The starting grid for the Japanese GP

Editor

There are only two changes to the starting grid for the Japanese GP with both Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Eric Vergne taking penalties.

Lotus were first to announce on Friday afternoon that Maldonado required a sixth internal combustion engine, breaking the rule of only five engines per driver per season.

The Venezuelan qualified 17th fastest at Suzuka on Saturday and drops to the back of the grid, but that’s not the end of it for Maldonado as the rest of the positions will be added at the Russian GP next week.

Vergne was also handed a 10-place penalty for a similar offence on Saturday and he drops to 20th on the grid after qualifying 11th.

Full grid
1 Nico Rosberg
2 Lewis Hamilton
3 Valtteri Bottas
4 Felipe Massa
5 Fernando Alonso
6 Daniel Ricciardo
7 Kevin Magnussen
8 Jenson Button
9 Sebastian Vettel
10 Kimi Raikkonen
11 Sergio Perez
12 Daniil Kvyat
13 Nico Hulkenberg
14 Adrian Sutil
15 Esteban Gutierrez
16 Romain Grosjean
17 Marcus Ericsson
18 Jules Bianchi
19 Kamui Kobayashi
20 Jean-Eric Vergne
21 Max Chilton
22 Pastor Maldonado