Lewis Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg second

Lewis Hamilton has eased to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by over 18 seconds.

Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo collided on the first corner and were forced to crawl to the pit lane on lap one to effectively leave them without a chance for a point.

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Rosberg, who started on pole, began poorly and slipped to fourth after the first lap, with Hamilton increasing his lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel held off the challenge of Rosberg until lap 26, but the Mercedes driver passed him and eventually finished just under two seconds ahead of the German, who finished in third.

Results in full:

1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Nico Rosberg 3. Sebastian Vettel 4. Kimi Raikkonen 5. Valtteri Bottas 6. Nico Hulkenberg 7. Romain Grosjean 8. Pastor Maldonado 9. Max Verstappen 10. Carlos Sainz 11. Fernando Alonso 12. Sergio Perez 13. Daniil Kvyat 14. Marcus Ericsson 15. Daniel Ricciardo 16. Jenson Button 17. Felipe Massa 18. Alexander Rossi 19. Will Stevens DNF Felipe Nasr