Japanese GP 2016: Rosberg wins as Mercedes become constructors' champions

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Japanese GP at Suzuka Circuit from pole position, taking victory for Mercedes in the 17th round of the season. Max Verstappen followed him home in the Red Bull, 4.978 seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton finished third after dropping to eighth place at the start. Rosberg therefore laid the foundations for his win in the very first metres. Yet it stayed tense right to the end: on the penultimate lap, Verstappen shut the door on Hamilton at the chicane. The win also handed Mercedes a third consecutive constructors' title.

Rosberg got away cleanly and took the lead. Verstappen moved up from third on the grid to second, with Sergio Pérez initially following in the Force India. Hamilton, by contrast, made a poor start. According to Motorsport Magazine, he let the clutch out too abruptly, the engine bogged down and several cars went past him. A damp patch on his grid position may also have unsettled him. By the end of the opening lap, he was down in eighth.

Daniel Ricciardo lost momentum at the start, allowing Pérez and Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari to get past, and Vettel soon overtook Pérez as well. Vettel had been handed a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Rosberg at the Malaysian GP, so he started only sixth. Kimi Räikkönen took a five-place grid penalty after an unscheduled gearbox change and started the race from eighth. He quickly worked his way forward: on lap 7 he passed Nico Hülkenberg, with Hamilton following him through a lap later.

Almost all the front-runners stopped twice, switching from soft to hard tyres. Red Bull brought both Verstappen and Ricciardo in on lap 10 to cover off an undercut from Ferrari. Rosberg, Vettel, Räikkönen and Pérez pitted on lap 12, Hamilton a lap later. That paid off for Hamilton: Räikkönen and Pérez were stuck behind Jolyon Palmer in the Renault, who stopped only once, and so Hamilton got past both of them. He then also overtook the Williams cars, which were running on older tyres.

In the second round of stops, Mercedes reacted to Verstappen's stop on lap 28 by bringing Rosberg in on lap 29. According to Motorsport Magazine, the leader rejoined around four seconds ahead of the Red Bull. Vettel ran a long middle stint and led from lap 30 to 34 as a result. Hamilton had cut his deficit to the Ferrari from around 13 seconds on lap 15 to 4.2 seconds by lap 32. He then used the undercut at his second stop on lap 33 to get ahead of Vettel, who did not stop until lap 34. Ferrari went for soft tyres for the final stint, but it was no longer enough. Vettel finished fourth, 20.269 seconds behind the winner. He did at least set the fastest lap with a 1:35.118. Over the radio, he complained audibly about backmarkers who failed to get out of the way.

On the hard tyres, Hamilton quickly closed in on Verstappen. According to Motorsport Magazine, the gap shrank from around four seconds to under one in roughly five laps. On lap 52, the penultimate lap, Hamilton attacked down the inside at the chicane. Verstappen moved right late and closed the door, forcing Hamilton to take the escape road. The Red Bull driver held on to second place by 0.8 seconds at the flag. The fans voted him Driver of the Day.

After the race, Mercedes lodged a protest. The team accused Verstappen of breaching Article 27.5 of the Sporting Regulations at Turn 16, in other words of driving erratically and dangerously. Both drivers had already left the circuit by then, so the stewards intended to hear the case only at the United States GP. Shortly afterwards, Mercedes withdrew the protest, and Hamilton publicly backed the decision on Twitter. The result therefore stood as it had been decided on track.

Remarkably, all 22 cars took the chequered flag – there was not a single retirement.

Winners of the day:

• Max Verstappen: He gained a place, kept the world champion in the Mercedes behind him and scored 18 points.
• Kimi Räikkönen: He went from eighth on the grid to fifth, three places gained.
• Felipe Massa: With just one stop, he climbed from twelfth on the grid to ninth and scored two points. Teammate Valtteri Bottas finished tenth.
• Jolyon Palmer and Jenson Button: Both gained four places each. Button had been sent to the back of the grid after a penalty for using too many power unit components. He finished 18th in the McLaren.

Losers of the day:

• Esteban Gutiérrez: He lost ten places, from tenth on the grid to 20th. Among other things, he spun at the chicane while battling Carlos Sainz.
• Romain Grosjean: In the second car of the Haas F1 Team, he dropped from seventh on the grid to eleventh, just outside the points.
• Daniel Ricciardo: After his botched start, he drove an unremarkable race and only finished sixth.
• Carlos Sainz: In the Toro Rosso, he lost three places and finished 17th. Along the way, he fought a duel with Fernando Alonso, who came home 16th.

With his win, Rosberg extended his lead in the 2016 standings. He now had 313 points to Hamilton's 280. With four races still to go, Rosberg was therefore 33 points clear. Even four second places would now have been enough for him to win the title on his own. Behind them, Ricciardo stayed third on 212 points, ahead of Räikkönen on 170. Verstappen and Vettel both had 165 points, with the Dutchman moving up to fifth. Massa climbed to tenth.

In the constructors' standings, Mercedes wrapped things up with 40 points from this race. The team reached 593 points, Red Bull 385 and Ferrari 335. For Mercedes, it was a third consecutive constructors' title. Rosberg also celebrated his first win at Suzuka. For context: at the end of the season, Rosberg became world champion by five points from Hamilton.