Red Bull rises in Japanposted in F110 | 10 | 2010
RED BULL dominated the Japanese Grand Prix as Sebatian Vettel led from start to finish, eventually backing off to finish ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber. The Aussie heads to the next grand prix in Korea leading both Vettel and Ferrari's Fernandon Alonso — who finished third — by just 14 points with three races remaining.
"This was an incredible day," Vettel, who had qualified on pole position in this morning's delayed qualifying session before going on to capture his third win of the season, said afterwards. "It was just fantastic.
"It was all down to the team, they have been working very hard. Most of the guys did not sleep from Thursday to Saturday, so it was good there was no qualifying yesterday!
"They deserved it today. This track looks like it was drawn for us with the high-speed corners, with the car getting lighter and lighter it was more fun.
"We are in a very good position now for the championship. It is about time, so I'm really happy to be back and have won for the second time here. I'm really proud of it. I think it was a very good day for us, with qualy and the race, a special experience."
And the 23-year-old German explained he always felt he had the threat from team-mate Webber under control: "Mark tried to push, but I knew overtaking is not so easy and I think I just went as fast I had too," Vettel, whose victory repeated his success in Japan last year, said.
"I love this circuit. It's always special this circuit. It's the first time I win a grand prix for the second time so you have to fall in love with this track. I'm very proud, I think it is a good omen!"
While Webber and Alonso spent the race trying to keep Vettel honest, McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button endured another tough afternoon. Hamilton had been closing in on Alonso from fourth before he dropped back to eventually finish fifth when his car lost third gear.
That allowed Button to finish fourth. But the defending world champ questioned his team's strategy of keeping him out on the prime tyre for the majority of the race while his rivals began the race on 'option' Bridgestone and pitted sooner.
"I thought the others would struggle on the options at the start of the race, but they didn't," Button explained. "I wasn't really able to push Fernando, and I had Lewis right behind me. We need to look at the data, but to stay out when everyone else pitted was probably the wrong thing. Maybe you should cover the people that you are racing and we didn't do that.
"At the end of the race when we did put the option on it was great. The car had a lot of grip and I was very fast, but not quick enough to beat the Red Bulls and the Ferrari.
"We've just got to look at the data and see why we stayed out for so long, I think it was 40 laps. It was quite a tough race on such old tyres. I don't mean we would have finished any further up but I think it is just useful information for the future."
Button is now three points behind his team-mate Hamilton in fifth place in the title race, 31 points behind Webber.
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(Photo: Getty Images)