Japanese GP: Rosberg concedes Hamilton was quicker in the race

The Suzuka F1 race was red-flagged early when Jules Bianchi's Marussia crashed at the scene of an accident involving Adrian Sutil's Sauber. Bianchi has been taken to hospital unconscious.

The Mercedes drivers and fellow podium finisher Sebastian Vettel were muted after the race, with Rosberg saying his main focus was on Bianchi.

"All in all, Lewis did a better job today and deserves to win. Second place is damage limitation," he said.

"Taking everything into consideration, tricky conditions, seven points lost to Lewis, there is worse than that."

Rosberg said he was simply not as comfortable with the Mercedes' handling as Hamilton.

"I was definitely not happy with the balance but we had pretty much the same set-up," he said.

"Lewis must have had the same oversteer. I tried to tweak the balance, but we need to look into it.

"I guess I struggled a bit more with it. Oversteer, I didn't like it."

Hamilton overtook Rosberg around the outside into Turn 1 on lap 29 of the scheduled 53 and then dominated until the red flag.

"I had a lot more pace than Nico and it is not a very easy circuit to follow, but fortunately I was able to get quite close, particularly in the last corner," said Hamilton.

"He had a small oversteer moment out of the last corner and with the DRS it enabled me to get alongside.

"I was confident with the balance of the car and stuck it out.

"After that the whole approach changed. I was attacking, attacking [before the pass], then I could take different lines and manage it differently.

"Obviously it didn't finish the way I would have hoped. My prayers are with [Bianchi] and his family."