Summary

  • Hamilton wins after overtaking Rosberg on lap one

  • Rosberg 2nd, Vettel 3rd, Raikkonen 4th, Bottas 5th

  • Alonso says McLaren pace is "embarrassing" over radio

  • Nasr out

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Team radio

    Mercedes' Nico Rosberg (currently fourth): "Can I turn up the engine again?"

    Engineer: "That's fine, Nico. When you can, go to strap three."

  2. Good start by Lotus

    Good start from the Lotus pair with both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado gaining places. Grosjean is up to sixth from eighth, while Maldonado has climbed into the top 10, up to seventh from 11th.

  4. Get involved - #bbcf1

    Dazzla: GET IN THERE HAMILTON, got the inside and hung Rosberg out to dry, brilliant start!!

    Laura: Car off. Automatically assume it's Maldonado.

    Adam: Punctures left right and centre at the start of this race.

  5. Three laps down and Lewis Hamilton leads Sebastian Vettel - who also made a great start - by two seconds. Valtteri Bottas is third with Nico Rosberg fourth. 

  6. David Coulthard
    BBC F1 co-commentator

    "The pain is growing inside Rosberg as he goes across the line in fourth place. Whenever he goes into wheel-to-wheel combat with Hamilton, he always seems to come off second best."

  7. yellow flag

    Yellow flag

    Daniel Ricciardo is not the only driver to suffer an early puncture, also Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez, who went through the gravel in an eventful start. Massa is very slow as he limps back to the pits and the yellow flags are waved.

    Massa in pitsBBC Sport

  8. Team radio

    Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo: "I have a puncture."

    Ricciardo punctureBBC Sport

  9. David Coulthard
    BBC F1 co-commentator

    "That was incredible - it looked like Hamilton was starting lose the position to Rosberg as he tried to go around the outside."

  10. Go! Go! Go!

    LIGHTS OUT! 

    Great start by Lewis Hamilton and he is into the lead at the first corner. Nico Rosberg, meanwhile is dropping back. He looked to have almost kept Hamilton at bay but is now down to fourth.

  11. massa

    Can Felipe Massa get the jump on Sebastian Vetel at the first corner? The Brazilian starts from fifth.

  13. Get involved - #bbcf1

    Rebecca Odedun: Reminiscing about how #Suzuka used to signify the end of the year instead of multiple soulless Ecclestone commisioned circuits.  

    Clare Star: Seems like a long time since my last early #bbcf1 start. Coffee, nan blanket, cat. Looks like we are good to go!  

  14. Off goes the grid for the formation lap and everyone looks to have got off OK.

    Just Jenson Button on the hard tyre, everyone else on the medium compound.

  15. It is the same front row as the 2014 race. Back then, Lewis Hamilton managed to get past Nico Rosberg to take victory. That was in the wet, though. very much dry conditions today.

  16. Mercedes in his sights?

  17. THE GRID

    Right then, almost time for the 14th race of the season. A quick reminder of the grid before lights out:

    1)  Nico Rosberg 2) Lewis Hamilton 3) Valtteri Bottas 4) Sebastian Vettel 5) Felipe Massa 6) Kimi Raikkonen 7) Daniel Ricciardo 8) Romain Grosjean 9) Sergio Perez 10) Carlos Sainz

    11) Pastor Maldonado 12) Fernando Alonso 13) Nico Hulkenberg * 14) Jenson Button 15) Marcus Ericsson 16) Felipe Nasr 17) Max Verstappen * 18) Will Stevens 19) Alexander Rossi

    Daniil Kvyat starting from the pit lane

    *After three-place grid penalty applied

  19. Get involved - #bbcf1

    Kyle Mclaren: I hope Vettel can win today anything can happen after all this is racing #bbcf1 fingers crossed for him.

    CK Chandu: Breakfast served with #JapaneseGP All set to end the weekend!

    Vinny Anthony: Looking forward to this. Hoping for the ideal start come on @LewisHamilton!

  20. Formula 1

    He's not won from lower than third, though. He starts today's race from fourth.