Lewis Hamilton extended his lead in the drivers' standings to 48 points with victory at the Japanese Grand Prix after team-mate Nico Rosberg came off worse in a first corner battle between the two. Hamilton's eighth victory of the season was also the 41st of his career, equalling his hero Ayrton Senna's career record.
Rosberg started on pole, but a quick start for Hamilton saw the two Mercedes drivers wheel-to-wheel through Turn 1 before Rosberg got edged wide in Turn 2. It was a bold but fair move by Hamilton that left Rosberg out on the exit kerb and dropped him down to fourth. Rosberg then had to fight past Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel to secure second place at the chequered flag.
Vettel took third ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Bottas in fifth. Nico Hulkenberg made a great start from 13th on the grid to finish sixth ahead of the two Lotuses, while Max Verstappen pulled a move on team-mate Carlos Sainz at the final chicane with eight laps remaining to take ninth.
After making the move into the first and second corners, Hamilton's victory never looked in doubt. Rosberg passed Bottas for third place on track with a decisive overtaking move at the final chicane on lap 17 and then set about catching Vettel.
Rosberg pitted for the second time on lap 29 and nailed his outlap to make sure Vettel emerged behind him after the Ferrari's second pit stop a lap later. The hard-charging Mercedes was then 9.2s off Hamilton, but any hope of closing the gap disappeared when Hamilton extended his lead by 1.4s on the next lap before extending it to 18.9s by the end of the race.
With the battle between the two Mercedes essentially decided by the exit of the second corner, it was left to the rest of the field to provide the on-track action. Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa made contact at the start with Massa's front right clipping Ricciardo's left rear as the Red Bull attempted to barge between the Williams and Raikkonen's Ferrari. Both cars suffered punctures and dropped to the back of the field with Ricciardo finishing 15th and Massa 17th.
Sergio Perez was on the outside of a first corner collision involving Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso. Perez dropped to 18th on the first lap but was able to recover to 12th by the end of the race. Further excitement was provided by the McLarens, but it mostly involved cars passing Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, underlining the power deficit Honda still has.
Only Felipe Nasr retired from the race when he returned to the pits with four laps remaining, but Will Stevens did well to keep his Manor out of the barriers when he spun on the exit of 130R. The car was sideways along the following straight before Stevens caught the slide and corrected it to carry on, albeit behind team-mate Alexander Rossi who squeezed past.