Nico Rosberg won his ninth race of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka and extended his lead to Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' World Champiosnhip standings to 33 points. With the Mercedes drivers finishing in first and third respectively the team also secured its' third consecutive Constructors world title with four races still to go to end of the season.
The German driver had yet another faultless race to clinch his fourth win in the last five races, while his team-mate failed once again to produce a good start falling from second place into eighth. Hamilton would eventually apologise over the radio for failing to produce a good start.
Still the reigning world champion didn't hold back and went for damage limitation by passing
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg on lap seven and Sergio Perez and
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on the first pitstop.
The next victim of Hamilton's recovery was Ricciardo, putting only Verstappen and Vettel between him and Rosberg, who was driving calmly in the lead. In the second visit to the pitstops Mercedes once again proved its better strategy as it managed to put Hamilton ahead of Vettel's Ferrari by bringing in the Brit before the German.
Vettel in softs still tried to attack Hamilton's position but after a couple of laps of pressure he lost his ability to get close enough to the Mercedes driver, causing him a lot of frustration which could be heard over the radio. The German finished fourth, 14.4s behind Rosberg.
Hamilton still managed to get close enough to
Red Bull's Max Verstappen to try to overtake him. In an attempt to climb to second place on lap 52 in the chicane, but the Dutch driver defended his position and forced the world champion to take the escape road.
Raikkonen and Ricciardo finished fifth and sixth, while the Force India duo Perez and Hulkenberg conquered valuable points for their team, in seventh and eighth, to extend their gap over
Williams to 10 points. The British team drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished in ninth and tenth.
Check the Driver's and Consctructor's World Championship standings here.
2016 Japanese Grand Prix Results
POS |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
LAPS |
TIME |
1 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
53 |
1h26m43.333s |
2 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull |
53 |
4.978s |
3 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
53 |
5.776s |
4 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
53 |
20.269s |
5 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
53 |
28.370s |
6 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull |
53 |
33.941s |
7 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
53 |
57.495s |
8 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
53 |
59.177s |
9 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams |
53 |
1m37.763s |
10 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams |
53 |
1m38.323s |
11 |
Romain Grosjean |
Haas |
53 |
1m39.254s |
12 |
Jolyon Palmer |
Renault |
52 |
1 Lap |
13 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Toro Rosso |
52 |
1 Lap |
14 |
Kevin Magnussen |
Renault |
52 |
1 Lap |
15 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber |
52 |
1 Lap |
16 |
Fernando Alonso |
McLaren |
52 |
1 Lap |
17 |
Carlos Sainz |
Toro Rosso |
52 |
1 Lap |
18 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
52 |
1 Lap |
19 |
Felipe Nasr |
Sauber |
52 |
1 Lap |
20 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Haas |
52 |
1 Lap |
21 |
Esteban Ocon |
Manor |
52 |
1 Lap |
22 |
Pascal Wehrlein |
Manor |
52 |
1 Lap |