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Jenson Button kept his side of the bargain, winning an emotional Japanese Grand Prix to make Sebastian Vettel work for it. But the German proved more than equal to the task. Needing just a point to be sure of wrapping up back-to-back drivers’ title, Red Bull’s wonderkid finished third at Suzuka to become Formula One’s youngest ever double world champion with four races of the season still to run. A phenomenal achievement.
Choking back the tears, the 24 year-old thanked his team on his warm-down lap, but in truth the occasion did not pack quite the same punch as his thrilling maiden victory beneath the floodlights of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi last year.
After 15 races of a season in which he has claimed nine race wins and 12 poles, Vettel now stands 13th in Formula One’s all-time winners’ list, ahead of the likes of Stirling Moss and Lewis Hamilton. Don’t bet against him being in the top 10 by the time we leave Brazil in November.
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“It’s difficult to know where to begin,” Vettel began said in the post-race press conference, drawing a deep breath before going on a long and rambling explanation of the chain of events which brought him to this juncture. “Sorry for my English,” he added rather apologetically at the end. “It’s a bit long(-winded).
“There are so many things you want to say, but it’s hard to remember all of them. I’m so thankful to everyone in the team, pushing hard to build those two cars. It’s great to achieve the goal we set ourselves this year already.” Telegraph.co.uk
It was a tight finish as tyre degradation dominated the race and Alonso closed to within 1.1s of Button at the chequered flag. Alonso pulled in the McLaren in the final five laps, but with two laps remaining Button responded and upped the ante with personal bests to maintain the gap and win the race.
Vettel, who led up until the second pit stops, settled for third in the knowledge that he needed just a single point for the title, and both he and Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in fourth were ordered not to take any risks. Nevertheless he was still within 0.8s of the lead battle as they crossed the line.
Lewis Hamilton had another difficult race and finished fifth after a puncture and another tit-for-tat battle with Felipe Massa. Michael Schumacher managed to split the pair of them in sixth using a different tyre strategy and one of his most competitive races of the season. There final points positions were occupied by Serio Perez, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg after a drive up from 23rd. ESPN F1
Adrian Sutil was chasing Perez near the end before a brief off dropped him back, and he took 11th ahead of Force India team mate Paul di Resta, who finished with Kobayashi, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari right on his tail after a fierce multi-car battle.
Bruno Senna got squeezed wide in Turn Two at the start and never featured, finishing 16th in the second Renault ahead of the duelling Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.
Behind them, Jerome D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock had a race-long scrap in their Virgins two laps down, with the German finally getting the verdict by just 1.2s and HRT’s Daniel Ricciardo only 2.4s further back after a never-say-die run. Liuzzi’s HRT never ran as well as his team mate’s, after all his practice and qualifying dramas, and he finished three laps down in 23rd. Formula 1
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