Suzuka

02-04 October 2009

Lap Distance 5.303 Km

Race 53 Laps 307.573 Km

Sebastian Vettel drove the perfect race from pole position to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Despite a safety car period late in the race caused by a heavy crash suffered by Jaime Alguersuari, Vettel was never troubled and was in total command of the race throughout. Jarno Trulli secured second place, an important result for the Toyota team at their home Grand Prix. Trulli was strong throughout the race and despite losing the advantage to Lewis Hamilton off the grid was always in contention and never far from Hamilton's exhaust. He claimed second after leapfrogging the McLaren driver at the second round of pit stops. Kimi Raikkonen drove a solid race for Ferrari but was never in a position to challenge the leaders but nonetheless recorded a valuable fourth place finish. Fifth place went to Nico Rosberg who drove well for Williams but some questions were raised post race regarding excessive speed under the safety car and whether he could be awarded a penalty by the stewards. Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top six for BMW. Battling team mates and title rivals Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button mopped up the last remaining points for seventh and eighth places. Button made a relatively poor start but managed to claw his way back to Barrichello after taking advantage of a clash between Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen. which allowed the championship leader to gain two valuable places in one fell swoop. Button came under considerable pressure during the final laps after the safety car period from a hard charging Robert Kubica but held on for what could be a decisive single point in the end analysis. Fernando Alonso closed out the top ten for Renault. Jaime Alguersuari fortunately emerged unscathed from his wrecked car after his high speed impact at the daunting 130R corner. The result leaves the drivers world championship open with Button still enjoying a fourteen point gap to Barrichello and sixteen points to Vettel.

After a damp first free practice session at Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix in which Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time, things took a dramatic turn for the worse weather wise in the second session. Torrential rain fell from the outset and there was hardly any action until the final 30 minutes of the session. It was the Force India of Adrian Sutil at the top of the time sheets from Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and the Toro Rosso of Vitantonio Liuzzi in second and third places. Lewis Hamilton, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastian Buemi rounded out the top six fastest on the sodden circuit. Heikki Kovalainen and battling title contenders Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello did not even venture out onto the circuit for a single lap.

Sebastian Vettel kept his slim world championship hopes alive by claiming an inspired pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka today. It was a dramatic qualifying session that was missed by Mark Webber after damaging his Red Bull in the morning free practice session. Then in Q2 the session was red flagged early on after Jaime Alguersuari hit the tyre barriers head on at the Degner curves. Fortunately Alguersuari emerged unscathed. The same could not be said for Timo Glock whose Toyota hit the barriers head on at high speed after the final chicane with its driver having to be airlifted to hospital with abrasion to his upper thigh and amazingly still potentially able to drive on Sunday. Glock's accident caused another red flag and further disruption to the session. Jarno Trulli recovered the situation for a worried Toyota team by taking second place on the grid with Lewis Hamilton third. Adrian Sutil was again at the front end for Force India with a great fourth place. Title contenders Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finished fifth and seventh fastest with the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld sandwiched between the two Brawn cars in sixth place. Kimi Raikkonen was eighth fastest with Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastian Buemi rounding out the top ten.

01 H Kovalainen
1m 40.356s
02 K Nakajima
1m 40.648s
03 A Sutil
1m 40.806s
04 G Fisichella
1m 40.985s
05 S Buemi
1m 41.421s
06 L Hamilton
1m 41.443s
07 F Alonso
1m 41.532s
08 K Raikkonen
1m 41.577s
09 R Barrichello
1m 41.821s
10 N Rosberg
1m 42.188s
11 M Webber
1m 42.332s
12 V Liuzzi
1m 42.475s
13 J Trulli
1m 42.657s
14 J Alguersuari
1m 42.667s
15 R Kubica
1m 42.833s
16 N Heidfeld
1m 42.977s
17 S Vettel
1m 43.218s
18 J Button
1m 43.318s
19 K Kobayashi
1m 43.407s
20 R Grosjean
1m 43.572s
 

01 S Vettel
1m 32.160s
02 J Trulli
1m 32.220s
03 L Hamilton
1m 32.395s
04 A Sutil
1m 32.466s
05 R Barrichello
1m 32.660s
06 N Heidfeld
1m 32.945s
07 J Button
1m 32.962s
08 K Raikkonen
1m 32.980s
09 H Kovalainen
1m 31.223s
10 S Buemi
1m 31.103s

Eliminated Q2
11 N Rosberg
1m 31.482s
12 F Alonso
1m 31.638s
13 R Kubica
1m 32.341s
14 T Glock
1m 31.55s
15 J Alguersuari
1m 31.571s
Eliminated Q1

16 G Fisichella
1m 31.704s
17 K Nakajima
1m 31.718s
18 R Grosjean
1m 32.073s
19 V Liuzzi
1m 32.087s
20 M Webber
No Time
 

01 A Sutil
1m 47.261s
02 S Vettel
1m 47.923s
03 V Liuzzi
1m 47.931s
04 L Hamilton
1m 47.983s
05 K Nakajima
1m 48.058s
06 S Buemi
1m 48.691s
07 F Alonso
1m 48.693s
08 J Trulli
1m 48.737s
09 J Alguersuari
1m 48.802s
10 R Kubica
1m 48.861s
11 K Raikkonen
1m 48.886s
12 K Kobayashi
1m 49.054s
13 M Webber
1m 49.382s
14 R Grosjean
1m 49.405s
15 G Fisichella
1m 49.553s
16 N Rosberg
1m 49.872s
17 N Heidfeld
1m 50.179s
18 H Kovalainen
No Time
19 J Button
No Time
20 R Barrichello
No Time
 

01 J Trulli
1m 31.709s
02 S Buemi
1m 31.771s
03 N Rosberg
1m 32.343s
04 S Vettel
1m 32.414s
05 K Raikkonen
1m 32.445s
06 A Sutil
1m 32.467s
07 R Barrichello
1m 32.488s
08 H Kovalainen
1m 32.546s
09 J Button
1m 32.668s
10 J Alguersuari
1m 32.689s
11 R Grosjean
1m 32.717s
12 N Heidfeld
1m 32.736s
13 F Alonso
1m 32.742s
14 T Glock
1m 32.749s
15 K Nakajima
1m 32.752s
16 L Hamilton
1m 32.789s
17 R Kubica
1m 32.848s
18 G Fisichella
1m 32.878s
19 M Webber
1m 32.930s
20 V Liuzzi
1m 33.167s
 

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01  S Vettel
02  J Trulli
03  L Hamilton
04  K Raikkonen
05  N Rosberg
06  N Heidfeld
07  R Barrichello
08  J Button
09  R Kubica
10  F Alonso
11  H Kovalainen
12  G Fisichella
13  A Sutil
14  V Liuzzi
15  K Nakajima
16  R Grosjean
17  M Webber

Retired
L11 S Buemi
L43 J Alguersuari

Fastest Lap
M Webber
1m 32.569s L50