Nico Rosberg extended his
championship lead to 33 points with victory in 2016 Formula 1 Emirates Japanese
Grand Prix, as Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from a nightmare
start to finish third, just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The result gives Mercedes an unassailable
lead in the constructor’s championship effectively securing them a third
straight crown. Sebastian Vettel was Ferrari lead runner on a frustrating
afternoon for the Scuderia, the German taking fourth place ahead of team mate
Kimi Raikkonen. Also disappointed was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, the
Australian having started the race in front of both the Scarlet cars.
The Force India of Sergio Perez and
Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, beating rivals Williams, who saw
Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, complete the top ten, as all 22 drivers
finished the race. Polesitter Nico Rosberg effectively had things won the
moment Hamilton made a mistake and lagged so badly at the start that he plunged
from second to eighth place.
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. The
final points went to the battling Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri
Bottas who were separated by 0.5s at the flag and were only 0.9s ahead of
Romain Grosjean Haas.
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