Rosberg wins again at Suzukaposted in F109 | 10 | 2016
NICO ROSBERG CAPITALISED on a botched start by title rivals and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to cruise to victory in the Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton, who started second but immediately dropped to eighth off the startline, fought back to finish third behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Rosberg, who dominated from the 30th pole position of his Formula One career to seal his 23rd win, and ninth this season, now leads the championship by 33 points with just four grands prix and 100 points remaining.
The result also clinched a third successive constructors' championship for Mercedes.
Hamilton’s hopes though of eating into Rosberg’s 23-point advantage as the sat on the startling at Suzuka evaporated in the first few seconds of the race.
As the five red lights went off, the defending world champ bogged down and was swamped, eventually slotting into eighth and apologising to his team shortly afterwards.
While Rosberg then delivered a flawless drive, controlling the race from start to finish, it was a case of damage limitation for Hamilton as he fought back trough the field.
He eased passed the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg on lap seven, then made up another two places at his first pitstop by getting ahead of Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen.
Next up was the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, which left him with just Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Sebastien Vettel between him and Rosberg.
At the second round of pitstops, Hamilton emerged ahead of Vettel, then set about closing the gap to Verstappen to less than a second on lap 44. On lap 52, the penultimate lap of the race, Hamilton made a move into the chicane, but was forced to take the escape road as the 19-year-old moved to the inside to defend as they hit the brakes.
Behind the leading four driver, Raikkonen claimed fifth, one place ahead of Malaysia winner Ricciardo. Force India duo Perez and Hulkenberg took seventh and eighth, ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Botta.
The result eased Force India into a 10-point lead over Williams in the scrap for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
Formula 1 — Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka (Result):
1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 53 laps
2. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +4.9s
3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +5.7s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +20.2s
5. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +28.3s
6. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer +33.9s
7. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +57.4s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +59.7s
9. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +97.7s
10. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +98.3s
11. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +99.2
12. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +1 lap
13. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +1 lap
15. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1 lap
17. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
18. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap
19. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
20. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
21. Esteban Ocon FRA MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
22. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
Related; Ricciardo leads home Red Bull 1-2 in Malaysia
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Jim McGill