Vettel reignites title challenge

SEBASTIAN VETTEL was a relieved man to return to the top step of the podium for the first time in almost four months following his victory in yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The German led home a Red Bull one-two from championship leader Mark Webber at Suzuka to breathe new life into his title bid.

Vettel claimed his third win of the season – and first since the European Grand Prix at Valencia in June – after a weekend of total dominance in Japan.

The 23-year-old led the way in both practice sessions on Friday and, after Saturday’s qualifying hour was postponed due to bad weather, took pole in yesterday morning’s rescheduled session.

The win moves Vettel level on 206 points with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who after two straight wins had to be content with third place yesterday.

The pair trail Webber by 14 points, but of greater importance to Vettel will be his performance in controlling the race from the front – something that has often eluded him this season.

Vettel has secured eight poles this year but converted just two of those into wins owing to a mix of mechanical woe and driver error.

Yesterday’s win will go a long way to dispelling questions over his temperament, and Vettel believes he is well placed heading into the final three rounds.

“It’s obviously been a tough season for us, with a lot of ups and downs and not so trouble-free, but still I think we’re in a very good position,” he said.

“It’s about time, so I’m really happy to be back and to have won.’’

Webber conceded he was always playing catch-up to Vettel’s blistering pace this weekend.

“Basically it was a formation finish,” said the Australian, who kept his team-mate honest over 53 laps and was less than a second behind at the chequered flag.

“It was very difficult for me to do anything about Sebastian in terms of overtaking, virtually impossible.”

Asked whether he now regarded Vettel as his chief title rival, he added: “Two weeks ago it was Lewis Hamilton, then it was Fernando. It’s chopping and changing, but the most important thing is that the gap is going the right way. I need to keep it like that.”

Alonso admitted third place was the best he could have hoped for yesterday.

“We knew before coming here that third place was maybe our maximum position,” the Spaniard explained.

“But we are convinced that this was the worst track for us for the remaining circuits of the championship, so it was a good weekend overall.”

Red Bull’s perfect day was in stark contrast to that of McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Button took fourth place but only after Hamilton was struck by a gearbox problem that saw him lose third gear.

Hamilton suffered a weekend to forget, beginning with an accident on Friday that lost him set-up time and continuing with a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox overnight.

Hamilton was also the subject of a stewards’ investigation after Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg accused him of blocking in qualifying, although he avoided punishment.

“This wasn’t a great weekend for me,” he said. “I made a mistake on Friday, then we changed the gearbox yesterday and I got a grid penalty, and then I had another gearbox problem in the race. That’s an unfortunate amount of collective bad luck, but the team and I will bounce back.”

Hamilton, who finished fifth yesterday, is now on 192 points, 28 down on Webber, while Button has seen the gap to the leader grow to 31.

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher was the first home of the non-championship challengers in sixth, while Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi produced a drive to thrill the home crowd as he finished seventh.

The second Sauber of Nick Heidfeld was eighth while the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi rounded out the points scorers.

The race was marred by a number of accidents which began when Virgin Racing’s Lucas Di Grassi crashed on his installation lap.

Renault’s Vitaly Petrov continued the mayhem when he clipped Hulkenberg off the start and speared into the barriers.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa smashed into Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi at the first corner while Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg retired in spectacular fashion on lap 50 when he suffered a failure at the rear of his car, pitching him into a barrier.

Only Petrov fell foul of the stewards after the race, the Russian slapped with a five-place grid penalty to be served at the next round in Korea.