza13's horribly failed gamble; Exediron, Mod Onyx and clouthards chin all benefit similarly as Jezza13 tumbles down to the bottom of the top ten. Outside the top ten, Mod Blue has caught up and is now only 2 points behind Jezzaq13 as the midfield continues to tighten up; it's only 10 points from fifth to twelfth. Espo is 12th despite having posted three DNS results on the season; CarlPotter and Icemanjee1 round out the upper midfield in thirteenth and fourteenth.
In fifteenth place, Bentrovato is sadly the biggest loser of the round, posting no points for a second race in succession. It's particularly costly at this race, where everyone else who made an entry gained points. From sixteenth on down there is only one change of position: Flash2k11 and Lotus49 swap the functional last place between them, but remain tied on points.
Team Standings - Round Seventeen
In the team standings, we have a brand new championship leader! For the first time since claiming victory at the end of 2015 - and the first time in the Exediron / Jenson's Understeer era - No Limit Excedrin Racing is back in the lead of the championship. With an impressive three Perfect Podiums on the season, they also hold the tiebreakers over every other challenger.
Bwoah Steering Wheel falls to second place, but is still very much in the fight, only four points back of the new leaders. Sand Bag'n is a further six points back in third position, the last team to be over 100 points.
Behind the top three, there's been a change at the head of the midfield: Drive Sauber, temporarily at least benefiting from scoring by both drivers, moves up to fourth place, 11 points behind the podium places. The two Mod teams slide to fifth and sixth, with the junior team of Crisis in Management still leading the way for now, albeit by only 4 points. Defending champions Jalopy Racing continue to endure a bleak title defense in seventh place - though not, it must be said, nearly as bleak as the title defense of the reigning individual champion, who has withdrawn entirely.
The Also Rans are still in eighth place for now, but for how long? Benefiting from some upgrades that seem to have finally worked, Lotus-CC Racing has closed the gap almost entirely, and now sit only 2 points away from escaping last place. That's pretty good, for a team that was at one point almost 20 points out of eighth position!
CHAMPIONSHIP PICTURE
With 56 points left to play for, the championship picture has narrowed for the first time. And, in a turn of events that surely nobody could have predicted at the end of 2017, its first victim is the defending champion, TypingChicane. With a highest possible score of 63 with straight Perfect Podiums from here on out, TypingChicane is the first to be mathematically eliminated in 2018.
If cm97 outscores Flash2k11 and Lotus49 next round, they will be the next to follow.
NEXT RACE
The next race is the American Grand Prix, held at COTA in Texas. Traditionally a Hamilton stronghold, this track is likely to signal the official end of the Formula One World Driver's Championship. More worryingly for the entrants of this competition, it seems that much of the early unpredictability that characterized this year is gone, with Mercedes now seeming to hold a firm edge. That would favor those already in the lead, with positions harder to make up if everyone is scoring.
But second and third places are still far from certain, and it may be that placing the correct mix of Bottas, Vettel and the Bulls on the podium will now be the key to ultimate victory.
. No team orders here
