Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel brought his world championship hopes alive again with a superb victory in Japan on Sunday afternoon, winning as he pleased and leading Jarno Trulli’s Toyota home by 4.8s despite a late safety car intervention. Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren, another 1.5s adrift, after losing out to Trulli in the second pit stops. Formula 1
Vettel’s third win of the season now leaves him 16 points behind leader Jenson Button after the Englishman finished eighth, while Rubens Barrichello is 14 adrift of his Brawn GP team-mate having crossed the line seventh. The Press Association
Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of German duo Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber).
Vettel told reporters: “The title can still be won. It would be nice to have a couple more races left, but with two races to go, we are here to fight and the best thing we can do is win.” CNN International
“I tried to get past both Jarno and Sebastian at the start,” said Lewis Hamilton. “But I couldn’t quite manage to get into the lead. It was a good scrap with Jarno – we were really battling, setting qualifying times as we tried to shave tenths off each other’s laps – but, over the race distance, my car couldn’t quite match his.”
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - Race Results
Button’s chances of clinching the title in Japan seemed impossible since the Briton was among four drivers slapped with a five-place grid penalty for ignoring a yellow flag in Saturday’s chaotic qualifying for the Japanese GP, a session that featured five crashes and three red flags for track cleanup. Button started 10th, but advanced two positions early in the race when Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen made contact, putting Sutil into a spin.
Brawn all but wrapped up the constructors’ title, as they hold a 36.5 point lead over Red Bull. Brawn is attempting to become the first team to claim the distinguished title in their debut season. MiamiHerald.com
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