Button wins, Vettel clinches second title

F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzuka

Jenson Button has won the Japanese Grand Prix after taking the lead through the second phase of pitstops. Fernando Alonso put up a late charge but came short 1.5s to win the race. Sebastian Vettel secured third place, good enough for his second consecutive World Championship. Well deserved!

As the lights went out for this sunny Japanese GP, Sebastian Vettel faced stiff competition from Jenson Button. The German though decided to force Button onto the grass on the right hand side of the track. Vettel drastically moved to the right, but it seemed like a single move.

Jenson Button though wasn't pleased with that move and called for a penalty on that. The Briton at the start lost second place to his teammate as well as he had to lift off to avoid contact.

Behind Button though, very few positions changed. Behind Schumacher in 7th though are now Paul Di Resta and Sutil, both moving up 3 places. Petrov is 10th, Buemi 11th and home driver Kobayashi fell back from 7th to 12th through the Esses after a good getaway nonetheless.

On lap 6 Alonso gets past his teammate at the end of the straight, helped by DRS. One lap later Barrichello does the very same to his own teammate in a battle for P13.

On lap 9 Hamilton gets passed by his teammate at Spoon Curve and that same lap dives into the pitlane for a new set of tyres. Hamilton suffered a slow rear puncture and had increasing trouble to keep his car on the track.

Lap 10 marks the stop for Vettel with one lap later Button and Alonso. When they rejoin the track, Button is less than a second ahead of Alonso, with the Spaniard 1.5s ahead of Hamilton. Alonso's pace was great at the end of his own first stint and therefore managed to get right behind Button after getting past his own teammate.

Massa pitted another lap later, and while taking on another set of options his team removed a gurney off the rear wing, giving the Ferrari slightly more top speed.

Rosberg, who started from 23rd and moved up to 14th makes his first stop on lap 13. He clearly feels the primes are worn already as well.

Sebastian Buemi meanwhile parks his car in the gravel trap at the Esses as his front right wheel was not correctly attached. The marshalls are fortunately able to safely get the car away without requiring a safety car.

On lap 18 the top 6 are all still packed within 10 seconds. Especially Hamilton, Massa and Webber are close to each other. The drivers though are generally not eager to attempt an optimistic pass, as they all try to be careful with their tyres and make them last a few laps longer.

At the end of lap 19, Vettel is again the first of the leaders to pit. At the same time though, Red Bull called Webber in, the latter trying to make the undercut hoping to get past Hamilton and Massa. The move was an impressive piece of work by the Red Bull mechanics. They completed Vettel's stop just in time to accept Webber.

One lap later Button is in, and thanks to a brilliant in-lap he went out just ahead of Vettel. Meanwhile Hamilton again went slowly through 130R, allowing Massa to get through on his left. Hamilton though, possibly unaware that Massa was there just turned to the left for the chicane, cutting away Massa's right front wing endplate.

It is later on announced that the event is under investigation, but I see no possibility to blame Massa here.

2 laps later race control brings out a safety car in order to clear debris from turn 7 and turn 16, the latter being the front wing endplate of Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

3 laps later the safety car is in, and positions remain the same. Button still ahead of Vettel, than Alonso, Webber, Massa, Hamilton and Schumacher.

The safety car brought Massa and Hamilton together again, opening a window for some new incident. The previous one though was investigated and no further action is deemed necessary.

Second placed man Vettel makes a switch to prime tyres on lap 33, and one lap later Mark Webber does the exact same move. The stop requires Vettel to pass Rosberg and Sutil before getting some free air.

Hamilton pits at the end of lap 35, Button one lap later. Positions remained unchanged until lap 37. Alonso at that time gets ahead of Vettel through the stops while Hamilton passed Massa.

The stops of the front runners puts Michael Schumacher in the lead, the oldest driver to lead a race since Jack Brabham.

As Schumacher pits on lap 41, Button moves back into the lead. Schumacher rejoins the track behind Hamilton but ahead of Massa.

Alonso meanwhile has his hands full with Vettel. Vettel is consistently opening his DRS on the straight, but with Alonso taking the inside line on turn 1 it is certainly not easy for Vettel to get past the Ferrari with the least possible risk.

For 9th to 13th a nice battle is unfolding between cars that are on different ttyre strategies. Paul Di Resta is the slowest of that pack apparently, falling back from 9th to 13th in just 3 laps. Kobayashi is also struggling badly while Vitaly Petrov now suddenly is going forward after struggling in battles due to longer stints and more careful driving.

The end of the race is yet another display of form by Alonso. In a move never to give up, the Spaniard moved up to 1.1s of Button, forcing Button to put in a few quick laps in order to stay out of the DRS window. It even makes Button set the fastest lap of the race right before the final lap.

Behind those two is Sebastian Vettel, who gave up on the fight with the Ferrari. The German rightfully chooses to secure his championship first, which he easily sets firm by a solid third place.