Nico Rosberg has extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 33 points with victory in the Japanese GP.
Hamilton suffered a nightmare start, falling as low as eighth off the line, but launched a spirited comeback drive to minimise the damage by finishing third at Suzuka.
But Hamilton's recovery drive was rebuffed through the final laps when he caught but was unable to pass Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
As he launched a desperate attempt to overtake the Red Bull on the penultimate lap, Hamilton was driven off track by the typically-defiant teenager.
Mercedes lodged a protest against Verstappen's driving several hours after the chequered flag had fallen but later withdrew it. 'There is no protest from myself,' tweeted Hamilton. 'Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on.'
The damage, however, was done at the start when Hamilton lost more than five positions into the first corner of a race for the fourth time this year.
"I made a mistake," Hamilton admitted. "Working my way up from there was tricky, but I did the best I could.
"Nico did a great job so congrats to him."
After scampering off the line while his team-mate stumbled, Rosberg was able to cruise to a straightforward victory. With just four races of the season to go, Rosberg's lead of the championship is equivalent to a full race victory and a sixth place. Even if Hamilton is to win all of the remaining races, his championship hopes would still be dependent on Rosberg finishing at least one of those races below fourth.
While Rosberg, who has won four of the five races since the summer break, now has one hand on the Drivers' championship, the result confirms Mercedes' status as Constructors' champions for a third successive season.
Sebastian Vettel, who threatened to turn the air blue over the lack of blue flags for backmarkers, took a modest fourth for Ferrari ahead of stable-mate Kimi Raikkonen as just five teams monopolised the points-finishing positions.
Force India extended their lead over Williams in the teams' standings as both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez beat Felipe Massa and a faltering Valtteri Bottas in a straight fight.
Japanese GP result
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26:43.333
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 4.978
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 5.776
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, + 20.269
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 28.370
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 33.941
7. Sergio Perez, Force India, + 57.495
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, + 59.177
9. Felipe Massa, Williams, 97.763
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, + 98.323
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 99.254
12. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, + 1 lap
13. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, + 1 lap
14. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, + 1 lap
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, + 1 lap
16. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, + 1 lap
17. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, + 1 lap
18. Jenson Button, McLaren, + 1 lap
19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, + 1 lap
20. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, + 1 lap
21. Esteban Ocon, Manor, + 1 lap
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, + 1 lap
Don't miss The F1 Report's review of the Japanese GP on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday evening