MOTORSPORT: Mercedes best team in F1 history

Mercedes has become the greatest team in Formula 1 history, winning its sixth straight constructors' world championship and contemplating the certainty one of its drivers being champion again this year.

Almost certainly that driver will be Lewis Hamilton, but his teammate – and yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix victor – Valtteri Bottas remains a mathematical chance, albeit 64 points behind with four races remaining – the next in Mexico on October 27.

Daniel Ricciardo recovered from a terrible qualifying at Suzuka on Sunday morning that left him 16th on the grid to cross the finish line seventh.

He was later promoted to sixth when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc copped two penalties amounting to 15 seconds, but the Racing Point team has protested against Renault so the carsales.com.au global ambassador could yet drop down in the final classifications.

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul applauded Ricciardo and teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who finished 10th after starting 15th, on "an amazing number of stylish overtaking manoeuvres" on a track where there had been no activity the previous day because of Typhoon Hagibis.

It was the French manufacturer's fourth double-points finish of the season.

"The team deserved this result – we've been on a bit of a frustrating run recently without scoring, so to finish where we did is excellent," Ricciardo said.

"We had an issue in qualifying with the rear of my car that the boys fixed, which explained why we were quite far down, but we had good pace in the race.

"Starting on the medium tyre worked to our advantage and we came through the pack with some enjoyable battles.

"It was nice to execute a good strategy, we pulled through and, in the end, it was a deserved and quite comfortable result."

Racing Point has protested Renault over a "pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system".

The standard electronic control units and the steering wheels from the RS19s have been sealed and impounded for detailed analysis of them – and the hardware, software, and data associated with them – by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) technical department.

The Ferraris started from the front row of the grid but Bottas rocketed into the lead from third and dominated the race, with polesitter Sebastian Vettel almost 13.4 seconds behind but holding off Hamilton by 0.5 seconds at the chequered flag.

In maintaining its monopoly on the constructor's title in the era of the V6 hybrids, Mercedes equalled Ferrari's six championships from 1999 to 2004, but the Italian team – the most successful over the history of F1 – has never had the champion driver six years in a row as well.

Bottas broke a jinx by becoming the first driver in 31 Japanese GPs to win from the second row of the grid and it was his third victory of the year – with the first in Melbourne – and the sixth of his career, still one short of Ricciardo's seven in his five years at Red Bull Racing (RBR).

The Mercedes triumph at Suzuka was its 99th F1 win and it was Hamilton's bonus point for fastest lap that clinched the constructors' title, which team principal Toto Wolff dedicated to Niki Lauda, the triple world champion driver (with Ferrari and Brabham) who had been chairman of the Silver Arrows team until his death in May.

Rookie Alex Albon, promoted into RBR mid-year after Pierre Gasly flopped as Ricciardo's replacement this season, finished fourth yesterday – his best result – after equalling superstar teammate Max Verstappen's time in qualifying.

Verstappen's race ended early after being clobbered by Leclerc soon after the start.

Carlos Sainz Junior notched his third top-five of the season as a McLaren again finished ahead of the works Renaults using the same power unit.

Attention now turns to the F1 technical rules for 2021 due to be finalised by the end of this month. Talks are scheduled for Wednesday, with a majority of teams opposed to the proposals – intended to make overtaking easier and narrow the gap between the top three (Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull) and the rest – as they stand.

The FIA and the Liberty Media-owned F1 organisation could enforce regulations but would prefer consensus.

Ferrari has a power of veto over the new rules, but apparently would lose that right for the future if it invoked it this time.

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport will trade as Motorsport Australia from the start of next year.

Announcing the change during the Bathurst 1000 weekend, CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos said the new name signified the changing nature of the sport and the organisation's role as the government-recognised sporting body for four-wheeled competition in Australia and its delegated role as the national sporting authority of the FIA.

The name Motorsport Australia was registered long ago and the organisation will operate from new headquarters at 275 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury, in Victoria from October 28 following the 2017 sale of its Malvern East base in Melbourne.