Jenson Button wins an exciting Japanese race as Vettel secures the title with third place.
Jenson Button drove brilliantly to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but the Mclaren driver’s success was overlooked by Sebastian Vettel finishing third to secure his second consecutive world championship, and become the youngest ever double world champion. The Red Bull man failed to win the race finishing 3rd, after stunning drives from Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso beat him to the chequered flag.
Pole sitter Vettel got a reasonable start, but Jenson Button's McLaren was quicker off the line and looked like he was going to get ahead, but for a dubious move by Vettel putting Button momentarily on the grass. Button was duly passed by his team mate Lewis Hamilton for 2nd. Quickly Button was on his team radio protesting. Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber all held position in 4th, 5th and 6th, but local hero Kamui Kobayashi got a terrible start and was down to 12th.
Hamilton was in 2nd but struggling for grip, and after running slightly wide at Spoon Curve on lap nine, appeared to let his team mate through. After passing Massa, Alonso was now hounding down Hamilton, who pitted on that lap. Within the next two laps, Vettel and Button also came in, Button closing down the German's lead. Alonso also jumped Hamilton at the stops. Hamilton was now under pressure from Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, less than two seconds seperating the three of them on Lap 16.
Lewis Hamilton was hoping to put his recent issues with Felipe Massa behind him, but instead they made contact again, on lap 22 at the chicane, Hamilton keeping left and plucking a piece of front wing from the Brazilian's car. Fortunately for the McLaren man, the stewards took no action.
Vettel was in for his second stop on Lap 20, and after a superb in-lap from Jenson Button, undercut the German for the race lead. McLaren's later, faster stop had given their man the race lead. Hamilton was having a disaster though and lost places to both Webber and Massa, undercutting him at Round 2 of the pit stops.
The safety car was deployed to collect the debris from Hamilton and Massa's incident, which played perfectly in to the hands of Fernando Alonso, whose better tyre management meant he could pass Vettel at the final round of stops after the safety car came in. Vettel knew that just a point would make him champion, but lap after lap he tried to pass Alonso, the Ferrari driver's defending top quality to keep him behind, even with Vettel trying to DRS him into Turn 1 for over 12 laps.
The championship was done and dusted, and Vettel gave up on passing Alonso when Jerome D'Ambrosio was slow to get out of his way. Fernando Alonso suddenly found supreme pace, putting in stunning qualifying laps, getting the deficit to Button 4 seconds on Lap 46, and on Lap 50 just one second. He was flying, but the McLaren driver managed to find some pace in the final three laps to take a famous Suzuka win. Alonso came home for a fantastic 2nd, while 3rd place meant that Sebastian Vettel is the new double World Champion. Mark Webber finished 4th, and a late surge gave Hamilton 5th. Michael Schumacher held off Felipe Massa for 6th, while Sergio Perez, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg scored points.
So Vettel is a double world champion, the youngest ever. It's been a remarkable season for the 24-year old, who has dominated. Okay, so he was outdriven by Alonso and Button today, but he did more than was needed, and crowned himself world champion for the second time, and how deserved has this been?
Jenson Button drove brilliantly to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but the Mclaren driver’s success was overlooked by Sebastian Vettel finishing third to secure his second consecutive world championship, and become the youngest ever double world champion. The Red Bull man failed to win the race finishing 3rd, after stunning drives from Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso beat him to the chequered flag.
Pole sitter Vettel got a reasonable start, but Jenson Button's McLaren was quicker off the line and looked like he was going to get ahead, but for a dubious move by Vettel putting Button momentarily on the grass. Button was duly passed by his team mate Lewis Hamilton for 2nd. Quickly Button was on his team radio protesting. Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber all held position in 4th, 5th and 6th, but local hero Kamui Kobayashi got a terrible start and was down to 12th.
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| Driver of the day, Race Winner, New Double World Champion. |
Hamilton was in 2nd but struggling for grip, and after running slightly wide at Spoon Curve on lap nine, appeared to let his team mate through. After passing Massa, Alonso was now hounding down Hamilton, who pitted on that lap. Within the next two laps, Vettel and Button also came in, Button closing down the German's lead. Alonso also jumped Hamilton at the stops. Hamilton was now under pressure from Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, less than two seconds seperating the three of them on Lap 16.
Lewis Hamilton was hoping to put his recent issues with Felipe Massa behind him, but instead they made contact again, on lap 22 at the chicane, Hamilton keeping left and plucking a piece of front wing from the Brazilian's car. Fortunately for the McLaren man, the stewards took no action.
Vettel was in for his second stop on Lap 20, and after a superb in-lap from Jenson Button, undercut the German for the race lead. McLaren's later, faster stop had given their man the race lead. Hamilton was having a disaster though and lost places to both Webber and Massa, undercutting him at Round 2 of the pit stops.
The safety car was deployed to collect the debris from Hamilton and Massa's incident, which played perfectly in to the hands of Fernando Alonso, whose better tyre management meant he could pass Vettel at the final round of stops after the safety car came in. Vettel knew that just a point would make him champion, but lap after lap he tried to pass Alonso, the Ferrari driver's defending top quality to keep him behind, even with Vettel trying to DRS him into Turn 1 for over 12 laps.
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| Alonso and Vettel fight over 2nd |
So Vettel is a double world champion, the youngest ever. It's been a remarkable season for the 24-year old, who has dominated. Okay, so he was outdriven by Alonso and Button today, but he did more than was needed, and crowned himself world champion for the second time, and how deserved has this been?
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