Lewis Hamilton took a controlled Japanese Grand Prix victory at Suzuka, winning by almost 19 seconds from team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth for Ferrari. Here's what some of the 2015 grid had to say after round 14 of the season. Lewis Hamilton:
"I'm buzzing like you could not believe. As I'm walking through after the race I've got this rush but I'm thinking about all the different experiences I've been through and the people that have helped me along the way: my family, without whom I wouldn't be here today, and everyone else that's helped me - they know who they are.
"As I arrived today, I knew Nico had done a great job in qualifying and I needed to get a good start. It was very tight through Turn 1 but from then on it was just the most beautiful day. I have struggled every year at this circuit, but I always loved it. When you have the balance and the car is doing what you want it to do, and you're attacking through the corners, there's no better feeling.
"The engineers and everyone in the garage did a great job. We didn't have much data to go through after practice, but the car felt unbelievable. I am really grateful to the team because without them I wouldn't be here. I also want to thank my fans who have supported me all this way, and still we rise."
Daniel Ricciardo:
"At the start, the best line for me was straight down the middle. I saw the gap between Kimi and Felipe and I knew it was close, but I thought they would make a bit of room. I haven’t seen the footage and don’t want to put the blame on anyone so we’ll call it a racing incident for now.
"It’s a shame for the team, I think we could have gained some positions off the line and then the race would have been completely different. But we had the puncture, and that damaged the floor so we lost some downforce. I tried to do what I could, we started to catch some cars towards the end but by then I didn’t have the grip to do anything. On a positive note, even with the damaged floor, the car was handling well."
Valtteri Bottas:
"Not a perfect day for us, but we will take the ten points. I was hoping for a podium, but the pace wasn’t as good as we had expected. Defending from the quicker cars was hard and I think we should have pitted earlier for the final stop, but it’s always easier to say that after the race."
"All in all, today there is plenty of reasons to be happy with third place. At the second round of pit-stops, we were surprised by the outlap that Nico pulled. I guess we thought the gap was big enough, so you can’t say we made a mistake.
"But in the end it’s a bit of a shame when you cross the line; I think that if we could have stayed ahead it would have been difficult for Nico to pass, as around there it is not so easy to get close, and we saw that he struggled a long time with Bottas.
"We have to accept that Mercedes were just a bit quicker and for this reason they deserved to be ahead. Nevertheless, third and fourth is a great result for the team. We got good points, and it was a strong recovery after a difficult Saturday morning."
Fernando Alonso:
"It’s difficult when you have other drivers overtaking you along the straights, then you arrive at the corners, and watch them outbrake themselves, or make mistakes. Then, when you take the corner perfectly, and get overtaken again along the straights, it feels frustrating.
"We need to improve the programme. The remaining races will be tough, but we’re looking towards next year. We’ll win together, and we need to make it happen as quickly as possible. Hopefully, we can learn some lessons from today’s race and keep improving things."
Nico Hulkenberg
"A great result today and realistically sixth was the maximum we could achieve when you remember that I started from P13. I made a really good start and jumped a couple of cars away from the line, and then stayed on the inside going into turn one, which turned out to be a good decision.
"By Turn 2 I was up in eighth, close up behind the Lotuses and actually they were holding me up during the first stint. The team pitted me early to undercut them and we then out-raced them with our stronger pace. It was a lonely race for me, but effective and the result is very welcome. The team did a great job today and I think we deserved these eight points."
Max Verstappen:
"It was a great race! I think the start was good and I was able to overtake Nasr straight away in Sector 1, even though he got me back in the hairpin because I got a bit blocked and I didn’t want to take too many risks! That was a shame, because I then got stuck behind him for quite a lot of laps and lost some time with the other cars ahead…
"But after my first pit-stop I was able to push again until I got stuck behind Kvyat first, then Alonso. But I didn’t give up and in the end we were able to end up in front, which is very positive. To go from P17 to P9 at a track like this one is a good result and I’m happy to have scored points again, it was a very good day!"
"It was a good race for us and we really deserved a happy result today after pushing hard all weekend. It’s a shame we weren’t able to keep Hulkenberg behind us so we’ll review the strategy and performance to see if there was more we could have done. The team has been united all weekend, we scored some nice points and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season."
Alexander Rossi:
"It was a tough race today but I’m very happy with the outcome. I struggled a little more in the first stint, but after the first stop everything turned around and my pace was pretty good. I was right on the tail of my team-mate throughout the second two stints, and was trying to get past when Will spun.
"Thankfully, I was able to get out of the way, but it was a real heart-in-mouth moment that I’m sure looked every bit as dramatic from outside the cockpit as it did from where I was sitting! All in all, I’m pleased with how things are going after two races and glad we had a good race after a difficult weekend."
Marcus Ericsson:
"I had a good start. In the first stint especially, I had a reasonable pace running in the points in P10. Towards the end of this stint I was pushing a bit too much and had sort of a half spin in turn 13, so I lost some time there. That was a shame.
"We gambled a bit with the early second pit stop, knowing we would have a long last stint on the hard tyres. Then I was able to keep the train of cars behind me for many laps, but at the end the rear tyres could not hold on anymore. I think we had a better performance today, even if the result does not show that. However, there are still things to improve."
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth for Ferrari. Here's what some of the 2015 grid had to say after round 14 of the season.
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