SUZUKA, Japan: Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to equal the late Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 Formula One victories and move 48 points clear of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg with five races remaining.
On a sunny afternoon at Suzuka, in marked contrast to the dark and tragic 2014 race that he also won, the double world champion seized the lead from pole-sitter Rosberg at the start and never looked back.
The win was the Briton’s eighth of the season, with Rosberg anchoring the eighth one-two finish for dominant Mercedes as the champions returned to form after a mysterious dip in Singapore last weekend.
Rosberg took the chequered flag 18.9 seconds behind Hamilton with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the winner in Singapore, finishing third. --Reuters