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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel - Source: Reuters -
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Sebastian Vettel won the Japanese Grand Prix to keep his Formula
One title hopes alive on Sunday while Jenson Button had his overall
lead trimmed to 14 points with two races remaining.
The 22-year-old Red Bull driver's third victory of the season left
the German 16 points adrift of Brawn's Button, who inched closer to
the crown with a hard-fought eighth place.
"Finally we made it, I was screaming on the radio ... it's good to
be back on first position also on Sunday," said Vettel, the first
German from outside the Schumacher family to win three races in a
single season.
Button's closest rival, Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello,
crossed the line in seventh on a sunny afternoon at Suzuka.
Italian Jarno Trulli was second for Toyota in the team's home race,
equalling their best result, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton hung on
for third ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Germany's Nico Rosberg was fifth for Williams, with compatriot Nick
Heidfeld sixth for BMW-Sauber.
Button would have clinched the title had he scored five points more
than Barrichello but that had looked highly unlikely since
Saturday, when both were handed five-place grid penalties.
Button's chances of sealing the championship in Japan seemed even
more remote when he ended the first lap in 11th place, but he
passed BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica and was then gifted two more
places when McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Force India's Adrian
Sutil collided just ahead of him.
Brawn, who emerged from the remains of the Honda team only weeks
before the season started, were left a tantalising half-point away
from becoming the first team to secure the constructors' title in
their debut season.
They now have 155 points to Red Bull's 120.5, with a maximum 36
still to be won.
Vettel had led comfortably from pole position but his advantage
evaporated when the safety car was deployed late in the race, after
Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari crashed, and stayed out until four
laps from the finish.
The Spaniard was unhurt in the accident.
