- News:
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Massa blames ill fortune for disappointing Sunday
- News:
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Schumacher happy with sixth in Japan
- News:
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Petrov handed Korea grid penalty
- News:
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Kobayashi happy to entertain home fans
- News:
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Button rues tyre strategy
- News:
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Podiums enough says Alonso
- News:
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Webber satisfied with second in Japan
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Vettel dedicates victory to team after 'incredible day'
- Race:
- Japanese Grand Prix
- Drivers:
- Fernando Alonso
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- Jenson Button
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- Lewis Hamilton
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- Nico Hülkenberg
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- Robert Kubica
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- Tonio Liuzzi
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- Vitaly Petrov
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- Sebastian Vettel
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- Mark Webber
Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory at an incident-packed Japanese Grand Prix, with team-mate Mark Webber settling for second to complete a perfect weekend for Red Bull.
The pair's title rivals lined up behind with Fernando Alonso third, Jenson Button fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth, but the weekend belonged to Red Bull. Vettel's solid performance leaves him level with Alonso in the title chase and just 14 points off championship leader Webber with just three races remaining.
Although the gap between the Red Bulls never grew much wider than 3.0 seconds, Vettel looked in control throughout and read the race to perfection as it all kicked off behind him. At the start Vitaly Petrov got away brilliantly but in his enthusiasm clipped Nico Hulkenberg's Williams and speared into the barrier before the first corner. Felipe Massa then attempted a wild move on Nico Rosberg into turn one, taking to the grass on the inside to try and make his desperate lunge stick. The inevitable ensued and Massa careered sideways across turn one, mopping up Tonio Liuzzi's Force India in the process and putting them out on the spot after a big imapct.
That resulted in a safety car period that saw Vettel line up ahead of the fast-starting Robert Kubica, Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton. However, Kubica's brilliance in qualifying and fast start proved worthless in the end as his right rear wheel came off at slow speed behind the safety car. That handed the Red Bulls a one-two lead that they never came close to losing.
At the restart the top five in the championship occupied the top five positions but Button was off the pace on hard tyres that he had decided to gamble on during qualifying. He was holding up Hamilton as a result but the McLarens held position as the top three started to pull away.
Button's leftfield tyre strategy meant he could stay out longer and he took the as the others rejoined with new rubber. However, his hard tyres were 20 laps older than his rivals and Vettel soon closed onto his tail. Button bunched up the pack but when he pitted for softs the Red Bulls started to stretch their lead again.
Button resumed behind Hamilton, but the 2008 champion's luck took yet another nosedive when he lost third gear. It didn't take long for Button to pass, but the good news for McLaren is that he will get another free gearbox change for Korea after fitting a new one before qualifying at Suzuka. Hamilton nursed the car home by staying above third gear, but it cost huge amounts of time in the slow corners and he finished 26 seconds behind his team-mate.
Kobayashi finished a seventh after a ballsy drive through the field that saw him successfully complete four overtaking manoeuvres at the hairpin. Nick Heidfeld made a solid return to the points in the second Sauber, with Rubens Barrichello and Sebastien Buemi rounding out the top ten.
Heikki Kovalainen finished 12th, a brilliant result for Lotus as it gives it a new highest finish among the new teams in Formula One. Meanwhile, Virgin had a dismal day after Lucas di Grassi spun off at the 130R on the way to the grid and did not make the start.
Laurence Edmondson is an assistant editor on ESPNF1