Japanese Grand Prix

05th October 2009

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel kept his world championship chances alive with a storming win at Suzuka, Japan. The German put on a dominant performance, leading the race from lights to flag.

Behind him Jarno Trulli gave Toyota a much needed boost by finishing ahead of the third placed McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. The defending champ held on to second for much of the afternoon, but was passed by his Italian rival at the last round of pitstops.

Further down the field, championship leader Jenson Button salvaged a single point after a penalty from organisers demoted him to tenth on the grid at the start. The Brawn GP driver fell from seventh after he failed to slow down for yellow flags brought out after Sebastien Buemi crashed during qualifying.

However, a gritty drive by Button saw him leave Japan with a fourteen-point lead over team mate Rubens Barrichello. The English ace’s climb up the leader board was given a boost early on in the race when Force India’s Adrian Sutil and the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen briefly left the circuit while squabbling over eighth place.

In the closing stages of the race Button had to hold of Robert Kubica’s charging BMW. The Polish driver was able to cruise up to the back of the Brawn after the safety car was deployed when Toro Rosso’s Jaime Algusuari crashed heavily at the fast 130R corner.

Red Bull’s hopes for the constructor’s title took a hit as mark Webber suffered a miserable weekend. The Australian crashed in Saturday morning practice, then had three unscheduled pit stops during the race – two to secure a loose cockpit surround and one to replace a punctured tyre. The squad now trail Brawn by 35.5 points with two races remaining.

But even this fact failed to take the shine of team mate Vettel’s remarkable victory. “I was screaming on the radio”, exclaimed Vettel. “In the last couple of races it was a little bit up and down. Sometimes we had the pace, sometimes we didn’t and yeah, finally we made it, so it is good to be back in first position also on Sunday. The championship can still be won. It’s looking much better now”.

Next up the teams travel to Sao Paulo for the Brazilian grand prix on 18 October. All eyes will be on Jenson Button, who only needs to finish fifth or higher to secure his first world title.

Result

1. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull-Renault
2. Jarno Trulli        Toyota
3. Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes
4. Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari
5. Nico Rosberg       Williams-Toyota
6. Nick Heidfeld      BMW Sauber
7. Rubens Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes
8. Jenson Button        Brawn-Mercedes
9. Robert Kubica        BMW Sauber
10. Fernando Alonso        Renault
11. Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes
12. Giancarlo Fisichella    Ferrari
13. Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes
15. Kazuki Nakajima      Williams-Toyota
16. Romain Grosjean      Renault
17. Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault

Driver Championship

1. Jenson Button      85
2.Rubens Barrichello     71
3. Sebastian Vettel     69
4. Mark Webber     51.5
5. Kimi Räikkönen     45
6. Lewis Hamilton     43
7. Nico Rosberg     34.5
8. Jarno Trulli     30.5
9. Fernando Alonso     26
10. Timo Glock     24

Constructor Championship

1. Brawn-Mercedes      156
2. RBR-Renault     120.5
3. Ferrari     67
4. McLaren-Mercedes     65
5. Toyota     54.5
6. Williams-Toyota     34.5
7. Renault     26
8. BMW Sauber     24
9. Force India-Mercedes     13
10. STR-Ferrari     5

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