Nico Rosberg has extended his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings after coming out on top in the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday morning.

The 31-year-old is now 33 points ahead of his Mercedes teammate, with just 100 still to play for in the remaining four races of the F1 calendar.

For the second week running Hamilton faltered and dropped down to eighth in Suzuka following a poor start, but some aggressive driving helped the Brit recover as he took third spot and helped Mercedes to their third successive constructors' championship success.

Rosberg is the man firmly in control when it comes to the individual prize, though, and he can now afford to finish behind Hamilton in second place in all of the remaining races and still come out on top.

Max Verstappen was able to match his second-place finish from last week by once again controlling his position well after being caught by Hamilton - the Dutchman not giving his rival room to manoeuvre over the remaining nine laps.

There was to be no joy for McLaren, meanwhile, as Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button came in at 16th and 18th respectively, while Kimi Raikkonen won his battle with Daniel Ricciardo - victorious in Malaysia last weekend - to finish in fifth.

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
4. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
6. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
7. Sergio Perez (Force India)
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
9. Felipe Massa (Williams)
10. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
11. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
12. Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
13. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Ross)
14. Kevin Magnussen (Renault)
15. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
16. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
17. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
18. Jenson Button (McLaren)
19. Felipe Nasr (Sauber)
20. Esteban Gutierrez (Haas)
21. Esteban Ocon (Manor)
22. Pascal Wehrlein (Manor)