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Sebastian Vettel crashed out in practice in a jittery start to the Japanese Grand Prix, where he is just one point away from sealing back-to-back world titles.
The German speared his Red Bull F1 car into the wall at turn nine in the final minute of opening practice, but he was unhurt in the smash.
Vettel finished third in the session and McLaren’s Jenson Button was quickest with 1min 33.634secs in his last lap.
Button, who sits second in the championship and trails the German by 124 points, needs to win the final five races of the season and have Vettel not finish better than 10th in any Grand Prix to deny him the title.
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Formula 1 Standings Ahead of Japanese Grand Prix
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Suzuka
Splitting Button and Vettel in opening practice was Briton Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver finishing 0.091secs behind his team-mate. Fox Sports
Behind them, Fernando Alonso was in touch with 1m 34.372s for Ferrari, just ahead of Mark Webber on 1m 34.426s in the other Red Bull.
Jaime Alguersuari was next up in sixth for Toro Rosso on 1m 34.937s, then came Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on 1m 35.585s, Sebastian Buemi in the other Toro Rosso on 1m 35.590s, and Michael Schumacher in the leading Mercedes on 1m 36.033s. Vitaly Petrov completed the top 10 for Renault on 1m 36.370s, just ahead of team mate Bruno Senna who lapped his R31 in 1m 36.487s.
Then came Nico Hulkenberg (in action in place of Adrian Sutil during Practice One), and Paul di Resta in their Force Indias, sandwiching local hero Kamui Kobayashi in the lead Sauber. The German posted 1m 36.700s, the Japanese 1m 36.948s and the Scot 1m 36.949s.
Sergio Perez had a small moment in the chicane and later lapped his Sauber in 1m 37.103s for 15th, ahead of fuel-heavy Nico Rosberg on 1m 38.197s in the second Mercedes and Rubens Barrichello in the lead Williams on 1m 38.331s. Formula 1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.6 2 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.7 3 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:34.1 4 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:34.4 5 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:34.4 6 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:34.9 7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:35.6 8 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:35.6 9 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:36.0 10 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:36.4 11 9 Bruno Senna Renault 01:36.5 12 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 01:36.7 13 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:36.9 14 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:36.9 15 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:37.1 16 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:38.2 17 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:38.3 18 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:38.4 19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:39.2 20 20 Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 01:39.9 21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:40.9 22 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:41.0 23 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 01:41.1 24 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:41.8
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