ROUND 13: JAPANESE GP
Qualifying
Verstappen sets the early pace out of the first 11 runners, but Bottas goes almost 0.5sec quicker and Sainz nabs 2nd. Vettel is only 4th and Ricciardo only 7th after hitting traffic but Gutierrez is 6th.

Of the second wave of drivers, Massa sets the first time; after two sectors he is +0.003 slower than leader Bottas - he crosses the line, and it's a... 2nd, +0.083 down. Alonso goes 6th. Ricciardo is having another go as Raikkonen takes 5th.

Button is fastest of all in the first 2 sectors, and comes round, but his 3rd sector was slow and he goes only 3rd behind the 2 Williams. Perez is very quick in secotrs 1 and 3 but badly held up in sector 2 to go 15th. Kvyat is fast challenging for pole but he to is slower in sector 3, going 4th. It must just be the Williams' great straightline speed. Ricciardo is trying to improve from 13th so far, and he goes... 8th.

Now Rosberg is coming through, quickest of all. Hamilton is even quicker but gets stuck behind Button. Rosberg goes fastest and Hamilton only 6th - with an identical time to Kvyat, he gets 5th after all. Perez improves from 21st to 10th in the final minute. In the final 2 seconds Sainz improves but falls just 0.004 short of grabbing 5th and remains 7th.

What a dreadful session for title contenders Vettel and Hamilton, with Rosberg on pole no less. And this is a track notoriously hard to overtake on in this game.

Starting Grid
1.Rosberg
2.Bottas +0.239
3.Massa +0.322
4.Button +0.414
5.Hamilton +0.569
6.Kvyat +0.569
7.Sainz +0.572
8.Verstappen +0.689
9.Raikkonen +1.056
10.Perez +1.212
11.Ricciardo +1.220
12.Vettel +1.300
13.Alonso +1.569
14.Hulkenberg +1.775
15.Gutierrez +1.898
16.Nasr +1.940
17.Magnussen +2.457
18.Palmer +2.545
19.Ericsson +3.109
20.Grosjean +3.109
21.Haryanto +3.225
22.Wehrlein +6.563


Race Day
GO! And Rosberg is mugged off the line by both Williams who brilliantly sweep around him, Massa ahead. And Hamilton has had a stormer grabbing 3rd ahead of his team-mate.

The Ferraris have a miserable time in the early laps, Vettel and Raikkonen only running 13th and 14th. Massa scampers into the distance as The Mercedes can't beat Bottas' straightline speed. Hamilton hesitates and Rosberg nabs him only for Hamilton to return the favour a few laps later. Suddenly Button flies off at turn 1 from 6th while Nasr has smoke pouring out of his engine from 9th. And now Hamilton trips over Bottas into the chicane dropping to 20th! Surely it's all over for him and Vettel now. Seb has gotten up to 9th but he needs more progress.

As they come to backmarkers on lap 9, Rosberg takes his chance and sweeps past Bottas. Now he is free to catch Massa, but Felipe is 10sec up the road already. Vettel is now 7th but 21sec down.

Massa is driving the race of his life, and builds up a 15sec+ lead. He pits early but brilliantly still comes out 4th. He isn't really that fast after his stop though and even comes under pressure from Vettel and Kvyat. Hamilton is now 11th while Perez is edging closer to Bottas in 2nd.

Vettel makes his only stop from 3rd on lap 25 exiting 6th, but Bottas has spun from 2nd! Perez pits from 2nd meaning Massa is back there, 12sec down on Rosberg, but Rosberg has himself spun, down to 11th, losing 5osec and now 2 places behing Hamilton. Vettel is now a grateful 5th as Perez exits the pits just ahead of Vettel - and he too won't be stopping again.

Massa leads from Kvyat and Bottas but all must pit again. Perez and Vettel fight for 4th but are effectively leading the race as the others ahead have to pit. What an interesting strategical race this is.

On lap 32, Kvyat pits from a close 2nd exiting 6th just behind Sainz, who then pits himself. But Hamilton nabs 5th from Kvyat. Rosberg pits from 7th dropping to 11th as Bottas pits from 2nd to 4th. This leaves Massa in the lead by 20sec but he has to stop again. Perez and Vettel continue to run closely in 2nd and 3rd.

Hamilton and Ricciardo pit together and Hamilton leaves in 9th but Ricciardo just JUST edges Rosberg for 10th by the skin of his teeth.

Suddenly on lap 37 of 53, Bottas crashes out at 130R, ripping a wheel off. Hamilton has got past Sainz for what is now 7th. Raikkonen is ahead but needs to pit again soon.

Alonso is rudely barged off track at turn while racing Ericsson. On the next lap Ericsson almost takes race leader Massa out!

On lap 40, Vettel is closer than ever to Perez, just 0.203sec, but both have lost time in traffic, giving Massa a 24sec lead and Felipe needs to pit next lap - what is going to happen?? It's going to be close...

Suddenly as Raikkonen is about to pit, he crashes into Kvyat at 130R and both are out! This puts Gutierrez in the points, and he doesn't have to stop again, but is bad for Vettel as it helps the Mercedes drivers get more points. Hamilton puts just one wheel off at turn 1 and spins off! As Massa now pits for his crucial stop - it's all happening here!

Massa is in, quickl;y into his pit box, and waits, waits and waits. He's released and with great nerves goes down the pitlane. He is still leading, but where are Perez and Vettel?? They have only just left the chicane and are coming round the final bend onto the straight. Massa is passing the last pit garage now but still has some pit lane to go. Perez and Vettel come down the straight. Massa is free of the pit limiter and starts speeding up, but Perez and Vettel are crossing the line. And Massa does it! By less than 1 second. He has kept the lead and now has fresh tyres for the final 12 laps!

And now Verstappen is off at Spoon curve dropping from a great 4th to 9th. What a crazy amount of incidents in this race! Massa is flying and quickly builds up a 7sec lead in 3 laps.

Hamilton is easily fastest of all and is catching Rosberg hand over fist who can't get past Ricciardo for 5th, but suddenly he does into 130R, only for Daniel to brilliantly snatch it right back into the chicane! Now Hamilton is almost right behind both of them.

Suddenly Vettel is looking racier against Perez and is trying harder to pass him for 2nd. And now Hamilton gets a huge slipstream off Rosberg up the hill and blasts past him into 130R. Now Ricciardo is just ahead of them and all 3 of them have almost caught Sainz in 4th.

Alonso has caught Ericsson again and infuriatingly tries to pass for several laps but is frustrated. Massa's pace is dropping off now and the others eat into his 8sec lead, and there are 6 laps left. Vettel is very racy against Perez and is surely going to pass at some point, desperate for the extra championship points.

Hamilton and Rosberg have both passed Ricciardo for good now and run 5th and 6th, but 45sec off the lead.

Hamilton is now all over Sainz hugely, and Sainz makes a mistake before going under the bridge, and Hamilton, Rosberg and Ricciardo all are through. But it's allowed Rosberg to close up and he gets back past Hamilton into 130R as immediately behind Sainz does the same to Ricciardo. Just 4 laps left now.

Verstappen has lost more time, and now Wehrlein is just a few seconds behind him, tanatlisingly out of the points. Meanwhile, Alonso has got past Ericsson for 12th and catches them both, determined to grab a point himself.

Just 3 laps to go now as, OH NO, Gutierrez is off at turn 1 from 9th, dropping to 15th. But this allows Wehrlein into 10th, just 6sec ahead of Alonso... Hamilton is also back a head of Rosberg again! Massa continues to lead, back up to 8sec again, but what's this? Vettel is through for 2nd!

2 laps to go, and Rosberg is back past Hamilton through a backmarker, as Alonso can now see Wehrlein ahead of him for 10th, but he is about to be lapped by Massa maybe, costing him one last crucial lap.

As Massa crosses the line into his final lap, suddenly ahead of him Wehrlein IS SLOWING DOWN! He has a problem, and up the hill, Alonso gets him, as Hamilton is AGAIN ahead of Rosberg. This is the very final lap no less, but suddenly the camera shows Hamilton off the track, a wheel ripped off his car! What's this? All 4 drivers, Hamilton, Rosberg, Sainz and Ricciardo were absolutely nose to tail through the esses as a backmarker suddenly spins off and crashes into Hamilton also taking Rosberg and Sainz off and Ricciardo who avoids it all immediately goes from 7th to 4th in one corner. Rosberg is stuck against the backmarker in the gravel. Through all this, we almost miss Massa coming out of the final turn, down the straight, to superbly WIN his first race for so long! Vettel crosses the line just 6sec behind in the end followed by poor Wehrlein with his stuck throttle and Perez in 3rd! And how Gutierrez must be heartbroken, having realised if he hadn't gone off with just 3 laps left, he would probably have come 6th - as it is, he is a lapped 15th. Rosberg recovers to 7th while Hamilton is classified 10th.


Result
1.Massa
2.Vettel +6.123
3.Perez +8.508
4.Ricciardo +1:00.164
5.Hulkenberg +1:16.566
6.Sainz +1:18.512
7.Rosberg +1:20.538
8.Verstappen +1:27.954
9.Alonso +1:41.691
10.Hamilton - DNF
11.Wehrlein -1 lap
12.Ericsson -1 lap
13.Button -1 lap
14.Magnussen -1 lap
15.Gutierrez -1 lap
16.Grosjean -1 lap
17.Palmer -1 lap
R.Kvyat - DNF
R.Raikkonen - DNF
R.Bottas - DNF
R.Haryanto - Engine
R.Nasr - Engine

Fastest Lap Top 3: Massa, Vettel, Hamilton