Sebastian Vettel got back to winning ways in Suzuka, taking victory ahead his team-mate by just nine tenths of a second.
Fernando Alonso continued his strong form to take the final spot on the podium ahead of Jenson Button.
Lewis Hamilton nursed his McLaren home into fifth after losing third gear for the last quarter of the race, damaging his championship chances further.
Race Report:
An incident involving Lucas di Grassi even before the race start saw the Brazilian retire as he crashed heavily on his way to the grid. He managed to completely destroy his Virgin car, but walked away from the incident unharmed.
The start of the race saw Robert Kubica move into second ahead of Mark Webber, whilst Lewis Hamilton jumped from eighth to sixth.
An accident involving Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg saw both drivers retire on the straight, followed by Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi into the first corner.
The two incidents resulted in a safety car. A sixth retirement came on lap three as Robert Kubica pulled off the track from second with just three wheels on his R30.
The restart, on lap seven, came with some advantageous moves further down the field with Michael Schumacher passing Rubens Barrichello for sixth, whilst the German’s team-mate got past Sebastian Buemi but lost the place into 130R as he ran wide.
A kamikaze move from Kamui Kobayashi saw him pass Jaime Alguersuari into the hairpin, minor contact but no damage. A handful of laps later, Kobayashi practiced the same move on Adrian Sutil to take ninth.
Hamilton pitted on lap 22, coming out behind Kobayashi in sixth. Just a lap later, Michael Schumacher pitted from fifth, feeding back out into tenth behind team-mate Rosberg who made a stop under the first SC.
Hamilton’s stop signalled a flurry of moves in the pits with Vettel and Alonso both pitting on lap 24, followed by Webber a lap later.
A great move from Hamilton got him past Kobayashi down the pit straight to regain fifth – a pivotal move for the Brit’s race strategy.
Meanwhile Button remained on track until lap 39 thanks to a longer strategy on the hard tyres. However, with a gap of just 1.3 seconds to the Red Bulls, it’s clear the strategy hadn’t worked out at all when he pitted, resulting in him falling back into sixth.
On lap 40 Hamilton reported the loss of third gear, his times reflected the problems – despite a new gearbox. Button passed his team-mate at the hairpin, a place gifted by Lewis.
Adrian Sutil suffered an engine failure on lap 45. As he entered 130R he span on his own oil but managed to hold his car and return to the pits.
A massive accident for Nico Rosberg on lap 49 left the Mercedes car buried in the gravel trap. A left-rear suspension failure the issue.
During the mess, Kobayashi managed to pass Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld to secure seventh behind Schumacher.
The accident also saw Heikki Kovalainen promoted to 12th, his and the Lotus teams best finish of the season so far.
Sebastian Vettel crossed the line to take the checkered flag ahead of his team-mate, Webber taking the fastest lap off the German on the last lap (1:33.474).
Japanese Race Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. | J. Button | McLaren | +13.5 |
| 1. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | |
| 5. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +39.5 |
| 19. | R. Kubica | Renault | Retired |
| 17. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | Retired |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +0.9 |
| 23. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | Collision |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +2.7 |
| 21. | F. Massa | Ferrari | Collision |
| 6. | M Schumacher | Mercedes | +59.9 |
| 20. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | Collision |
| 18. | A. Sutil | Force India | Retired |
| 22. | V. Petrov | Renaut | Collision |
| 10. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +1:12.8 |
| 8. | N. Heidfeld | Sauber | +1:09.6 |
| 7. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1:04.0 |
| 11. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1 lap |
| 14. | T. Glock | Virgin | +2 laps |
| 13. | J. Trulli | Lotus | +2 laps |
| 24. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | DNS |
| 12. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | +1 lap |
| 15. | B. Senna | Hispania | +2 laps |
| 9. | R. Barrichello | Williams | +1:10.8 |
| 16. | S. Yamamoto | Hispania | +3 laps |
Fastest Lap: M. Webber – 1:33.474 (lap 53)
