The race was the 17th round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship and marked the 45th running of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Due to the weather forecasts relating to Typhoon Hagibis, all the events planned for Saturday were cancelled.
This included the Free Practice 3 session and qualifying, the latter of which was rescheduled for Sunday morning, a few hours before the race was due to start.
However, Japanese driver Naoki Yamamoto drove in the first practice session for Scuderia Toro Rosso, replacing Pierre Gasly.
The skies were clear after Typhoon Hagibis had passed the previous day, however, there were still heavy winds affecting the circuit.
Two minutes into the session Robert Kubica hit the outside wall at the exit of turn 18 after running wide onto the grass destroying the car's front wing and left-hand wheels and causing significant damage to the survival cell.
Four minutes after the session restarted Kevin Magnussen spun at the same corner causing him to reverse into the outside wall, damaging his gearbox, front and rear wings.
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of Q1 whilst Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Pérez and George Russell were eliminated alongside Kubica and Magnussen.
After setting the 15th fastest time, Nico Hülkenberg's car suffered a loss of hydraulic pressure causing him to be stuck in gear.
Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of Q2 with Antonio Giovinazzi, Lance Stroll, Kimi Räikkönen and Daniil Kvyat being eliminated alongside Hülkenberg.
At the start of the race Sebastian Vettel, on pole position, moved a fraction of a second too early.
He was able to stop before overstepping his grid line, but this led to a poor start and the Ferrari was passed by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas almost immediately.
With Bottas crossing the line to take victory, Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel were eliminated from the Drivers' Championship title contention.
Racing Point submitted a protest to the stewards over alleged illegal use of a "pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system" by Renault.