Britain's Lewis Hamilton won a wet and sombre Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his Formula One lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to 10 points with four races remaining. The race started behind the safety car due to heavy rain and ended without celebration after Marussia's Jules Bianchi was taken to hospital following a crash that left the young Frenchman seriously injured. Rosberg, who had started on pole position, finished second following a third deployment of the safety car and then red flags being displayed.
Germany's quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who is leaving Red Bull for Ferrari at the end of the season, took third place with the result based on positions after 44 of the scheduled 53 laps.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who would otherwise have been on the podium, was fourth for Red Bull. The drivers tense faces as they waited to step on the podium told the true story of the afternoon, with Bianchi foremost in their thoughts.
No champagne was sprayed, with the top three merely clinking the bottles and taking a quiet swig before placing them back on the floor. "The driver is not conscious and has been sent to the hospital by the ambulance because the helicopter cannot go in these conditions," said a spokesman for the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA).
"It's obviously a real anti-climax to hear that one of our fellow colleagues is seriously injured so that's really the main worry," said Hamilton, who would otherwise have been delighted with his third win in a row and one of his most impressive performances.
The victory was Hamilton's eighth of the season but first at Suzuka. The 2008 champion's only other win in Japan was at the Fuji circuit with McLaren in 2007.
The race started as scheduled but behind the safety car due to rain from an approaching typhoon that threatened to intensify through the evening.
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