Nico Rosberg consolidates top position with win in Japanese F1

With Rosberg’s win, Mercedes won the constructors’ title for the third year in succession. Fourth to come in was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel  who in turn was followed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. It was unfortunate for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to come in sixth, even though he had done well in the initial stages of the race.

Luck favoured the Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who came in seventh and eighth, beating arch rivals Williams, who saw Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas complete the top ten. All 22 drivers finished the race.

As the race began, a mistake by Hamilton meant that he was pushed back to eight position. Rosberg drove effectively to manage his lead all throughout.

Rosberg now has 313 points to his team mate’s 280, meaning he needs only three seconds and a third to clinch his first title over the remaining four races - even if Hamilton wins all of them.

Pos.       DRIVER                                 CAR       

1              Nico Rosberg                     Mercedes          

2              Max Verstappen              Red Bull Racing

3              Lewis Hamilton                 Mercedes          

4              Sebastian Vettel               Ferrari  

5              Kimi Räikkönen                 Ferrari  

6              Daniel Ricciardo                                Red Bull Racing 

7              Sergio Perez                       Force India         

8              Nico Hulkenberg              Force India         

9              Felipe Massa                      Williams              

10           Valtteri Bottas                   Williams              

11           Romain Grosjean             Haas     

12           Jolyon Palmer                    Renault               

13           Daniil Kvyat                         Toro Rosso         

14           Kevin Magnussen            Renault               

15           Marcus Ericsson                Sauber 

16           Fernando Alonso             Mclaren              

17           Carlos Sainz                        Toro Rosso         

18           Jenson Button                   Mclaren              

19           Felipe Nasr                         Sauber 

20           Esteban Gutierrez           Haas     

21           Esteban Ocon                    MRT      

22           Pascal Wehrlein                                MRT