Japanese GP 2015: Hamilton beats Rosberg and draws level with Senna

Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari. The race was effectively decided on the opening lap: Hamilton started from 2nd on the grid and squeezed polesitter Rosberg out at Turn 2. From there he led all 53 laps. With his eighth win of the season he drew level with his idol Ayrton Senna on Grand Prix victories, both now on 41.

Rosberg was on pole, but Hamilton got the better start. The two Silver Arrows went through Turn 1 side by side. At Turn 2 Hamilton held the racing line on the inside, and Rosberg had to take avoiding action on the outside, over the kerbs and off the track. That cost him several places at once: after the opening lap he was only 4th, behind Vettel and Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.

Hamilton saw it as normal hard racing. He said he had been on the limit of grip himself, and that the driver on the outside sometimes simply runs out of room. Rosberg later saw it as the moment that cost him the race. Hamilton then built an unchallenged lead: after lap 10 he was six seconds clear of Vettel, according to the FIA report. At the finish he was 18.9 seconds ahead of Rosberg and also set the fastest lap of the race.

Behind the leaders it was tight on the run to the first corner. Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull tried to go between Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa but had no room and touched the Williams. Ricciardo picked up a left-rear puncture and floor damage. Massa carried on with a damaged right-front tyre. Both had to pit at the end of the first lap. Massa took a long time just to get past the Manor cars.

Sergio Pérez in the Force India was also out of contention early. At Turn 1 he tangled with Carlos Sainz and his team-mate Nico Hülkenberg, slid off the track and dropped to the back of the field. He too pitted after lap 1.

The tally for the three: Massa started 5th on the grid and finished only 17th, two laps down. Having lost twelve places, he was the big loser of the day. Ricciardo dropped from 7th to 15th, Pérez from 9th to 12th.

In the first phase of the race Rosberg was stuck behind Bottas. According to the FIA he was even given more engine power, but he couldn't get past before the pit stops. All the front-runners were heading for two stops. Bottas was the first of the leading group to pit, on lap 11, followed by Vettel on lap 13, Rosberg on lap 15 and Hamilton on lap 16. Rosberg rejoined behind Bottas but then passed him into the chicane. According to the FIA, the Finn barely put up a fight.

The battle for 2nd place was settled at the second stops. Rosberg came in on lap 29 and was clearly faster than Vettel on fresh tyres. Ferrari brought Vettel in a lap later, and the crew worked quickly. Even so, Rosberg was through by pit exit. The deciding factor was apparently Rosberg's strong out lap on fresh tyres. Vettel then closed to within about two seconds of Rosberg, but never got a chance to attack.

The Ferrari–Williams duel was also decided in the pit lane. Räikkönen made his second stop on lap 28, Bottas not until lap 29. According to grandprix.com that was too late for Bottas, as his tyres faded at the end of every stint. Räikkönen got past at pit exit, took 4th place and gained two places on his grid position. Bottas slipped from 3rd on the grid to 5th.

The biggest gainer in the race was Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso: he went from 17th on the grid to 9th, eight places up. In the first qualifying session he had stopped his car in a dangerous spot and received a three-place grid penalty for it. For a long time the rookie was stuck behind Felipe Nasr, Daniil Kvyat and Fernando Alonso. According to the FIA he passed Alonso with DRS on lap 26. Team-mate Sainz was ahead of him for a long time, but on lap 27, coming in for his second stop, he hit a bollard at the pit entry. The new nose cost him a lot of time, and on lap 45 Verstappen passed him into the chicane. Sainz still salvaged a point in tenth.

Hülkenberg gained seven places, from 13th to 6th. He had a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Massa at the Singapore GP, but made a good start. An early stop on lap 10 got him past both Lotus cars, and he then pulled away from them. Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado still brought home ten points for Lotus F1 in seventh and eighth.

Kvyat also gained seven places. He had crashed heavily at Turn 10 in Q3, received a new chassis and therefore had to make a pit lane start. With fading brakes, though, he only reached 13th, ahead of Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber.

There was only one retirement: Felipe Nasr was in the thick of the action in the Sauber but parked the car after 49 laps. The official status is simply “Retired”, and formula1.com gave no reason. According to Wikipedia it was a technical failure; we found no second source for this. He is listed as a retirement (DNF) in the results.

At engine partner Honda's home race, McLaren had a bitter day. Alonso finished eleventh and vented over the radio about the lack of top speed. According to formula1.com he compared the performance to a GP2 engine. Jenson Button trailed home a distant 16th. For Manor Marussia, Alexander Rossi finished 18th ahead of Will Stevens, who had spun.

In the 2015 standings Hamilton had 277 points after the 14th of 19 races of the season. Rosberg had 229, so the gap was 48 points. Vettel was third on 218 points, followed by Räikkönen (119) and Bottas (111). In the constructors' championship Mercedes extended their lead with 506 points over Ferrari (337) and Williams (208). Further back, Grosjean moved past Pérez (39) into 9th with 44 points.

The race had a sombre backdrop. It was the first Grand Prix at Suzuka since Jules Bianchi's serious accident in 2014, from the effects of which he died in July 2015. Manor remembered him privately. The organisers had installed a larger crane at the accident site instead of a tractor as before. In sporting terms it was another step towards Hamilton's third title: with his third win in Japan and victory number 41 he was now level with Senna, who had clinched all three of his world titles at Suzuka.