It has been a long day with qualifying and then the race, but Valtteri Bottas is the man celebrating and Mercedes are the team that are happy.

Constructors' title number six in the bag for Mercedes, while Bottas keeps his slim title hopes alive with his first win since back in race four.

Thanks as always for joining us and for all your comments. A week off next weekend, before Mexico in two weeks' time. Until then, bye for now.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Suzuka

Image source, Getty Images

Valtteri Bottas won the Japanese Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton third behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to secure a new Formula 1 record of a sixth consecutive world championship double for Mercedes.

The result secured the constructors' title for Mercedes with four races to go and while Hamilton has not quite won the drivers' championship no-one other than Bottas can catch him, which guarantees a Mercedes driver will be world champion.

Their victory breaks the record of five title doubles set by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari from 2000-4 and confirms this Mercedes team as the greatest in Formula 1 history.

Hamilton is still all but certain to win the drivers' title but Bottas' win pushes a sixth championship crown a bit further away for the Briton.

He leads Bottas by 64 points and needs to be 78 clear of the Finn to secure the championship at the next race in Mexico.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: "It has never been done before and that's why it feels great. It's F1, it's motor racing. Is it historic? I don't know. There are more important things out there but for us it feels great."

We can't mention a period of dominance and not talk about the man who has the most world titles - seven, that is. And he got five of them with Ferrari, the team who have the richest history in the sport.

The F399 didn't take Schumacher to a drivers' title in 1999, Mika Hakkinen won it with McLaren, but it was the start of Ferrari's six-year string as the constructors' champions.

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Now we are down to two in the drivers' championship.

Not that long ago, Red Bull had their time at the top. The RB6 was arguably Adrian Newey's finest work as it took Sebastian Vettel, and the team to win four drivers and constructors' titles.

They built on Ross Brawn's double diffuser from 2009, and built the best car on the grid.

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The handshake that says 'we're champions again'.

Periods of dominance - no team have won more than six titles in a row. Looking ahead to next year, what more can Mercedes achieve? For the staticians out there, they could be the first to extend the streak of dominance.

Mercedes - 2014-2018

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Star number six can now be added for Mercedes...

Paddy Emerson: I know he will be world champion but when is Hamilton going to show a little bit of class? Rather than spend the race moaning when things don't quite go his way.

Phil Baker: When will they finally see that having teams of 2 cars as one entity and drivers as individual drivers is the next best step in F1 !!. Teams produce 2 cars with generic cockpits all the same and all drivers take it in turn to drive each car.

Rachel T: What Mercedes have achieved is testament to the hard work, cool heads, healthy attitude, humility & teamwork they have shown for six years in a row. Very well deserved.

If you've not seen this, this is well worth a watch.

In 2018 F3 driver Sophia Florsch almost died after her car hit a fence at 170mph during a race.

It was a miracle she survived but only a year later she was back in a car, determined not to let anything get in the way of her dream of becoming the first female F1 champion.

The lead for Lewis Hamilton was at 73 points at the start of the day, now it's down to 64. Still looks a matter of time before he wins his sixth world title.

He could claim it next time in Mexico, but needs to win and for Bottas to finish outside the top three.

Image source, .

Charles Leclerc has a meeting with the stewards. But before he goes, he says he's not really sure who was to blame.

He says: "Well from my point of view I was on the inside I oversteered and we touched. Whether there's someone to blame or not, I don't know - I haven't seen the situation yet, it's the way it is and unfortunately it put us on the back-foot for our race.

"Sixth is not the place I wanted to finish, it's disappointing but strategy-wise I don't think it could've gone much better.

"As Mattia [Binotto] mentioned before the weekend we need to do everything possible to match Mercedes because they're very strong."

Some words from Max Verstappen.

The fans voted for Valtteri Bottas for driver of the day. He had not won a race since Azerbaijan in April, and he's had some disappointment in the last few races with mistakes and the strategy not working in his favour.

But today he was almost perfect.

Image source, Reuters

Lewis Hamilton is in the media pen. He says: "There's been so much hard work over the year and the last seven years. The team have done an amazing job and I’m really proud to be part of it and able to contribute... I hope everyone is having some champagne today."

Asked on whether he thought he could win the race if it wasn't for team orders and different strategy calls, he says: "It doesn’t really matter, it’s all hypothetical. Valtteri deserved the win and we move on to Mexico which is going to be a nightmare for us."

Ferrari have existed in Formula 1 the longest, so it's no surprise they have 139 more race wins, 118 poles, and 10 more constructors' titles... but Mercedes are quickly catching up.

Red Bull are the last team other than Mercedes to win the title, and Ferrari's last time at the top was all the way back in 2008.

But not all good for McLaren, with Lando Norris coming 13th.

Another strong finish for McLaren with Carlos Sainz at the wheel. He started in seventh and finished in fifth, just behind Alex Albon in the Red Bull, while his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris was way down in 13th.

Alexander Albon's fourth-placed finish is his best in his career. He had been fifth at Belgium and Russia, so it probably won't be too long before he gets on to a podium. Red Bull's decision to swap Gasly and Albon around earlier this year is looking a good one.

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