Lewis Hamilton wins his 41st victory in Formula One at the Japanese GP

At the Japanese Grand Prix today, Lewis Hamilton comfortably won the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in third place.

Intitially, Nico Rosberg had a good start heading into the first corner as did Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo. But Hamilton manages to close up on his team mate and leads into the first corner with Rosberg losing places to Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.

As this is going on, Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa bang wheels together; this then leads to both drivers dropping to nineteenth and twentieth as both may have suspected punctures. The Lotus drivers of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado are already up to sixth and seventh, Nico Hulkenberg is up to eighth and Fernando Alonso is also in the top ten. At the end of the lap, Sergio Perez pits who went into the gravel and also has a puncture as well from hitting Carlos Sainz Jr as Ricciardo and Massa.

Lap 2 and Hamilton leads ahead of Vettel by 1.6 seconds. . In the first opening laps of the race, there is a battle for ninth between Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr and Marcus Ericsson. Sainz is slowly gaining on Alonso and is trying to find a way past. But Sainz Jr is able to pass Alonso on the first corner of the fifth lap with a great move heading into Turn 1; and Ericsson does the same the following lap later on Alonso as well and it would seem that McLaren-Honda are struggling with battery power this weekend.

There was also a battle between Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen for twelfth place; with Verstappen slowly gaining on the Sauber driver very quickly indeed. With the early pitstop of Daniil Kvyat, we see many teams now choosing to pit their drivers. Lap 10 sees Marcus Ericsson going off the track at Spoon Curve and this allows his team mate to pass him for position and Button slowly gaining on Ericsson himself until he is forced to pit at the end of the lap.

By Lap 12, Hamilton extends his lead over Vettel to 7.2 seconds. Meanwhile, Ericsson finds himself in another battle for eighth place with Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean. The next lap sees Hulkenberg into Turn 1 making a move on Ericsson and is now in eighth place. A few corners later into Degner 1, Grosjean makes a crisp move on Nasr and demotes him a place to tenth place.

Hamilton now leads Rosberg by Lap 15 of the Japanese GP by 12.9 seconds after Vettel has made his first pit stop. There is a battle for eleventh between Alonso, Kvyat and Verstappen on track and Alonso will be under pressure as the Renault powered drivers close up on him; especially on the straights.

Even after his pit stop, Hamilton still retains the lead of the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Vettel who has now moved back into second place after Rosberg made his pitstop the lap before the race leader. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas is being caught by Nico Rosberg for third place and Bottas will be coming under increasing pressure from the Mercedes driver. At the end of the lap, Rosberg squeezes past Bottas with a great move and now moves up to third place.

By Lap 21, Kimi Raikkonen is slowly gaining on Bottas and is starting to put pressure on his fellow countryman for fourth place in the race. There is a battle with the McLaren-Honda drivers with Alonso battling Verstappen for the final point of the race and Button battling to keep Ericsson behind him for twelfth place. Further down the grid, Sergio Perez passes Nasr into Turn 1 with a great move to take track position.

In the second half of the Japanese GP, Max Verstappen finally gets past the McLaren-Honda of Fernando Alonso on Lap 27 with a great move into Turn 1 after trying for many laps to get past and is now in tenth place. Publically on the team radio, Alonso says to the McLaren-Honda team that the Honda engine is of a “GP2 standard” and this will certainly raise a few eyebrows especially at the manufacturer’s home race.

Four laps later, Raikkonen has now been able to perform the undercut and is now ahead of Bottas and the battle for sixth is ongoing. But at the hairpin, Bottas passes Pastor Maldonado and continues to chase down Raikkonen as Vettel pits at the end of the lap.

But on Lap 31, Rosberg manages to pass Vettel out of the pitlane and is now in second place. The next lap sees Bottas gaining another place and passes Grosjean for sixth place and still continues to catch Raikkonen for fifth place. After making his pitstop, Hamilton still leads the race ahead of his team mate Rosberg by 9.1 seconds as Perez and Sainz Jr battle on track for ninth place.

Lap 36 sees the stewards announcing that they will be an investigation into Will Stevens for speeding in the pitlane. Three laps later, Ericsson, Button, Perez and Kvyat are in a close battle on the circuit for twelfth place. Perez is then able to pass Button for thirteenth place. It is then announced on Lap 40 that Will Stevens will get a five second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

In the latter stages of the race, Vettel is catching Rosberg for second place and with traffic ahead of both of them. On Lap 44, Perez tries to pass Ericsson in the battle for twelfth place and tries with a great move into Turn 1 to get past but Ericsson brilliantly defends his position and holds on just. On the radio, Kvyat informs his team that he is losing the brakes.

The next lap sees Verstappen and Sainz Jr battling each other for position on the track and Verstappen manages to get through and is now ninth place as a result. Perez side by side on Lap 50 at Spoon is able to pass Ericsson for twelfth after spending many laps behind him. Lap 51 sees Felipe Nasr officially retiring from the race.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who claimed his 41st victory of his career of the season by winning the Japanese GP; thereby extending his championship lead. Hamilton was ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place for the eighth time this season who was 18.964 seconds behind him but was ahead of Sebastian Vettel who finished in third place who was 20.850 seconds behind the Mercedes of Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in fifth place, Nico Hulkenberg in sixth place and Romain Grosjean in seventh place. Pastor Maldonado ended the race in eighth place ahead of Max Verstappen in ninth place and Carlos Sainz Jr who rounds off the top ten finishers; albeit a lap down on Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso finished the race in eleventh place a lap down ahead of Sergio Perez in twelfth place, Daniil Kvyat in thirteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in fourteenth place and Daniel Ricciardo in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Jenson Button finished in a disappointing sixteenth place ahead of Felipe Massa two laps down in seventeenth place, Alexander Rossi in eighteenth place and Will Stevens in nineteenth place. Felipe Nasr retired from the race but was still classified as four laps down on the leader in last place.

The classification for the Japanese GP is as follows:-

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.28.06.508
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 18.964s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 20.850s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 33.768s
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 36.746s
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 55.559s
7. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.12.298s
8. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.13.575s
9. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.33.315s
10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1 lap
12. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
13. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
15. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1 lap
16. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1 lap
17. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2 laps
18. Alexander Rossi, Manor, 2 laps
19. Will Stevens, Manor, 2 laps
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 4 laps

Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' Championship with 277 points, Rosberg is second with 229 points, Vettel is third with 218 points, Raikkonen is fourth with 119 points, Bottas is fifth with 111 points, Massa is sixth with 97 points, Ricciardo is seventh with 73 points, Kvyat is eighth with 66 points, Grosjean is ninth with 44 points and Perez is tenth with 39 points.

Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 506 points, Ferrari is second with 337 points, Williams are third with 208 points, Red Bull are fourth with 139 points, Force India are fifth with 77 points, Lotus are sixth with 60 points, Toro Rosso are seventh with 44 points, Sauber are eighth with 26 points and McLaren-Honda are ninth with 17 points.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa

Thanks as always to Graham and Leigh for letting us use their excellent circuits