Results of the 2009 Japanese F1 Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel returned to his winning ways at Suzuka to keep alive his chances of challenging for the drivers' title, as Jarno Truli gave Toyota a welcome second and Lewis Hamilton again finished on the podium.
Title leader Jenson Buttons snatched a single point finishing behind his main rival Ruben's Barrichello and now needs just six points from two remaining races. His Brawn team was denied the Constructor's Championship after a positional change from the late safety car and are now in need of just half a point.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth home, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, with Jaime Alguersuari's crash on lap 43 being the only major incident, apart from the qualifying smash that has taken Timo Glock out for the rest of the season.
Vettel drove magically to lead from start to finish. While Hamilton simply couldn't keep up and a poor second pit stop dropped him to third. Alonso was nowhere to be seen as Raikkonen defended fourth. Rosberg was lucky to jump a point on Barrichello just as the safety car was deployed.
Button was forced into a damage limitation drive after being penalised five grid positions, along with his teammate and others for ignoring the yellow flag in qualifying and, suffered further at the start. But an altercation between Kovalainen and Sutil on lap 14 helped him into eighth position.
With his teammate as his closest rival, and Vettel 16 points adrift, the Englishman need only concentrate on finishing sixth or better in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, two circuits he is confident suits his car. For Brawn to lose the constructor's title Red Bull Racing would need a one-two finish in both, even if Brawn didn't even start, while Vettel would need podium finishes in both, winning at least one.
With Kimi Riakkonen winning the 2007 season from 16 points adrift in the last two races, nothing's impossible. But Ferrari and McLaren are duelling for third, and fourth place in the drivers' standings is still wide open, so t could be any one of five drivers spraying the champaign at the last two races.
Results from Suzuka
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1:28:20.443
2 . Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:28:25.243
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:28:26.843
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:28:28.343
5. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota, 1:28:29.143
6. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:28:29.943
7. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes, 1:28:31.043
8. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes, 1:28:31.843
9. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1:28:32.143
10.Fernando Alonso, 1:28:33.443
11.Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:28:34.143
12.Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 1:28:34.943
13.Adrian Sutil, India-Mercedes, 1:28:35.343
14.Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes, 1:28:36.143
15.Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota, 1:28:38.343
16.Romain Grosjean, Renault, lapped
17.Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, lapped
RET.Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, crash, 43 laps
RET.Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, retired, 11 laps
RET.Timo Glock, Toyota, did not start, 0 laps