F1 GP Suzuka Japan 2009: Vettel back in title hunt

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel led from start to finish in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to put himself back in the title frame with Jenson Button eighth behind Brawn team-mate and other title rival Rubens Barrichello.

Vettel has 69 points after the victory, achieved at a circuit at which he had never previously raced, with Barrichello two ahead on 71 and Button still clear on 85 with two grands prix remaining.

Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, the Toyota man taking a place from the McLaren on the final round of pitstops. Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld filled positions four to six.

Following the race Rosberg was placed under investigation for a possible infringement which could have handed Brawn GP the constructors' title - however stewards decided not to take action against the Williams driver.

Vettel got away well enough to hold on to his pole position although he could have been passed by the KERS-boosted Hamilton, had Trulli not slowed the McLaren somewhat.

The reigning world champion managed to get past the Toytota however with positions four to eight as they were on the grid, occupied by Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Rosberg and Adrian Sutil.

Heikki Kovalainen, fighting for his future in Woking with fellow Finn Raikkonen tipped to return to McLaren at his expense, made up two places off the line thanks to his KERS then overtook Sutil's Force India on the first couple of laps to move into eighth.

Button and Kubica occupied the cars passed by Kovalainen and the Briton, who could have wrapped up the title had things worked out differently, wasted little time in passing the Pole.

Vettel was flying away from Hamilton at the front, while at the back of the grid Mark Webber - who had started from the pitlane - came in for a third stop after only four laps. The Australian had changed tyres before needing a loose headrest taping up; he then suffered a puncture.

Sebastian Buemi retired with a clutch problem before the first of only two major incidents in the race.

Sutil tried to move up the inside of Kovalainen in his lighter car and was closed off; they touched and the McLaren ran on to the grass as the Force India spun out for the second race in succession.

This time Sutil did not take anyone else out as he swung the car around and continued on - but both drivers were passed by a thankful Button.

Button had clear air to make up on the Renault of Fernando Alonso - like team-mate Romain Grosjean on a one-stopper - and cut the gap from 5.7s to almost two seconds with an intensive spell that set up his point-scoring finish.

After the first round of stops Barrichello found himself going backwards compared with Raikkonen ahead of him, with the gap from Button to the Brazilian down to five seconds with Rosberg between them.

Heidfeld jumped ahead of BMW-Sauber team-mate Kubica on the second round of stops - the latter had taken Kovalainen's place during the first round - and Trulli had little trouble coming through for second.

He pitted two laps after Hamilton, who had suffered an issue with his limiter it seemed on the pitlane exit.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who finished 12th for Ferrari, narrowly nicked a place from Kovalainen during the reshuffle - but the Italian was passed soon after on another weekend to forget following his move from Force India.

The second incident occurred with eight laps left: Jaime Alguersuari lost control of his Toro Rosso and smashed into the tyre barriers, finishing half on and half off the track in the wrecked vehicle.

That brought out the safety car for four laps as the wall was restacked by the assembled throng of marshals; with the field bunched together a four-lap race was in effect.

Raikkonen had a look at passing Hamilton for third but could not manage it, while Kubica was also unsuccessful as he had a nibble at Button and the Briton himself contented himself with a point lost in the title battle with Barrichello ahead of him.

However Vettel, cruising at the head of the field, could yet have the final say in an intriguing Formula One season if the Brawns are outclassed again in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

Button claimed Rosberg had made up four seconds on him during the slowdown with Brawn needing only half a point to claim the teams' title.

"The race director reported to the stewards that... Nico Rosberg exceeded the time delta from when the 'safety deployed' message was displayed until crossing the safety car line," the FIA stated.

"The stewards met with the drivers and the team representatives and considered the telemetry data, GPS records, timekeeping and video evidence. This evidence showed a 'low fuel' message on the drivers display had overridden the time delta information preventing the driver from being able to accurately follow the timing information.

"However the telemetry data shows that the driver from a safety point of view had reacted adequately to the yellow flags and safety car boards. In view of this the stewards intend to take no further action."

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport


Race live standing
P. Driver Team Time
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:28:20.443
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 4.877
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 6.472
4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 7.940
5 Nico Rosberg Williams 8.793
6 Nick Heidfeld BMW 9.509
7 Rubens Barrichello Brawn 10.641
8 Jenson Button Brawn 11.474
9 Robert Kubica BMW 11.777
10 Fernando Alonso Renault 13.065
11 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 13.735
12 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 14.596
13 Adrian Sutil Force India 14.959
15 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 17.973
16 Romain Grosjean Renault at 1 lap
17 Mark Webber Red Bull at 2 laps
18 Alguersuari Jaime Toro Rosso out
19 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso out

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