Rosberg wins Japanese GP to widen point lead
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| Nico Rosberg wins again |
Nico Rosberg had a perfect weekend at Suzuka – leading every practice session, taking pole, and then driving a perfect race in a perfect car – to win the Japanese GP over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
It was the first win at Suzuka for Rosberg and the superior Aldo Costa designed cars wrapped up the 2016 Constructors championship already.
In taking his 9th win of the year Rosberg stretched his point lead over Hamilton from 23 to 33 points with 100 possible points remaining.
The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top-5, over 20-seconds behind the Mercedes.
Starting from pole position, Rosberg got away cleanly and was never troubled thereafter as his main threat in Hamilton was effectively eliminated at the starts by a terrible getaway that left him down in eighth after the opening lap.
Mercedes lodged a protest with the stewards over Max Verstappen's defensive tactics in his late-race battle with Lewis Hamilton.
According to an official document, Mercedes’ protest relates to "an alleged breach of Article 27.5 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, in that he [Verstappen] allegedly drove erratically and in a dangerous manner, forcing car 44 [Hamilton] to take evasive action at Turn 16."
Verstappen and Hamilton were disputing second place at the time of the lap 52 incident, with the Red Bull driver – who also claimed Driver of the Day honors – going on to beat the Briton across the line by just 0.7s.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]However the protest was later withdrawn.
Vettel blamed tire degradation and not a botched strategy for his failure to reach the Japanese GP podium, the first time since 2008.
Despite spending much of the grand prix running in third place, Vettel fell off the podium when he was undercut by Lewis Hamilton in the second of two pit stops.
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| Vettel up to third |
That immediately raised questions about Ferrari's strategy as all afternoon the undercut had been working, allow other drivers to take positions or at least close the gaps.
Vettel, though, refused to blame Ferrari, saying they were undone by tire degradation.
He told BBC Radio 5 live: “It's been a positive weekend.
"With penalties for both drivers, it was harsh but we managed to come back and then looked like we might get a podium.
"I think it was a right thing to do (to stay out when others pitted) but then the tires didn't hold up.
"We just had more tire degradation to fight with than we expected."
How the race unfolded
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| The start |
At the start Rosberg took the lead from pole and the field made it through the first few turns without incident with Hamilton down in eighth – disastrous start for the world champion.
"Sorry guys," says a disappointed Hamilton over team radio. "Don't stress Lewis," say Mercedes in response, knowing their superior car will take him back to the front
On lap 1 Vettel made a daring pass on Ricciardo at 130R! Vettel was a man on the move. On lap 3 he was down the inside of Perez, and into third for the German
On lap 6 Raikkonen moved up to sixth after picking off Hulkenberg at Turn 1.
On the same lap Fernando Alonso ran wide at Turn 1 after a botched attempt to overtake former teammate Felipe Massa's Williams.
On lap 13 Rosberg pitted from the race lead, followed by Vettel. Rosberg switched to hards and came out ahead of Verstappen. Vettel also went to hards, as did teammate Raikkonen who stopped behind. Perez – who also pitted for hards – stayed ahead of Raikkonen.
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| The drive of the race was by Hamilton – 8th to 3rd |
On the following lap Hamilton pitted from the lead, took on hard tires as well and came out in seventh having jumped Raikkonen and Perez – the Mercedes team does everything right!
Hamilton's charge continued on lap 15 as he passed Ricciardo out of Spoon to take P6 and then took Massa on the pit straight to move up to P5.
The next lap, lap 16, he took Bottas for P4 as both Williams drivers running with Mercedes B-engines, appeared to have been instructed to move aside.
On lap 21 Gutierrez spun on entry to the chicane after an attempted pass on Sainz Jr. The Mexican got going again in the anti-American Haas car.
On lap 31 Vettel radioed to his crew – "It's ridiculous, I mean it's ridiculous, I lost a second for nothing. ****!" behind moving chicane Pascal Wehrlein's Manor, the slowest driver on the track.
By lap 33 Hamilton was catching Vettel fast. The gap was at 11s when they made their first stops – was now down to 4.8s as Hamilton, driving the Aldo Costa wondermobile was lopping off over a second a lap on the hapless Ferrari.
On lap 34 Hamilton pitted for another set of hards and returned to the track in P4, just in front of Raikkonen.
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| Verstappen and Hamilton brake for the chicane on the final lap, Verstappen came out ahead |
Vettel pitted on the next lap for softs but came out behind Hamilton as the Aldo Costa machine was now ahead of the hapless Ferrari in third. With his softer tires Vettel was all over the back of the Mercedes driver but within two laps the Mercedes began to gap the hapless Ferrari as he charged to catch Verstappen in 2nd.
"He's pulling away – pulling away on the straights!" Vettel cries, frustration creeping into his voice knowing the Ferrari is inferior in every department.
Hamilton caught Verstappen and was all over him for several laps, but not able to pass. On the final lap he made an attempt to dive under Verstappen into the Chicane but Verstappen jinxed left and Hamilton ran down the escape road to avoid a collision.
Verstappen crossed the line 0.7s ahead of Hamilton to take second place. But third was enough to clinch Mercedes the constructors' title once again.
TEAM QUOTES
Mercedes GP
Nico Rosberg (1st): What an awesome weekend! It felt great right from when the lights went green on Friday. I got a good rhythm in practice, had a strong Qualifying, a decent start and then from the lead I was able to control the pace in the race. I had to save my engine a bit as it was my last race in the cycle – but the gap was always safe. I came here to win in Japan and I managed to do so, which is really special. It's a fantastic feeling to win at this legendary race track. Massive congratulations to all of my colleagues here in Japan, back at Brackley and Brixworth, and the hundreds of thousands of Daimler employees out there for the third Constructors' World Championship. A huge thank you to every single person and to every partner who made this possible. They are really the best! They deserve it so much after the unbelievable effort over these past few years, so let's celebrate hard! I might do a little bit of celebrating myself but not too much. The season is not over yet with a few races still to go around the world, so I need to keep my energy up! Thank you so much to everyone out in the crowds this weekend too. The fans here always create a special atmosphere and they've put on such a great show. Arigato! Now we need to focus on the last four races. I look forward to going to America next. See you there!
Lewis Hamilton (3rd): Firstly, I'd like to say a huge congratulations to everyone back at the factories and the whole of Mercedes-Benz. Everyone has done a fantastic job and to have this success three years in a row is incredible. It's been an awesome effort from so many people over the last three years and that is the most important thing to take from today. We couldn't have done it without all of their support and I'm very, very proud to be a part of it. I'm also proud to have been part of the Mercedes-Benz journey since 2007 and then since 2013 with this team. Looking at the race itself, I'm not really quite sure what happened at the start. I'll have to see what the engineers say – but I got the worst getaway I could possibly get. My side wasn't completely dry and there was lots of wheel spin – but that wasn't the whole issue. I lost a lot of ground as everyone else gained traction moving away. It was frustrating, but that's the way it is. These things happen. Then, in the first part of the race, I didn't have the pace of Kimi, so knew I had to go longer and wasn't really trying to attack him in the first part of the race. The second half got a lot more interesting and I was able to pick up some serious pace on the hard tire. The car was feeling better, I was feeling more comfortable and I was able to overtake people. We put a bit of front wing in and the understeer completely disappeared, so I was able to make my way through the field and close the gap. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take second but I did the best job I could out there today. Every point counts, so I drove my heart out to get as many as possible. Nico did a great job today and he has a healthy margin now, so the Drivers' Championship has got harder for me. I'll give it everything I've got, as I did in the race today and always do. That's all I can do – focus on doing the best that I can – so we'll see what happens. A big thank you to everyone who came out today. The fans were amazing here as always. I'm looking forward to getting home and then moving onto the next race
Paddy Lowe: A terrific result today and congratulations to the whole team for securing a third consecutive Constructors' World Championship. This has come from a huge amount of great work over many years and is an achievement that every individual will treasure. The race was quite straightforward for Nico but didn't start brilliantly for Lewis, which immediately gave us a challenge we hadn't expected to bring him up from eighth position to the front again. He drove one of his strongest races of the season to recover to third – and it could even have been second save for a rather controversial maneuver by Max Verstappen at the final chicane. He had some fantastic pace, great management of the tires, and great management of the traffic particularly. He made up a huge amount of time to finish only six seconds away from Nico, having been as far as 20 seconds behind at one point in the race. So, congratulations to Lewis for a great recovery, although I'm sure he'll be feeling disappointed with the result overall. For Nico, whilst it was a less dramatic day, he drove a perfect race. There were some issues for him to overcome in terms of managing fuel, as it turned out we were a bit short on fuel load. But he handled it well with a perfect drive to sum up a perfect weekend from his point of view with a very well-deserved first win at Suzuka. This is a classic track – one of the greats of the Formula One World Championship both now and throughout history – and I think we delivered a great spectacle befitting the venue to secure our third World Championship.
Toto Wolff, Technical Director: It is a great honor today to represent the hundreds of people in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart who have made us triple World Champions. The story begins on the shop floor of our team and goes all the way to the board room of Mercedes-Benz. It is a tale of passion, commitment and incredible people working beyond their limits to win. And not just doing it once, but re-motivating themselves to surpass their achievements year after year. This is their moment – all those heroes in the background who are the core of what makes this team so special. It is a humbling experience to walk the corridors of our factories and to see their faces every day. If I had a hat like Niki's, I would take it off to them. And, okay, it might sound a bit corporate… but we couldn't do it without the support of all the partners who invest in our vision and in our determination to win. Thank you to each and every one for their fantastic contribution to this success. Looking back at today's race, so much was decided at the start. Nico got a perfect start, while Lewis suffered on the right-hand side with the damp line but also got a bad getaway. We know that our clutch is tricky to manage and we have not given the drivers the easiest system to use this year. Our first indications suggest that the clutch release was the problem today – but we will look into all the data before reaching a definitive conclusion. After that moment, Nico put in a perfect drive. He managed the gaps, controlled the race and took a really well-deserved win. For Lewis, it was fight-back time and he did that just as well as we know he can. Helped by a great strategy, on a circuit where it's tough to pass, he came back from P8 to P3 in a great drive. It was a fantastic way to win the Championship today, with two cars on the podium. And now, it's finally mathematically between only our two boys. The gap in the Championship is now 33 points and we will let them battle it out in a clean race to the end. If this season has shown one thing, it's that anything can happen and big swings are possible. There are 100 points still to be scored and a lot of racing still to go.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (4th): "We had a very good start and made good progress in the first two laps, passing Ricciardo and Perez, then we were faster than Verstappen. I think today we had the second fastest car. So it was a question of time, but obviously Max came in as soon as he could to maintain track position, which worked well for him. We tried to go on the softer tire in the end, which initially we thought would work well, but then we had too much degradation and we were falling off this group. It is always easy to criticize, and I am sure there are many 'experts' that knew better, but on the pitwall as well as in the car, I was keen to go for this strategy so to extend the second stint. It's a fact I lost big chunks of time with the blue flags. I always got the lapped cars right in sector one, when they can't move, so I was losing a lot of time, and there's probably where I lost track position to Lewis, who always seemed to clear the lapped cars in the straight. But then the pace wouldn't have probably been enough to challenge for the podium."
Kimi Raikkonen (5th): "After a good qualifying yesterday, the issue with the gearbox and the consequent starting position change was not ideal in this kind of track. Obviously there's a lot of disappointment, as we had a good car and if we could have stayed in front we would have fought with more free air and with a lot of speed. I had a good start but then I got stuck behind other people: it was really tricky to follow other cars and it affected quite a bit the behavior. It was also difficult to stay close to them and attack them. Once we got past them and I was on my own, the car was quick and handling well. For sure today we were fast enough for a better result. Unfortunately that's how it goes…"
Maurizio Arrivabene, Team Principal: "Considering our starting position, being pushed back by a double penalty, we did the best we could today. It's just a shame that the traffic from backmarkers did not allow Seb to take the best out of our strategy."
Williams-Mercedes
Felipe Massa (9th): "It was a tough race. We were really fighting from the beginning, to the end. We lost two positions at the start with both cars, maybe due to the tires we had compared to the others. The pace at the beginning didn't look very promising compared to the others. We tried to stay out long to do a one-stop, and it worked out. We would love to have finished ahead of Force India, but today they had a better car. We managed to score points with both cars after being just 13th and 14th during the first stint. I think it was a positive race and the strategy worked out very well."
Valtteri Bottas (10th): "As a team strategy-wise, we managed to do something different to our competitors so that was good. There definitely wasn't any more we could have got out of today. In a nutshell, we need to make a quicker car and hope that the rest of the circuits in the calendar are better suited to us. We just didn't have the pure pace today. From my side, being the lead car in the first stint I was hoping for the better strategy out of the two of us but that didn't work out today. Looking ahead to Austin, I hope it's better and more like Malaysia in terms of our pace in comparison to Force India. It's just so difficult to predict these things nowadays, so we need to learn from today and hopefully we'll perform better there in two weeks."
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "Quite honestly, with the car and the pace we had this weekend that was pretty much all we could have done as a team. We played a risky strategy in order to get ourselves in the points and we got three points in the end. The team can be reasonably proud. We've acquitted ourselves well. It's a shame for Valtteri because he had that ninth position in hand ahead of Felipe, and so we were keeping him out longer to give him better tires towards the end of the race. Unfortunately, the stop was slower than our usual and he came out behind Felipe. Apart from that, I think the team has done a good job with no mistakes and we've pushed on to where we could be in this race. The overriding point is that the car just wasn't quick enough and that has been the biggest disappointment of the weekend in both qualifying and the race. However, we've got four races left. We need to regroup, and understand how we are going to get some more performance out of the car for the remaining races. We will push forward and will not give up."
Red Bull-Tag Heuer
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| Verstappen gestures – Am I good or what? |
Max Verstappen (2nd): "We knew the start was going to be very decisive and we had a really good one today which allowed me to settle into my own rhythm. I'm pleased the starts are coming together, that's two in a row now. I was then able to sit behind Nico (Rosberg) and control my tires. The team gave me a really strong strategy, along with a car that felt very balanced so I was able to enjoy a successful race. I was really happy to be able to get in-between the two Mercedes cars, it is a great result yet again for the team. In the race we had quick pace but I think Nico was still only cruising. When I sped up Nico could match it and if I slowed he did also, he was in control. Lewis (Hamilton) was obviously a bit quicker in the final stages and I knew he was going to catch me, the gap time on the pit board was dropping every lap. Into the last chicane I saw him coming in my mirrors so I defended my position, this allowed me to hang on for the second place. I had some concerns about the blue flags, I think we need to talk about it. I have been in the same situation last year and earlier this year, I understand from their (back-markers) perspective you want to race but the guys lapping you are racing for a podium so you have to have a different approach."
Daniel Ricciardo (6th): "Today wasn't a very exciting race for me, and unfortunately it just wasn't my day. Kimi's (Raikkonen) penalty was a bit of a bummer for us as it put us on the wet side of the grid and that compromised the start. I don't think my launch was too bad but Lewis obviously struggled to get off the line and I had to go around him through the wet and that made me lose a place to Sergio (Perez). Seb (Vettel) had a good exit out of Turn 14 and made quick work of me on the straight, then he caught Perez quickly as well. That sort of shaped the first stint for me. We struggled to stay close to the cars in front as we couldn't follow them in the dirty air, and we didn't have the straight line speed to make an attack. We struggled in the traffic and fell behind the eight ball. In the final stint towards the end I had a clear track and I was able put in some good laps but it wasn't enough. I'm not going to get too down about it. I didn't think there was anything else we could have done today, it was just circumstances and how the race panned out. We'll come back in Austin ready to have a good weekend on track and also eat plenty of barbeque. I'm going to diet for the next few days so I arrive lighter in Austin and can enjoy the local food!"
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "A fantastic drive by Max today. A very mature performance, moving into second place and then really looking after his tires resisting pressure initially from Sebastian and then at the end of the race from Lewis, with some great racing. It was fantastic to see him split the Mercedes and achieve our eighth 2nd place of the year. For Daniel it was a harder race, he struggled in particular it seemed in sector two of the circuit and we need to look at the data very closely to understand why. He was disadvantaged at the start, beginning on the damp side of the track but nonetheless he drove a very controlled race to bring the car home in sixth and secure valuable points towards our position in the Constructors' Championship. Our congratulations go to Mercedes for securing their third consecutive Championship, a fine achievement."
Force India-Mercedes
Sergio Perez (7th): "I enjoyed myself today and I feel we made all the right decisions during the race. The start was good fun – I had a clean run going into turn one and ended up in third place. I tried my best to hold on to the position, but I knew it would be difficult to keep some very quick cars behind me so I needed to be sensible and choose my battles. Our car was very quick today and the two-stop strategy was definitely the correct one for us. It meant we needed to overtake the Williams cars on the track because they were on a different strategy, but fortunately I could make the moves on them very quickly. The end of the race, after all the pit stops, was just a case of looking after the tires and keeping out of trouble. We scored some very useful points today – we need to keep doing the same in the final four races."
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| Nico Hulkenberg |
Nico Hulkenberg (8th): "I am quite happy with my race: seventh would have been possible, but I paid the price of not having an ideal qualifying session yesterday. I had a good first lap, but when you start from the back of the top ten, you have a lot more traffic to deal with and that cost me some time. The pass on Valtteri [Bottas] was the highlight of my race. I had lined up a pass the lap before, but didn't get a good exit from the final corner and I missed out in turn one; so I told myself "if I can't get you here, I'll get you at the chicane instead!" I pulled the move off nicely; it was a close wheel-to-wheel battle. It was important to finish with two cars well inside the points, but we know every race and every point will count from here onwards because the battle in the championship will go down to the final race. It's going to be good fun and it's a nice challenge."
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "We leave Japan feeling satisfied with our performance across the whole weekend. We qualified well, which allowed us to execute the optimal two-stop strategy with both cars. Seventh and eighth was the most we could realistically hope to achieve given the reliability of the cars at the front of the field, so it's rewarding to bring home ten important points. It was very enjoyable watching Checo and Nico involved in several close fights in the early laps. They pulled off some exciting moves – which were very important because they enabled the strategy to play out in our favor. With four races to go, we must maximize our potential at every event because there's still a long way to the end of the season."
Renault
Jolyon Palmer (12th): "Tenth last week, twelfth this week, but this week everyone finished the race! We had a lot of luck last week and I think today was actually a stronger performance. We beat everyone that we could this afternoon. I'm pleased with how we went, the strategy, the pace, performance… Everything was good."
Kevin Magnussen (14th): "I started the race on hard tires against others around me on the softs and mediums – it was always going to be tough today. We can't be completely satisfied with today's race after scoring points in the last two races but we will work hard to get back into point-scoring position in the coming races. The next round is in the USA and it's a pretty cool track to drive so I look forward to being there next."
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was a good weekend for us in terms of performance, with our best Free Practice 3 to-date where we were in the top ten. Qualifying, however, was a bit disappointing. Of course Jolyon got into Q2, but I think that we could have done better overall on Saturday afternoon. Our race pace was similar again to what we had seen in FP3; we fought with Williams in terms of pace until the end of the race and we were in front of McLaren and Toro Rosso. Today's race confirmed that we have gone a step forward in pure performance, despite a tricky qualifying session on Saturday. Overall the weekend has been encouraging and both drivers did a solid job in the race with a strategy that worked well for the team."
Toro Rosso-Ferrari
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| Kvyat |
Daniil Kvyat (13th): "A P13 was the maximum we could do today, I really don't think we could've done much better. Nothing extraordinary happened today, there were no Safety Car periods or retirements, so we didn't gain any positions that way either. Our straight-line speed is just nowhere, which is very unfortunate, but there's not much more we can do, we're just too slow. On the positive side, I feel better in the car race after race and our team work is constantly improving, so we will go on doing our best to finish the season knowing that we couldn't have done more!"
Carlos Sainz (17th): "A very disappointing race for me today. Even if we started well, managing to get past both Williams and enjoying a good race pace during the first stint, that all changed after the first pit-stop. We then dropped behind the two McLarens and from that point onwards our race was over, as we were just not able to overtake because of our low top-speed… It was just impossible! I can assure you I tried my best, but today we couldn't do more than this. It's a frustrating situation to be in but we won't give up. We will now get ready for the next races where hopefully we can be a bit stronger – rainy Sundays would also help!"
Franz Tost, Team Principal: "Starting from P13 and P14 made it a difficult race for us today. We simply don't have the speed on the straight lines, something you certainly need to perform well. Both drivers did a good start and after the first lap we moved up to P11 and P12. Our pit-stops were also carried out well, but we lost time in traffic and therefore we were only able to finish 13th and 17th. Fortunately, neither Haas nor McLaren scored any points, but of course the last four races of the season won't be easy for us, because all the others made steps forward with the development of their Power Units – as we are out with last years' specification, we simply face a disadvantage regarding speed… We just have to be focused and finish the season in a reasonably good way."
Sauber-Ferrari
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| Marcus Ericsson |
Marcus Ericsson (15th):
Felipe Nasr (19th):
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal:
McLaren-Honda
Fernando Alonso (16th): "Our race today reflected the whole weekend: it was just anonymous. To finish 16th and 18th today is a rather nasty surprise, especially after finishing seventh in Singapore, and seventh and ninth in Malaysia, just last weekend. I hope this was an exceptional and unique event, and that we'll return to business as usual at the next race, in Austin. "It was clear that the layout of the track didn't suit our package – we lacked downforce through the faster corners. I know our car is in fact much more competitive than we were able to show today, and I'm obviously disappointed about putting on such a poor show at Honda's home race. But we'll head back home, analyze what happened, and bounce back from this disappointment."
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| Jenson Button endured a terrible weekend |
Jenson Button (18th): "I made a poor start – the [power unit] components in the back of the car were all-new, so I got massive wheelspin and was therefore somewhat left behind on the start-line. Then it was really difficult to get past the Manors – they'd started the race on the Option tire, and I was on the Back-Up, so it was hard to make a move stick. I eventually got past them though and, despite racing with the backmarkers, I still had some fun out there – a few little battles – but we were a long way behind the points-scorers. It's been a very tough weekend – it's a shame that Suzuka is our bogey track because it's our second home. Still, we have to take the rough with the smooth: we haven't been quick here, but we hope to be quicker at the next race."
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "There's no point denying that we're thoroughly disappointed, because we are. Having scored points with both cars last weekend in Malaysia, to finish 16th and 18th here in Japan is hard to take, frankly. However, such is the esprit de corps and will to win that now characterize all who work for both McLaren and Honda, as one unified racing force, that we'll put this forgettable weekend behind us straight away and refocus our attentions and ambitions on the next race: the United States Grand Prix at Austin. But before we do so, I want to pay tribute to the Suzuka fans, who are amongst the most devoted and enthusiastic in the world. As ever, they came out in force today – many of them in support of their home team, McLaren-Honda – and we would dearly love to have been able to give them something better to cheer about than in the end we did. Next year we will."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda: "We expected a difficult race today, as the results of Friday and Saturday were less than ideal, and the Suzuka circuit is a very difficult place at which to gain positions unless you start from a good grid slot. Also, we weren't able to gain places at the start, so, for the majority of the race, both drivers had to battle at the back of the field, and weren't close to the points-scoring positions. In this long F1 calendar, we have good and bad results that we have to cope with, but the results of this weekend were very disappointing, especially knowing that there were so many fans here to support us. We will accept the results today, analyze the data, regroup and hope to return to scoring points at the next race, in the USA."
Manor GP-Mercedes
Esteban Ocon (21st): "We struggled a bit with the pace but I think we had a better strategy this time. A few more laps and I think I could have got close enough to Esteban Gutierrez to pass him. We keep making progress, always getting closer to the competition, which is good. Now we need to take some time to have a good look at all the data we've gathered – where we're missing something, where we can improve – but what I can do also. There are only four races left and they will pass by quickly, but also four races is a lot of opportunities to improve and we have a lot to fight for, still."
Pascal Wehrlein (22nd): "It ended up being a really difficult race. We struggled with the pace, we struggled with the blue flags – struggled generally today. There isn't much more to say than that. We've made some good steps and improved the car, so we just need to work with what we have to find more performance from the package and keep making that progress. We're not far away, but that's not where we want to be."
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "On the face of it, not a race to particularly write home about, but we do leave the Far East with another two-car finish, having maintained our position in the championship. These last three races have been pretty tough, but we head home from Japan looking forward to the final four events of the season, starting in Austin in two weeks' time. In the meantime, congratulations to our powertrain partner, Mercedes-Benz, on securing the triple – a very impressive performance."
Haas-Ferrari
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| Grosjean in the anti-American car |
Romain Grosjean (11th): "Well, we struggled on the first stint with a green track, and with the soft tires, we had a lot of graining. But then the car was flying. It was really good. I had some good overtakes. I don't think I've ever been as frustrated as today at the end of a race. I thought we deserved much more. With the pace of the car, I was much faster than the Williams'. We just got the life on the hard tires wrong. We could have pitted earlier for the last stint, but overall the pace was amazing. It shows a lot of promise for the future. I'm optimistic about these updates and the pace we had in the car."
Esteban Gutierrez (20th): "Everything started pretty good. We've been working a lot on getting the best out of our start and today that proved to be better. On the first stint, things were going well. We were managing the gap, pushing to get higher up to the front of the grid. I then came into the pits and I ended back out behind a lot of traffic, and that was it. I was trying to push forward, trying to overtake, and then I had an incident with Carlos (Sainz Jr.). He braked a bit early, closing the door, and I had nowhere to go as I was preparing the corner to overtake him on the straight. After that, I had some damage on the front wing which wasn't ideal. Unfortunately, this is how the race went. It was not what we wanted, but now we need to keep pushing and keep a good rhythm and really put in a good performance as we head to our home race in Texas."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "Not really the race we wanted today finishing 11th again with one car and 20th with the other having started seventh and 10th. I think a few things happened today – everyone else had a good race and everybody finished, so nobody dropped out. We tried to take the fight to the Williams, but we didn't manage it in the end. They were able to make a better strategy by starting on tires they wanted, but that's racing. This weekend we've seen that our car shows speed and we were also competitive in the race. So, we're able to take that away from here."
Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR/Engine | LAPS | TIME/BEHIND |
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes/Mercedes | 53 | 1:26:43.333 |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 53 | +4.978s |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes/Mercedes | 53 | +5.776s |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari/Ferrari | 53 | +20.269s |
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari/Ferrari | 53 | +28.370s |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 53 | +33.941s |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 53 | +57.495s |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India Mercedes | 53 | +59.177s |
| 9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 53 | +97.763s |
| 10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams Mercedes | 53 | +98.323s |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 53 | +99.254s |
| 12 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault/Renault | 52 | +1 lap |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault/Renault | 52 | +1 lap |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | 52 | +1 lap |
| 17 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap |
| 18 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren Honda | 52 | +1 lap |
| 19 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap |
| 20 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap |
| 21 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | MRT Mercedes | 52 | +1 lap |
| 22 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | MRT Mercedes | 52 | +1 lap |