Vettel shines in Suzuka sunshine

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel sees off teammate Mark Webber to win the Japanese Grand Prix and move closer to the F1 championship lead.

Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Red Bull Racing celebrates in the pitlane after winning the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit.

SUZUKA // Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel edged out teammate Mark Webber on Sunday to win the Japanese Grand Prix and move closer to the Formula One championship lead.

Vettel started from pole position at the Suzuka circuit and led for most of the race to defend his Japanese GP title and pressure driver's championship leader Webber. "It was an incredible day with qualifying in the morning and the win in the afternoon," Vettel said. "It seems like this track was drawn for us. I had a good start which is obviously the key."

Ferrari's Felipe Alonso finished third to remain in contention for the driver's title. With three races remaining, Webber leads the championship standings with 220 points, ahead of Vettel and Alonso with 206. Alonso is in second place because he has won more races this season. McLaren's title hopes took another blow as Jenson Button was fourth followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton, who experienced gearbox problems, despite making a change before the race.

The seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher finished sixth for Mercedes. Vettel crossed the finish line 0.9secs ahead of Webber and 2.7secs ahead of Alonso. The win is the German's third of the season after Valencia and Malaysia. The Japanese victory is also Red Bull's sixth win of the season and first since Webber claimed the Hungarian GP in August. For Webber, it marked the 19th podium finish of his F1 career.

The race got off to a chaotic start with four drivers - Renault's Vitaly Petrov, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg of Williams and Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi - all going out before the first turn had been completed. Petrov swerved across the track and smashed into the retaining wall before the pack even arrived at the first turn. Massa tried to move up the inside of the pack and gain position at Turn 1, but he lost control on the grass and went out at the opening corner, taking Liuzzi with him.

Robert Kubica, who started from third on the grid and split Vettel and Webber off the start, went out on the second lap when he lost a wheel while in second position. That put the Red Bulls back into first and second. "It was a bit lucky for us when Robert had the wheel come off," Webber said. "It was virtually impossible for me to overtake Sebastian after that." The only time Vettel and Webber were not in the lead was when Button's pit strategy allowed him to lead from laps 25 to 38 as the world champion ran long on his hard tyres before changing to soft tyres.

Alonso, who won the previous two races in Singapore and Italy, said he knew it would be hard to challenge the Red Bulls. "It was a tough race and I didn't make a good start," Alonso said. "It was impossible to catch the Red Bulls in the first part of the race. I was able to close the gap a little bit later on but we knew coming here they would be tough to beat." The Virgin driver Lucas Di Grassi severely damaged his car when he lost control of during the warm-up lap and didn't start the race.

The next race is scheduled for October 24 in South Korea.

Drivers Points
1. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 220
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 206
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 206
4. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 192
5. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 189
6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 128
7. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 122
8. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 114
9. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 54
10. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 47
11. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams 41
12. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 27
13. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 19
14. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams 17
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India 13
16. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso 8
17. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) Sauber 6
18. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber 4
19. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso 3
20. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus 0
21. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus 0
22. Karun Chandhok (India) HRT 0
23. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin 0
24. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin 0
25. Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT 0
26. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) HRT 0
27. Christian Klien (Austria) HRT 0