Sebastian Vettel is on the verge of taking this season’s world championship following his fifth consecutive victory, as different race strategies produced a thrilling contest to a three-way battle for Japanese Grand Prix honours at Suzuka.

Polesitter Mark Webber passed Romain Grosjean in the final stages of the race to secure a Red Bull Racing one-two, but was seven seconds adrift of denying Vettel and securing what would have been a first victory of his farewell Formula 1 campaign.

As for Fernando Alonso, he recovered well from eighth to keep the championship alive. Vettel will have to wait until India to be crowned a four-time champion.

It was Grosjean’s Lotus that captured the lead at the start, jumping from fourth on the grid as both Red Bulls got away poorly.

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton also got the jump on the Red Bulls, but as he squeezed in between the RB9s he and Vettel made light contact, which punctured Hamilton’s rear right and causing floor damage which would ultimately lead to his retirement after just nine laps.

In the background, Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi collided at Turn 1. Both retiring in the gravel trap.

For the first half of the Japanese Grand Prix Grosjean was able to maintain his advantage over Webber and Vettel, with the trio easing away from a chasing pack led by Nico Rosberg and the Scuderia of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

The group lost massive time through the first round of pit-stops when Daniel Ricciardo, who started on the hard compound and ran a deep first stint, managed to jump into fourth and hold a string of quicker cars at bay for several laps.

It was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg – who jumped the Ferraris through the first round of stops – who eventually managed to break Ricciardo’s resistance, but by then the top trio were 27 seconds down the road and out of touch.

That allowed Vettel, Grosjean and Webber to adopt different strategies, with the latter opting for a three-stop route in contrast to the two-stops of Vettel and Grosjean.

Webber therefore held track position heading into the final ten laps, while Vettel was able to go far deeper than Grosjean in his middle stint, and therefore had much fresher set of tyres on which to close a two-second gap to the Lotus driver.

The crucial pass came on lap 41 when Vettel attacked at Casio chicane and then dived down Grosjean’s inside at Turn 1 for second thanks to DRS.

With Webber pitting one lap later, Vettel duly hit the front and was able to cruise home to extend his winning form.

That he did so owed much to Grosjean however, whose spirited defence kept Webber – now on the option tyre for a final ten lap charge – at bay until the final laps, when Webber picked him off at Turn 1 to grab second.

Behind, Alonso executed a great pass around the outside of Hulkenberg heading into Turn 1 to clinch fourth and keep the title race technically open.

Kimi Raikkonen also picked off Hulkenberg’s Sauber to seal fifth position ahead of the German.

Esteban Gutierrez held on to deny Rosberg in a fight for seventh, while Jenson Button and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten at Suzuka.

Massa also had to fight back from a drive-through for speeding in the pitlane, although his cause was also aided when Sergio Perez and Rosberg collided while fighting for tenth, sending the former to the pits with damage.

Paul di Resta beat Jean-Eric Vergne to P11, while a third drive-through – this time for Ricciardo after he went off-track passing di Resta at 130R – meant the Australian was restricted to P13 ahead of Adrian Sutil, Perez and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel’s fourth win in Japan brings him to 297 points in the standings to Alonso’s 207, which means he can clinch the title at the next round in India by finishing fifth or higher, regardless of what the Spaniard does. Raikkonen pulled further away from Hamilton in third place with 177 to 161, while Webber is moving back into contention with them on 148.

The result gave Red Bull another 43 points, bringing their total to 445. Ferrari’s run pulled them further ahead of Mercedes, the gap going out to 10 points with 297 to 287, while Lotus are back in the fight for second place with 264. Much further back McLaren have 83 to Force India’s 62.

Japanese Grand Prix race results after 53 laps

1.  Sebatian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault        1h37.410s
2.  Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault            +7.129s
3.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               +9.910s
4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                    +45.605s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +47.325s
6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Sauber-Ferrari             +51.615s
7.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari           +1m11.630s
8.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                 +1m12.023s
9.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes         +1m20.821s
10.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari                  +1m29.263s
11.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes     +1m38.572s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
14.  Adrian Sutil       Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
15.  Sergio Perez       McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
16.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Charlies Pic       Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap

Fastest lap: Mark Webber, 1m34.587s

Not classified/retirements:

Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes                 9 laps
Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         0 laps
Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth        0 laps

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        297
2.  Alonso        207
3.  Raikkonen     177
4.  Hamilton      151
5.  Webber        148
6.  Rosberg       126
7.  Massa          90
8.  Grosjean       87
9.  Button         60
10.  Hulkenberg     49
11.  Di Resta       36
12.  Sutil          26
13.  Perez          23
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Gutierrez       6
17.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          445
2.  Ferrari                   297
3.  Mercedes                  277
4.  Lotus-Renault             264
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           83
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             55
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Indian Grand Prix, Buddh International Circuit. October 25-27.

Mark Webber ended his Red Bull Racing’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s qualifying supremacy by beating the champion-elect to pole position at Suzuka.

Vettel was handicap with a loss of KERS on his first Q3 run and was four tenths of a second adrift from his Australian’s provisional pole.

His KERS was restarted but his second run was not enough good enough to beat Webber, who then improved his pole position time to one minute, 30.915 seconds.

This result meant not only was this is his first pole of the season, he also out-qualified Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton will start the Japanese Grand Prix in third, winning the tight qualifying battle from Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa.

As for his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, he was 0.144 seconds slower and will line up sixth on the grid.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was only eighth quickest, three tenths of a second off Massa and pushed back a further position by a flying Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber.

Alonso will face an uphill battle if his championship rival wins the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday so getting a good start will be key to his race.

Yet again, Kimi Raikkonen struggled for qualifying speed in the Lotus, lapping 0.319s slower than Grosjean as he ended up five positions adrift.

While McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded off the top ten at Suzuka.

The Q2 session was extraordinarily close, with barely half a second covering P2 to P14.

Sergio Perez ended up on the wrong end of the cut-off in eleventh and yet ahead of Paul di Resta.

The Force India driver had a much better qualifying session than his team-mate Adrian Sutil, who picked up a gearbox-change penalty following his FP3 crash and then struggled for speed. P17 was the end result.

The main action in Q1 was a bizarre fire on both the rear brakes of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso. The Frenchman had to park on the exit of the hairpin and the session was briefly red-flagged so that the track marshals could deal with the fire safely.

That left Vergne in P18, while his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo could only managed two places higher as he trailed the Q2 pack.

Those dramas helped Williams to an encouraging P13 and P15, Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado respectively.

They were split by Esteban Gutierrez, whose Sauber caught fire in the pit garage halfway through Q1. There was no damage and he was able to continue qualifying.

Marussia’s Max Chilton produced the best qualifying performance of his Formula 1 career so far to beat the Caterhams and his team-mate Jules Bianchi to P19.

Both Charles Pic and Bianchi will serve a ten-place grid penalties following incidents in last weekend’s Korean Grand Prix. The pair will share the back row.

So a fantastic lap by Mark Webber. His twelfth in Formula 1 and crucially ahead of his Red Bull Racing team-mate. Can Sebastian Vettel win the title on race day? He needs to overtake the pole sitter and hope that Fernando Alonso finishes outside the top eight. It’s going to be a fascinating Japanese Grand Prix.

Qualifying positions at Suzuka:

1. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m30.915s
2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m31.089s
3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m31.253s
4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m31.365s
5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m31.378s
6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m31.397s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m31.644s
8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m31.665s
9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m31.684s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.827s
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m31.989s
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m31.992s
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m32.013s
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m32.063s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m32.093s
16. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m32.485s
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.357s
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.320s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m34.879s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m34.556s*
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m34.958s*
22. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m32.890s**

107 per cent time: 1m38.251s

*Ten-place penalty for incurring three reprimands during the season
**Five-place penalty for gearbox change

Sebastian Vettel is heading towards his fourth world championship after taking his 34th career victory in a race featuring some spectacular racing and bizarre incidents.

The Red Bull Racing driver was joined on the podium by Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen – charging forward from tenth on the grid – and Romain Grosjean.

As Vettel stormed away into the lead at the start, Grosjean passed Lewis Hamilton for second into Turn 3.

In their wake, a late-braking move from Felipe Massa ended with the Ferrari spinning across the corner apex and scattering the pack behind. Everyone avoided Massa, but Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil picked up wing damage in the chaos.

The first half of the race featured Vettel pulling away from a closely-matched Grosjean and Hamilton, with Nico Rosberg behind and then Nico Hulkenberg fending off Fernando Alonso and a pack of cars.

Raikkonen jumped ahead of this pack after making his second pitstop earlier than his rivals.

Further up, Hamilton began to suffer extreme tyre degradation in his second stint and tumbled away from Grosjean towards Rosberg – only for the German’s front wing to partially fail in a shower of sparks as he overtook his struggling team-mate.

With both Mercedes delayed, Raikkonen gained two more positions, just before the first safety car when Sergio Perez’s right-front tyre dramatically blew on the long straight.

Mark Webber, who had made good progress from P13, was immediately behind and picked up a puncture from the resultant debris.

With the McLaren’s tyre carcass in the middle of the straight, a safety car was required.

Vettel stayed clear of the Lotus pair at the restart, with Raikkonen passing Grosjean with a spectacular Turn 1 move a lap later.

Another safety car was imminent, though. Sutil had spun into Turn 3 on the restart lap and hit Webber, causing the Red Bull to catch fire in the run-off area.

A fire vehicle eventually appeared on track to deal with the blazing car, forcing a frantic safety car deployment as the leaders caught sight of the fire truck.

After that mess was resolved, the race ran green to the chequered flag, with Vettel edging away from Raikkonen and Grosjean to win.

Behind them, an impressive performance from Hulkenberg earned him and Sauber fourth position. He had pounced on Hamilton at a restart to take the spot, and then clung on under huge pressure from the Mercedes and Alonso’s Ferrari, who were having a thrilling wheel-to-wheel scrap of their own.

Rosberg joined this battle by the end, followed by Button, Massa and Perez, who just denied the Mexican’s countryman Esteban Gutierrez by a single point.

Williams ran in the top ten for a while after a brilliant first lap from Pastor Maldonado, but the Venezuelan ultimately fell to P13 behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Paul di Resta crashed his Force India and both Toro Rossos also retired, Daniel Ricciardo having got as high as seventh in the first stint.

So an eventful Korean Grand Prix featuring sparks, tyre blow-out and an appearance from a Jeep fire truck. And yet, the end result is that Sebastian Vettel has increased his lead in the championship with his eighth victory in the sport.

Which means, the Red Bull driver will become world champion next weekend at Suzuka, one of his favourite circuits. Can Fernando Alonso stop him? We shall find out in seven days time at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Korean Grand Prix, race results after 55 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h43:13.701
2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +4.224
3.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +4.927
4.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +24.114
5.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +25.255
6.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +26.189
7.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   +26.698
8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +32.262
9.  Massa          Ferrari                    +34.390
10.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +35.155
11.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +35.990
12.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +47.049
13.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +50.013
14.  Pic            Caterham-Renault           +1:03.578
15.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           +1:04.501
16.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +1:07.970
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1:12.898
18.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +2 laps
19.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +3 laps
20.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +5 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.380

Not classified/retirements:

Webber         Red Bull-Renault             41 laps
Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes         29 laps

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        272
2.  Alonso        195
3.  Raikkonen     167
4.  Hamilton      161
5.  Webber        130
6.  Rosberg       122
7.  Massa          89
8.  Grosjean       72
9.  Button         58
10.  Hulkenberg     31
11.  Di Resta       36
12.  Sutil          26
13.  Perez          23
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          402
2.  Ferrari                   284
3.  Mercedes                  283
4.  Lotus-Renault             239
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           81
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. October 11-13.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his third successive Formula 1 pole position as he beats Lewis Hamilton in Yeongam.

Heading into qualifying, Mercedes seemed to have the pace to challenge Red Bull and yet the championship leader’s initial Q3 lap of one minute, 37.202 seconds put him 0.308 seconds clear of Hamilton.

Webber recorded the third quickest time but will drop down to P13 following his 10-place grid penalty for accumulating three driving reprimands.

Although Hamilton was able to get ahead of the Australian on his final pole shot, he was still 0.218 seconds adrift of Vettel, who was able to back off his own last lap, confident pole was secure.

With the grid penalty applied to Webber, Romain Grosjean will move up to third. The Lotus driver did a great job in qualifying to outpace the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

As for his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn could only manage tenth, 1.3 seconds slower.

For the first time this year, Sauber managed to get both cars into Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez eighth and ninth fastest.

Sauber’s qualifying breakthrough came at McLaren’s expense however.

Despite encouraging performance in practice, both Sergio Perez and Jenson Button will start the Korean Grand Prix in P11 and P12, missing out in Q3 by 0.035 seconds and 0.038 seconds respectively.

The Toro Rossos and Force Indias were also eliminated in Q2, while neither Williams made it beyond Q1, although Valtteri Bottas could at least be pleased to outqualify his team-mate Pastor Maldonado by 0.5 seconds.

Charles Pic squeezed ahead of Caterham team-mate Giedo van der Garde by 0.007 seconds to lead the battle at the back of the grid.

So a fantastic result for Sebastian Vettel. His 42nd career pole position in the sport and his sixth this season. Can he win the race on Sunday and inch closer towards sealing the championship? Or will Lewis Hamilton give the young German a run for his money? We shall find out on race day.

Qualifying times from Yeongam:

1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m37.202s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m37.420s
3. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.531s
4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m37.679s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m38.038s
6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m38.223s
7. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.237s
8. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.405s
9. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m38.822s
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.362s
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.365s
12. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.417s
13. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m37.464s*
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m38.431s
15. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m38.718s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.781s
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m39.470s
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m39.987s
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m40.864s
20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m40.871s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.169s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.322s

107% time: 1m45.224s

*Ten-place grid penalty for accumulating three driving reprimands.

Sebastian Vettel achieved one of his most dominant performances of the season with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The championship leader left the rest of the field to entertain themselves, as differing pit tactics following a mid-race safety car shuffled the distant chasing pack.

In the end it was Fernando Alonso who came through yet again to give Ferrari second place, while Kimi Raikkonen shrugged off his back problem to turn P13 on the grid into an impressive third position.

Mercedes gained fourth and fifth for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton respectively. As for Mark Webber, his Red Bull grounded to a halt on the final lap in flames.

Rosberg did his best to make a race of it at the start as he edged ahead of pole sitter Vettel and outbraked him into Turn 1.

But the Mercedes ran slightly wide and Vettel was able to get back his lost lead, with Rosberg’s retaliation attempt on the outside of Turn 3 failing to come off.

Vettel was not going to take any more chances and began pulling away from Rosberg and the rest, leading by six seconds after as many laps.

Alonso made another amazing start, but it was his late-braking move down the outside into the Turn 1, which gained him the most ground, as he surged into third position.

Up front, Vettel was not only able to outpace the pack with ease, but could also make his tyres last longer.

Rosberg’s second place became a little more secure when Alonso emerged from his first pitstop behind Paul di Resta’s yet-to-stop Force India, which would stay in front for six laps.

That delay would have halted Alonso’s chances of making further progress had Daniel Ricciardo not crashed his Toro Rosso and prompted a long safety car period just before half-distance.

Most of the frontrunners, led by Alonso, came in for tyres, while Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton stayed out.

As it turned out, most of those who had stopped could make their tyres last the rest of the race.

While this was no problem for Vettel, who pulled away at such a ferocious rate he could easily pit again and stay ahead, the other three tumbled into the midfield traffic when they had to come in again in the final part of the race.

That promoted Alonso to second, ahead of Jenson Button and Raikkonen.

The Ferrari pulled well clear of the McLaren and Lotus, which engaged in an increasingly spectacular battle as Button’s tyres faded.

With seven laps to go, Raikkonen pulled off a brilliant move around the outside of Button to deny McLaren a podium and get himself into third from P13 on the grid.

Webber had jumped Rosberg in the final stops. The Australian then led the two Mercedes as they hacked back through the field, overtaking the Saubers and McLarens and setting their sights on the podium.

Alonso and Raikkonen were always likely to be out of reach though, and then Red Bull ordered Webber to back off following a growing technical problem in the final laps.

He was powerless to prevent the Silver Arrows powering pass and his car then came to a stand with an apparent engine failure with half a lap of the race to go.

Felipe Massa had to make three pitstops and finished sixth, ahead of a train of tyre-troubled cars in Button, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, chased by three-stopper Adrian Sutil.

Di Resta crashed out late on, while qualifying star Esteban Gutierrez fell back to P12 behind Pastor Maldonado as his tyres faded.

So, a superb performance by the world champion. His third consecutive win at Marina Bay and now 60 points clear of his rival. Just six races left and Vettel is looking the favourite to scored his fourth title.

Singapore Race results after 61 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault   1:59:13.132
2.  Alonso         Ferrari             +32.627
3.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault       +43.920
4.  Rosberg        Mercedes           +51.155
5.  Hamilton       Mercedes            +53.159
6.  Massa          Ferrari        +1:03.677
7.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        +1:23.354
8.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes         +1:23.820
9.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari           +1:24.261
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +1:24.668
11.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault        +1:28.479
12.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari            +1:37.894
13.  Bottas         Williams-Renault          +1:45.161
14.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari       +1:53.512
15.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        +1 lap
16.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault        +1 lap
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth        +1 lap
18.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth        +1 lap
19.  Pic            Caterham-Renault         +1 lap

Not classified/retirments:

Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes    54 laps
Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           37 laps
Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      23 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel 1:48.574 on lap 46

World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        247
2.  Alonso        187
3.  Hamilton      151
4.  Raikkonen     149
5.  Webber        130
6.  Rosberg       116
7.  Massa          87
8.  Grosjean       57
9.  Button         54
10.  Di Resta       36
11.  Sutil          26
12.  Perez          22
13.  Hulkenberg     19
14.  Ricciardo      18
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          377
2.  Ferrari                   274
3.  Mercedes                  267
4.  Lotus-Renault             206
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           76
6.  Force India-Mercedes       62
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
8.  Sauber-Ferrari             19
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Korean Grand Prix, Yeongam. October 4-6.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his fifth pole position of the season with a supreme performance in qualifying around the Marina Bay street circuit.

The Red Bull Racing driver opted to do just a single Q3 run as his initial one minute, 42.841 seconds lap put him six tenths clear over his rivals. The triple world champion had also outpaced the pack by nearly a second in Q2.

Vettel’s casual approach to the top ten shootout almost proved costly, as first Mark Webber, then Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean all hinted at the top spot pace on their second attempt.

In the end, they all fell short. Rosberg’s Mercedes came closest, just 0.091 seconds down on Vettel, who is separated from team-mate Webber by Grosjean’s Lotus.

Lewis Hamilton was only fifth for Mercedes, while the Ferraris were down in sixth and seventh, with the departing Felipe Massa ahead of team number one Fernando Alonso again.

Massa had earlier only just made it beyond Q1 having encountered traffic at the wrong moment.

It emerged just before qualifying that Kimi Raikkonen was struggling with back pain and that Lotus had been sufficiently concerned to get reserve driver Davide Valsecchi prepared.

The Iceman only managed to qualify P13, lapping 0.7 seconds slower than team-mate Grosjean in Q2. It will be interesting if Raikkonen continues to take part despite his bad back.

Esteban Gutierrez was among the stars of qualifying as he put aside recent Saturday woes to reach Q3 for the first time. He was nearly knocked out in Q1 until a last-gasp effort was enough to get through.

As for his Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, he was completely overshadowed for once and will line up P11 on the Singapore Grand Prix grid.

Sauber was not the only team to have one driver either side of the Q2/Q3 divide.

Jenson Button sneaked into the top ten for McLaren by just 0.058 seconds and took eighth, while the under-pressure Sergio Perez was down in P14.

Jean-Eric Vergne was within 0.091 seconds of joining Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in Q3 but will start P12, three places behind the Australian.

Gutierrez and Massa’s late laps in Q1 caught out Paul di Resta, who was already in the pits and was pushed back to P17. Team-mate Adrian Sutil only managed two positions higher.

Pastor Malonado was also knocked out in Q1, though Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas made it to Q2.

Caterham was again quicker than Marussia, Charles Pic coming out in front among the tail-end pack.

So, a dominant performance by the triple world champion. Just one flying lap to take pole position and a nervous wait for his rivals to beat him. No one came close to Vettel and it was fascinating if he can keep up this winning speed into Sunday’s race.

Qualifying positions for the Singapore Grand Prix:

1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m42.841s
2.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m42.932s
3.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m43.058s
4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m43.152s
5.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m43.254s
6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m43.890s
7.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m43.938s
8.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.282s
9.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.439s
10.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        No time set
11.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m44.555s
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.588s
13.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m44.658s
14.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.752s
15.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m45.185s
16.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m45.388s
17.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m46.121s
18.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m46.619s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m48.111s
20.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m48.320s
21.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m48.830s
22.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m48.930s

107 per cent time: 1m51.489s

In a space of twenty-four hours, the driver line-up for Scuderia Ferrari in 2014 has been resolved with the news that Felipe Massa has left, with Kimi Raikkonen announced as his replacement.

After serving the Manarello-based squad for eight years, Felipe Massa tweeted on Tuesday night that he would leave Ferrari at the end of this season.

“From 2014 I will no longer be driving for Ferrari,” Massa announced on the social networking site.

“I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my sponsors.

“From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining seven races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the championship, which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all.”

The Brazilian joined Ferrari in 2006 and scored his first victory at the Turkish Grand Prix that year. In 2008, he came very close to winning the world championship at his home race at Sao Paulo, but lost out to title rival Lewis Hamilton by a single point.

The following season, Massa was seriously injured in a crash at the Hungaroring and was out of action for the rest of 2009. He returned a year later but since then has struggled to get on terms with his new team-mate Fernando Alonso in terms of outright speed.

Since his crash Massa has not added to the eleven wins he scored for the Scuderia. He was on course for victory at Hockenheim in 2010 but was issued the infamous team orders that “Fernando was faster than you” resulting in Alonso scoring the race win instead.

Massa has started more races for Ferrari than any driver, apart from Michael Schumacher.

With Massa out, the rumours of Raikkonen taking over the seat reached fever pitch and by Wednesday afternoon, Ferrari officially confirmed that The Iceman was back at the team.

It has been seven years on since Raikkonen first joined Ferrari and in that year, he won the world championship in a dramatic Brazilian Grand Prix.

By rejoining the team in 2014, alongside Fernando Alonso, the Manarello-based squad has without doubt, the strongest line-up in terms of title success.

Raikkonen’s deal is a two-year contract and it will be deeply fascinating to see how these two champions will get on in terms of bringing home the silverware for Ferrari.

A statement from Ferrari confirmed he will “join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons”.

“I am really happy to be returning to Maranello where I previously spent three fantastic and very successful years,” said Raikkonen. “I have so many memories of my time at Ferrari, memories which have stayed with me these past years, first and foremost, winning the world championship title in 2007, which was really unforgettable.”

“I can’t wait to be driving a prancing horse car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves.”

As for Fernando Alonso, who competed against Kimi Raikkonen for championship honours back in 2005 while racing for Renault and McLaren respectively, he said of the new partnership: “I’d like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge.”

“I want to thank Felipe for all the support he has given me and the team during this journey we have made together over all these years,” he added.

“Come the end of the season, it will not be easy to say goodbye to a team-mate like him. He has always been truly professional and loyal to the team and I am sure that right to the end, he will do his utmost for the Scuderia that he loves so much.”

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali added: “I am pleased to welcome Kimi back to the Scuderia, the team with which he won his world championship title.”

“I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible.”

Domenicali expressed his gratitude to Massa for eight years of service as one of the team’s racing drivers: “I wish to thank Felipe with all my heart and also on behalf of all our fans around the world, for the extraordinary job he has done for the team over so many years.”

“Felipe has always behaved like a real team player. Together we have lived through some great times and also a few dramatic moments, which have helped to cement a truly unique relationship on both a professional and personal level.”

“He will always be part of our family and we wish him all the very best for the future. Now we must concentrate all our efforts on the remaining seven races of the season and we know that, as always, we can count on Felipe’s contribution, while we work together to reach our goals. Our determination will not waver one iota right to the very end.”

So, an exciting line-up at Ferrari next year in the shape of two former champions. Not since 1953 have the Scuderia got two title winners representing the team. It’s going to be thrilling to see Alonso and Raikkonen fighting for poles, fastest laps, race wins and hopefully championships in the years to come.

Sebastian Vettel took a commanding victory at Monza, extending his championship lead with an impressive 222 points.

This was the triple champion’s sixth win of the season and his 32nd in the sport. Vettel achieved his maiden victory five years ago for Toro Rosso.

As for Fernando Alonso, competing in front of the passionate Tifosi, the Ferrari driver won the battle for second position.

With the lead Red Bull out of reach from the start, the best Ferrari could hope for was the ‘best of the rest’ honours, which Alonso secured after a long battle with Mark Webber.

Both Red Bulls were ordered to short-shift to protect a potential gearbox issues in the closing moments of Italian Grand Prix, which halted Webber’s pursuit of Alonso and yet Vettel had enough in hand to ease off and still take the flag in style.

In further good news for Vettel, his championship contenders in the shape of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were left fighting for minor points after some early incidents.

Vettel was threatened by both Webber and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa into a busy first chicane, locking up his right-front tyre which caused his team a concern.

A beautifully judged move around the outside into the Roggia chicane on lap three took Alonso past Webber’s Red Bull for third, as they went wheel to wheel right through the complex, making only slight contact on the exit.

Massa then made life very easy for Alonso when he came to overtake for second, and the Spaniard was able to stabilise Vettel’s lead at six seconds.

But when Alonso tried a slightly divergent strategy by running four laps longer before his sole pitstop, Vettel’s lead increased to over 10 seconds.

Alonso came back out only just ahead of Webber, who had jumped Massa in the stops, and had several close calls in the closing laps as the Red Bull attacked, before claiming second.

Nico Hulkenberg lived up to his qualifying performance by settling his Sauber into fifth place.

He had Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in often very close company all afternoon, but kept his compatriot at bay and finished just a few seconds behind Alonso, Webber and Massa after an outstanding weekend.

Raikkonen had to pit for a new front wing after bumping into Sergio Perez at the start, while an early slow puncture put Hamilton onto a two-stop strategy, hampered further by radio problems.

The recovering Lotus and Mercedes then ended up in the same place on track late on having an epic battle both with each other and the midfield traffic.

Daniel Ricciardo stayed just far enough ahead of late chargers Romain Grosjean and Hamilton to take seventh, while Jenson Button just denied Raikkonen a point.

Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez chased them home. Grosjean reached the end despite Paul di Resta’s Force India slamming into his Lotus at the Roggia on lap one, an impact that ended the Scot’s race.

Jean-Eric Vergne was another early retirement, having battled in the top ten before smoke erupted from the right-rear of his Toro Rosso.

So a fantastic result for Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel. Victorious for the sixth time this season. That championship is looking very good in favour of the dream team and driver combination now.

Italian Grand Prix, race results after 53 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h18m33.352
2.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +5.467
3.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault           + 6.350
4.  Massa          Ferrari                    +9.361
5.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +10.355
6.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   +10.999
7.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +32.329
8.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +33.130
9.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +33.527
10.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +38.327
11.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +38.695
12.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +39.765
13.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +40.880
14.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +49.085
15.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +56.827
16.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
17.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
18.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
20.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:25.849

Not classified/retirements:
Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           35 laps
Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes         1 lap

World Championship standings, round 12:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        222
2.  Alonso        169
3.  Hamilton      141
4.  Raikkonen     134
5.  Webber        130
6.  Rosberg       104
7.  Massa          79
8.  Grosjean       57
9.  Button         48
10.  Di Resta       36
11.  Sutil          25
12.  Perez          18
13.  Ricciardo      18
14.  Hulkenberg     17
15.  Vergne         13
16.  Maldonado       1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          352
2.  Ferrari                   248
3.  Mercedes                  245
4.  Lotus-Renault             191
5.  McLaren-Mercedes           66
6.  Force India-Mercedes       61
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
8.  Sauber-Ferrari             17
9.  Williams-Renault            1

Next race: Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay. September 20-22.

Sebastian Vettel achieved his 40th career pole position in Formula 1 with a dominant performance, as his rivals made a complete mess of the qualifying session.

Fernando Alonso could only managed fifth after another failed attempt in slipstreaming by Ferrari, while neither Lewis Hamilton nor Kimi Raikkonen made it into the top ten.

Mark Webber did however make it a Red Bull one-two, while an impressive effort from Nico Hulkenberg gave Sauber a shock third place on the Italian Grand Prix grid.

Ferrari had experimented with its drivers giving each other slipstreams in final practice, but its efforts to recreate that same strategy in Q3 fell apart.

The cars were never close enough to make the strategy work and appeared to end up spoiling each other’s laps. Felipe Massa eventually qualified in fourth place ahead of Alonso.

Webber looked to have a shot at displacing Vettel right at the end of Q3, but was first on the scene as Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso ploughed through the Parabolica gravel.

That left Vettel clearly on pole with a time of one minute, 23.755 seconds lap, two tenths quicker than his Red Bull team-mate.

As for Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion admitted it was poor driving on his part – running wide on the exit of Parabolica – which meant a disappointing qualifying result.

Lotus appeared to be simply short of pace, with Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean only P11 and P13.

While they all under-performed, Hulkenberg starred with a Q3 lap just 0.037 seconds off Webber’s Red Bull and ahead of the Ferraris and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

Toro Rosso got two cars into the top ten shootout, with Daniel Ricciardo seventh but Vergne’s mistake leaving him tenth.

The McLarens will start behind them, with Sergio Perez out-qualifying Jenson Button.

Force India looked in jeopardy of a Q1 exit until late improvements for both drivers, but there was little progress in Q2.

Post-qualifying, the race stewards handed a three-pace grid penalty for Adrian Sutil. The Force India driver had impended Lewis Hamilton’s run into Parabolica.

Paul di Resta ended up P16, just behind fellow late Q1 escapee Pastor Maldonado.

Rookies Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas were ultimately the drivers who joined the Caterhams and Marussias at the back.

So a great result for Red Bull Racing. The team’s fifty pole in the sport, with the triple world champion scoring his fourth pole position of the year. Will we see the superb driver/team combo win again on Sunday? We shall see on one of the fastest tracks on the calendar and the final European race of the season.

Qualifying times from Monza:

1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m23.755s
2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m23.968s
3. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m24.065s
4. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m24.132s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m24.142s
6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m24.192s
7. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m24.209s
8. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.502s
9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.515s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m28.050s
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m24.610s
12. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m24.803s
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m24.848s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m25.011s
15. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m25.077s
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m25.226s
17. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m24.932s*
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m25.291s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m26.406s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m26.563s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.085s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.480s

107 per cent time: 1m30.221s

*Three-place penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton