Top ten pictures from the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix

Ten of the best pictures which tell the story of the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

McLaren

At Honda’s home race, McLaren’s staff got together to do their best impression of a poorly-tuned television. The race was one of their most disappointing of the year, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button struggling to 16th and 18th.

Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon has now finished all five of his starts for Manor this year. On his first visit to Suzuka, where Pascal Wehrlein was also a newcomer, he out-qualified and out-raced his team mate.

Suzuka

Formula One’s fairground.

Suzuka fan

You’ve got to love your home F1 track to make a hat out of it. Japan’s fans once again didn’t disappoint with their fantastic headgear.

Max Verstappen

The power of Red Bull’s aerodynamics can be seen in the vortices formed on Max Verstappen’s rear wing.

Start

Once again Lewis Hamilton’s victory hopes vanished within seconds of the start. It was the fourth time this year he’s lost at least five positions on lap one. Nico Rosberg was on his way to win number nine and a comfortable championship lead.

Esteban Gutierrez

An early spin for Esteban Gutierrez wrecked his chances of a points-scoring finish despite having started in the top ten.

Daniel Ricciardo

Hamilton’s first pit stop carried him ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez, who were busy swapping places as they also overtook Jolyon Palmer.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton

Verstappen’s defending came under scrutiny again after this penultimate lap move on Hamilton. Mercedes protested the move but abandoned their effort after Hamilton came down against the appeal.

Mercedes

Hamilton did attend Mercedes’ photo shoot to celebrate their third consecutive constructors’ championship but he didn’t stay for long – you can see him heading off in the background.

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