Fernando Alonso notched up his second victory in a row in Japan after title rivals Hamilton and Massa collided.
Hamilton, who was leading the race for the championship by seven points, started from pole position but made a dreadful start and then, trying to hard to make amends, locked his brakes at the first corner and ended up going off the track, taking Kimi Raikkonen with him.
Hamilton rejoined the race in sixth place, just behind main title rival Felipe Massa, and on lap two he made a move to overtake him. Massa left his braking far too late and ended up off the racing line. Trying to regain his position he went over the kerb and as he came back onto the track he sent Hamilton into a spin. Hamilton had to wait for the whole field to pass before he could rejoin the race.
Both Hamilton, for his incident with Raikkonen, and Massa, for the incident with Hamilton, were given drive-through penalties for being naughty boys and ended up at the back of the field.
Meanwhile, at the front, Robert Kubica was leading the race in his BMW but, as so often happens these days, he was ‘overtaken’ as a result of pit stop strategy. Alonso, who had been a surprise winner in Singapore, notched up his second victory in a row, with Robert Kubica in second place and Kimi Raikkonen third.
Massa managed to finish in eighth place for one point and is now only six points behind Hamilton, who could only manage twelfth place due the damage sustained in his collision with Massa.