Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 33 points as he claimed a straight-forward victory at Suzuka, helping Mercedes to clinch their third consecutive Constructors' Championship in the process.
The German led from start to finish and went unchallenged for the entire race after team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered a poor start, dropping to eighth before mounting a recovery drive. The Briton going on to finish third, less than a second behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Hamilton and Verstappen duelled over second for the final 18 laps, but the Dutch driver was able to defend his position, albeit with a questionable move at the chicane on the penultimate lap in which Hamilton accused him of moving under braking, which forced the three-time champion to take to the escape road.
Sebastian Vettel finished fourth ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen – the pair complaining about blue flags as they struggled with traffic, but finished well adrift of Hamilton ahead.
Daniel Ricciardo was sixth ahead of the Force India pairing of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, whilst the Williams cars completed the top ten.
The first and third for Mercedes meant the team's points tally cannot now be surpassed, handing the team a well earned third consecutive Constructors' title, but the big questions remains whether Rosberg can claim his first as things are certainly looking that way.
All 22 cars finished the race, with no driver more than a lap down.
Just outside the points yet again were Haas – despite both cars starting in the top ten – with Romain Grosjean P11 and Esteban Gutierrez P20. Grosjean was followed across the line by Renault's Jolyon Palmer and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat.
