Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso had an unbelievable last lap battle, which saw the retiring German beat his replacement for next season by just 0.011 seconds; however, it was completely missed by the TV director.
The incredibly wet Japanese Grand Prix was chaotic, to say the least, after a long red flag interval was introduced after just two laps of running.
It had been raining when the race initially started, but this quickly intensified on the opening lap, which was part of the reason why Carlos Sainz crashed at Turn 12 after aquaplaning across one of the many rivers going over the Suzuka International Racing Course.
When the race restarted, Vettel, who had fallen to last after spinning on the opening lap, opted to gamble and pit at the end of the first restarted lap for Intermediate tyres.
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This worked a treat for the four-time World Champion, who ended up gaining several seconds a lap on those who waited multiple laps before pitting.
Vettel rose into the top 10 by the time everybody had fitted the Intermediate tyres and found himself in sixth place by the final lap, with Alonso rapidly closing him down.
Alonso was one of a few drivers to pit twice during the restarted race, after the Intermediate tyres appeared to wear out incredibly quickly.
Pitting for a second set of Intermediates in the closing laps saw Alonso circulate up to five seconds quicker than those ahead of him, resulting in closing Vettel down unbelievably fast.
The Alpine driver dived down the inside of Vettel at the Turn 16/17 chicane, where Vettel was left to hang around the outside of Turn 16, which became the inside for Turn 17.
It was then a drag race to the finish line, where Vettel reigned superior by a breathtaking 0.011 seconds; however, nobody saw it on TV.
The drag race wasn’t discovered until it’d been uploaded onto social media, with broadcasters having been too busy showing replays of Charles Leclerc battling Sergio Pérez.
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It meant that they’d missed what was probably the best racing of the 28 Lap Grand Prix, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans.
The duo rolled back the years in their brilliant battle, with the pair having been championship rivals from 2010-2014, when Vettel was with Red Bull and Alonso was with Ferrari.
They have a combined age of 76-years-old and six World Drivers’ Championships between them, further questioning why the brilliant battle wasn’t shown by broadcasters.