* Pre-race: The persistent rain stops with about 15 minutes to go and the skies brighten slightly. Drivers come to the grid on a mixture of wet and extreme-wet tyres. Kimi Räikkönen – on wets – runs very wide during the formation laps. Tonio Liuzzi, who qualified with a full-dry set-up yesterday, remains in the pits. A Safety Car start is declared.

* Lap 1: For the first time in 30 years a Formula One race kicks off at Fuji. Pole position qualifier Lewis Hamilton leads behind the Safety Car, with Fernando Alonso, Räikkönen, Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki Kovalainen, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Nico Rosberg (who dropped 10 positions on the grid due to an unscheduled engine change), Rubens Barrichello, Anthony Davidson, Adrian Sutil, Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto and Alex Wurz, who drops from 17th to the tail of the field after an incident unseen in the spray. Liuzzi joins in one lap down.

* Lap 2: Massa spins while running behind the Safety Car. He pits at the end of the lap to change from wets to extreme wets.

* Lap 3: Räikkönen – also running ordinary wets – pits for extremes.

* Lap 4: Massa and Räikkönen are now 20th and 21st respectively.

* Lap 6: Räikkönen spins at Turn 10.

* Lap 10: The drivers continue to fan out across the track in a bid to get a half-decent view as spray continues to envelop the circuit. Liuzzi makes a routine refuelling stop.

* Lap 12: Vettel and Kubica swap sixth and seventh places. Trulli spins at Turn Six and drops from 11th to 13th.

* Lap 13: Vettel and Kubica resume their rightful positions. Yamamoto pits.

* Lap 14: Räikkönen makes a routine stop.

* Lap 15: Massa pits.

* Lap 16: Liuzzi is authorised to unlap himself. Trulli drops from 13th to 17th.

* Lap 17: Massa is handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the Safety Car. Hamilton slows briefly and Alonso almost catches up with him.

* Lap 18: Barrichello, Sato and Trulli pit.

* Lap 20: The Safety Car comes in. Hamilton pulls 1.9s clear of Alonso and Vettel moves up to third as Button pushes Heidfeld sideways, wiping off the Honda’s nose. Wurz and Massa tangle at Turn One. Massa pits for his drive-through.

* Lap 21: Massa runs wide as soon as he rejoins. Hamilton leads by 2.2s. Sutil passes Heidfeld.

* Lap 22: Räikkönen passes Davidson. Sato pits with a damaged nose – and rejoins with the back of his car in flames.

* Lap 23: Button pits and the missing nose is replaced on his car.

* Lap 26: Heidfeld repasses Sutil. Rosberg passes Yamamoto.

* Lap 27: Alonso pits. Räikkönen passes Sutil.

* Lap 28: Hamilton pits. Vettel leads. Alonso runs wide. Schumacher pits.

* Lap 29: Vettel leads from Webber and Hamilton. Alonso is eighth, behind Coulthard.

* Lap 30: Fisichella drops behind Kovalainen and Kubica.

* Lap 31: Liuzzi passes Davidson.

* Lap 32: Vettel pits. Webber leads. Kubica passes Kovalainen, Rosberg passes Davidson. Massa passes Yamamoto.

* Lap 34: Kubica tips Hamilton into a spin. They drop to third and fourth. Heidfeld passes Alonso. Massa passes Davidson.

* Lap 35: Heidfeld pits. Vettel nudges Alonso into a spin. The Spaniard drops behind both Vettel and Räikkönen. Liuzzi and Rosberg pass Sutil.

* Lap 36: Webber pits, as does Kubica. Coulthard passes Hamilton.

* Lap 37: Barrichello passes Yamamoto. Davidson pits.

* Lap 38: Kubica is handed a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable collision.

* Lap 39: Kovalainen and Coulthard pit. Massa passes Sutil.

* Lap 40: Räikkönen and Rosberg pit. Kubica comes in for his drive-through.

* Lap 41: Fisichella pits. Yamamoto spins at Turn Three.

* Lap 42: Alonso crashes heavily at Turn Five. The Safety Car is deployed.

* Lap 44: Liuzzi, Sutil and Sato pit.

* Lap 46: Vettel hits Webber. The Australian is out on the spot. Vettel slowly drives back to the pits to retire.

* Lap 48: Schumacher pits.

* Lap 49: Restart. Hamilton pulls 2.6s clear of Kovalainen. Räikkönen passes Heidfeld and Fisichella for fifth. Rosberg slows up, pits at the lap’s end and stops again almost as soon as he rejoins. Liuzzi gains five places and moves up to 10th.

* Lap 50: Hamilton leads by 4.2s.

* Lap 52: Liuzzi runs wide at Turn Nine and loses 10th place to Sutil.

* Lap 53: Schumacher retires to the pits.

* Lap 55: Davidson pulls off to retire.

* Lap 56: Liuzzi passes Sutil.

* Lap 57: Räikkönen passes Coulthard for fourth.

* Lap 58: Räikkönen runs very wide at Turn Five. Massa pits. Sutil is back ahead of Liuzzi.

* Lap 60: Barrichello and Trulli pit.

* Lap 61: Räikkönen runs wide at Turn Nine.

* Lap 65: Heidfeld slows up and stops at the end of the pit lane at the start of lap 66. Liuzzi passes Sutil.

* Lap 67: Hamilton wins just as the race’s two-hour limit expires. Kovalainen beats Räikkönen for second. Coulthard takes fourth. Massa and Kubica run side by side through the final few corners, swapping places several times before Massa emerges ahead, in sixth. Liuzzi claims the final point. Button fails to complete the lap.