The team was on course for a double points-finish before an accident for Nico Rosberg brought his race to a premature end on lap 48 when he was in sixth position, just ahead of Michael who was then in seventh place.

Ross Brawn: "We had a strong race today with both cars and it is very disappointing and frustrating that Nico was unable to finish the race. Our prime concern was for his safety and thankfully he is absolutely fine. Prior to the incident, he was in an excellent position having taken advantage of an early stop under the safety car to make up places lost at the start. Michael also had a very good race today with a great start setting him up to make up positions. It was an entertaining few laps when Nico and Michael were fighting for sixth place and we were happy for them to battle it out. We are looking into the cause of Nico's accident now and as always there will be a thorough investigation into what happened."

Norbert Haug: "Michael finished in sixth place today and was the first car behind the five drivers fighting for the World Championship. He drove a strong race after he was handicapped with a small technical issue during qualifying. We still need to investigate what happened to Nico's car six laps before the end when he was in sixth position. It is a real shame that he could not finish and sorry to him for that. Nico drove a faultless race and it was a good strategy to bring him in under the safety car on lap one. Michael proved this weekend that he is strong when we give him the base to do so."

Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: It's a perfect result for us, a one-two finish – 43 points – it's the jackpot and really great. Mark's extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship and we have pulled away in the Constructors'. We now have to try and maintain the gap on the leaderboard until the end of the season. We only have three races to go, so we really need to focus on these last races and give our best, Championship-winning chances like this do not come along very often, so we will push!

Stefano Domenicali: First of all, I want once again to offer our condolences for the deaths of the soldiers yesterday in Afghanistan, which has affected us deeply. Then I want to praise the team, who worked in impeccable fashion on an unusual day, with qualifying and the race following one after the other. We knew that, at this track, Red Bull would be very strong and as we saw this morning, other teams also proved to be competitive. This third place is therefore a great result, in line with our game plan and it keeps us right in with a chance in the Drivers' championship. Unfortunately, the situation in the Constructors' took a knock because Felipe had to retire after the accident at the start. I am very disappointed for our driver, who despite a less than brilliant grid position had every chance of having a good race. There are three Grands Prix to go in this championship which is proving very hard to predict: it will be vital to concentrate all the time and give our utmost, day after day. As we have said for a while now, the maths can wait until Abu Dhabi on 14 November. Finally, I want to congratulate our customer teams, who brought home a further three Ferrari engines in the top ten.

Chris Dyer: A very tough day for the entire team, with qualifying and the race squeezed into just a few hours. The day did not get off to an easy start: Fernando did not get a perfect lap in qualifying and Felipe had problems that kept him from making it to Q3. At the start, we immediately lost Felipe and that is very disappointing as he could still have had a good race. Fernando drove a great race, obtaining the maximum we could have hoped for in a Grand Prix where we did not have the pace to beat the Red Bulls: he drove almost the entire time as if it was a qualifying session. We can claim to have limited the damage in the most effective way possible and now we hope to be more competitive in the coming races. From every point of view, the team worked very well - car preparation, pit stops and strategy - in what was definitely not an easy situation, so to all of them my heartfelt congratulations.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was good to get a couple of points with Rubens for the Constructors'. However, our race pace was disappointing, particularly compared to our qualifying performance when we were comfortably in the top ten. The team will work extra hard in order to understand and improve our position ahead of the remaining races. Unfortunately, we had a poor start on Nico's car and then he was run into by another car before Turn One.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It was an extremely disappointing race for us and for Robert retire from second place so early on is a real shame. At the moment we don't know what happened to Robert's car. We suspect some sort of mechanical failure, but we will conduct a full investigation to find out. Vitaly's race was even shorter, although he made a good start initially before he connected with Hulkenberg on the run to the first corner when Vitaly moved left to avoid Heidfeld. It's frustrating because we had a good chance to score good points with both cars today.

Remi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: This was a very disappointing day for us. Robert had an excellent qualifying this morning and was up to P2 in the race so I think we could have fought easily for the podium. I'm also sure that Vitaly could have had a strong race after his great start, but unfortunately his raced ended early. The short races for both cars saw no problems with the engines and we will reuse them at the next race in Korea where we hope to come away with a better result.

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal: Obviously we are very disappointed with today's outcome. Our qualifying performance wasn't as we hoped and the double DNF is a bitter blow, particularly when we are fighting for championship position. It's clearly something we need to look into when we get back to the factory next week so we can make the most of the opportunities that come our way. We will come back stronger in Korea for sure and look to regain our step in the constructors' title race.

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A really fantastic result for the team today. 12th and 13th places are our best positions of the season so far, and I'm delighted for everyone that we had such strong performances from both cars today. Qualifying went very well this morning - we were just under a second ahead of the other new teams, and we carried that through to the afternoon. We had always planned to stop just one car if there was an early safety car, and that was the car ahead. When the safety car came out Jarno was in front so we pulled him in and put him on the primes. Unfortunately it took him a few laps to pass Yamamoto, and that really hurt his race strategy, and that, combined with the blue flags, meant Heikki stayed ahead of him on track. Despite that, it was a great race from both drivers. We had a small hydraulics issue on Jarno's car at the end, but it didn't slow him down and he was able to maintain 13th place. I want to say congratulations to the whole team for such a strong performance all weekend - this really was a job well done."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I am absolutely delighted, just so pleased for the whole team. The result today is a tremendous response to the negativity that we have been dealing with off-track over the last week or so. This is the best ever result in the as yet very short life of Lotus Racing, and 12th and 13th far exceeds any of the expectations I had at the start of the season. The future for our team is so bright, and the decisions we have been making recently are giving us an incredible platform from which to build on days like this. Thank you Mike, Heikki, Jarno, Riad and everyone - it was an amazing feeling watching them all on TV and keeping up with the race on my iPad - I actually watched the end of the race whilst doing a press conference with Fahmi, another star in the making, from Sepang in Malaysia, and it was a very special feeling to be able to share the end of the race with everyone in our other home. This is a big, big day for us - we let our actions speak louder than our words, and that is what makes us who we are. We are a team with passion and integrity, and we conduct our business in the right way. As I always say - 'believe the unbelievable' - we did that today and look at what we have achieved."

It was an unusual Grand Prix, as the qualifying session took place only some hours before the start of the race due to the heavy rain on Saturday, making it the second time in five races that the qualifying session is postponed here at Suzuka. Bruno Senna classified himself 23rd (1.37.270) and Sakon Yamamoto ended up 24th (1.37.365). The drivers from the Spanish team did a very good job during all the weekend, and were able to keep on improving their times in every session during the weekend.

Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "We are very happy with the race result today and both of our drivers could achieve their best result of the season so far. We had some good fights for positions with the other new teams and could follow their pace. Bruno Senna decided to have an early pit stop during the safety car period and changed to prime tyres. Even with fuel pressure drops, Sakon Yamamoto looked after his car and managed to finish his home race. I want to thank the team for their hard work all over the weekend and now we hope to tie in this success at the next race."

Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO Sauber Motorsport: "It was a fantastic performance by the whole team, which proves we are going in the right direction. Nick showed he has learned quickly. In only his second race in the C29 he gave a great performance. Kamui was simply incredible in his home race. The way he overtook several competitors was absolutely spectacular. Congratulations to the whole team."

James Key, Technical Director: "I'm delighted with the race and the result we achieved. We just missed out in qualifying, but our race performance more than makes up for that. Both drivers got a clean start and were able to avoid the problems in turn one. We decided for a split strategy with Kamui on the prime tyre and Nick on the option, and both strategies worked in the way we hoped they would. Kamui did a great job to hang on with the prime. He drove superbly to control his race, but overtook as well on a track where overtaking is very difficult. On the option tyres at the end he was absolutely spectacular. Nick also did a fantastic job. He drove exactly the race he needed to. The pace was good, and it's a great result in just his second race after coming back. The team on the pit wall did a great job as well as did the mechanics. It was a great performance from the whole team."

Unfortunately Lucas was unable to start the race, as he had an accident at the infamous 130R corner on his reconnaissance lap to the grid and hit the barrier very hard.

Timo got a reasonable start and when the Safety Car came out as a result of the first lap carnage, he pitted twice in order to be able to complete the race on the Prime tyre. Unfortunately this left him behind Sakon Yamamoto, who used his experience of the Suzuka circuit to block Timo's attempts to pass. Once Yamamoto pitted, Timo was able to show his true pace, but by then the race was long over.

John Booth, Team Principal: "Thankfully Lucas was unhurt in his accident on the way to the grid. We have studied all the information from his car and there is no indication of a failure. We took a bit of a gamble on strategy with Timo and unfortunately it didn't work out as he was unable to get past Yamamoto. He was at least able to bring the car home reliably to achieve another classified finish. We now hope for better fortune in Korea in two weeks' time."

Pole-man Vettel led team-mate Mark Webber across the line by less than a second for Red Bull Racing's third 1-2 of the season. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Fernando Alonso finished third.

Shoshi Arakawa - Bridgestone Chairman of the Board, CEO and President: "Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing on their victory today. It was unfortunate that qualifying was postponed however we were rewarded with a wonderful and exciting race in the sun which was enjoyed by many fans including myself. For Bridgestone it was our final home Grand Prix. I am proud that we have supported the pinnacle of motorsport for the last 14 years. I would like to thank all the teams, drivers, fans and everyone involved in Formula 1. I wish Formula 1 a prosperous future. We look forward to supporting all teams and drivers for the remaining three races."

Hiroshi Yasukawa - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport: "Well done to Red Bull for their third 1-2 of the season and Ferrari and Fernando for their third place in a fantastic race here at Suzuka. I am happy that so many spectators enjoyed this race and that our Bridgestone brand was so well represented by the on track performance. Our name has been seen all around the world through our prominent track branding. I think that Formula 1 is a great asset for Bridgestone and I am looking forward to the final three races of this exciting championship battle."

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development: "We enjoyed a thrilling race with different tyre strategies and very strong tyre performance from both compounds, even from the start when the track surface was still green. After half distance the track surface had improved a lot with the rubber being laid assisted by the fabulous warm weather. Even at the start of the race our soft tyre gave solid performance when the conditions were most difficult for it. We are very proud to have shown our passion for excellence with superb tyres which allowed close racing with no safety issues. I am also very happy that there is another strong Japanese presence in Formula 1 with Kamui, who made many overtaking moves today."