Jenson Button showed on Friday he will make Sebastian Vettel sweat for his second world Formula One championship after the Briton topped the timesheets in both practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The 31-year-old McLaren driver, after leading morning practice, set his benchmark time of 1min 31.901secs in the 90-minute afternoon session at a sunny but windy Suzuka.
Button, the 2009 world champion, is 124 points adrift of Red Bull’s Vettel, meaning he has to win all five remaining races - and needs Vettel to finish no better than 11th in every race - to deny the German back-to-back titles.
Vettel, who crashed out in the final stages of the morning session, was third in afternoon practice, 0.194secs off top spot. He needs only one point to seal the world driver’s crown.
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Formula 1 Standings Ahead of Japanese Grand Prix
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in Second Practice at Suzuka
Australian Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull, while Alonso’s Ferrari teammate, Brazilian Felipe Massa, was fifth.
German pair and Mercedes team-mates Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were sixth and seventh ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton, who finished a disappointing 1.344secs behind team-mate Button for McLaren. Sydney Morning Herald
It was a rough afternoon for Williams drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado. Barrichello crashed at the hairpin and Maldonado rolled to a halt. They were 17th and 21st respectively on the time sheets.
Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi lost control of his Sauber and went sideways at the 130R turn before regaining control and eventually finished 17th.
Vettel ran wide at the Degner curve near the end of the morning session and made contact with the barriers. The German climbed unhurt from his car, jogging back to pit lane while his car was lifted away with a damaged front wing. ESPN
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:31.9 2 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:32.1 3 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:32.1 4 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:32.1 5 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:32.4 6 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:32.7 7 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:33.0 8 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.2 9 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:33.4 10 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:33.7 11 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:33.7 12 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:33.8 13 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:34.4 14 9 Bruno Senna Renault 01:34.6 15 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:34.6 16 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:36.0 17 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:36.2 18 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:37.1 19 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:37.4 20 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:38.1 21 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:38.4 22 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 01:38.8 23 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:39.8 24 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:42.5
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