Sebastian Vettel became the youngest world champion in Formula One history with a fantastic drive in the season finale at Abu Dhabi.

The 23-year-old German led comfortably from the front, saving a few laps before Jenson Button made his late pitstop. But it was what happened behind Sebastian that changed the course of the world championship.

Pre-race favourite Fernando Alonso only needed to come home in the top four to secure the title, even if Vettel won, but his day – and title hopes – were ruined when the Spaniard spent most of the race looking at the back of Vitaly Petrov’s Renault in the lower reaches of the top ten, thanks to an early shuffling of the race order.

Instead, Nico Rosberg and the Renaults of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov capitalised on running an alternative tyre strategies offered by an early-race safety car period to finish fourth, fifth and sixth, and relegate Alonso and Mark Webber down the order.

The vital chain of events was triggered by Webber’s early pitstop to discard the super-soft option tyre, on which the Australian was slipping backwards from Alonso.

Webber resumed on lap 13 in P16, behind Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso. Felipe Massa had been running closely behind Webber, so Ferrari responded by pitting him to see if he could get out ahead of the Red Bull.

When he emerged behind, and Webber lapped 0.8 seconds faster than Alonso next time round, Ferrari made the decision to bring the Spaniard in to ensure he stayed in front of his championship rival.

He did, but that strategy failed to take into account Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov, who had pitted under the safety car period. That meant that although Alonso had Webber covered off, the Ferrari driver was nowhere near the fourth place he needed to deny Vettel the drivers’ title.

Not only that, but while Alonso was stacked behind Petrov – with Rosberg another two seconds up the road – Kubica stayed out on a long first stint and jumped up the order. His Renault had started on the harder prime tyre after failing to make it through to Q3, but that allowed a late pitstop.

That mistake from the Ferrari team cost Alonso the championship and it was frustrating for the Spaniard as he was stuck behind the Renault. It’s quite ironic that the team in which Fernando won the championship twice has preventing him on taking the title for the third time…

Anyway, Kubica found himself in the thick of the battle for the lead when Vettel and Hamilton rejoined after their pitstops. With Alonso so far down the race order, Hamilton became the biggest threat to Vettel’s championship. But the McLaren driver couldn’t find a way around the Renault, and by the time Kubica pitted on lap 45, Vettel was ten seconds ahead and in control.

But in that time, Kubica had extended the gap back to Alonso’s pack to 24 seconds – plenty for his own pitstop. He resumed ahead of team-mate Petrov, with Alonso seventh.

Button, who was running just five seconds ahead of Alonso in the early stages, remained in third – easily clear of the Rosberg group by the time Jenson resumed from his pitstop on lap 39.

The first-lap safety car period that later proved so pivotal to the championship was, coincidentally, partly caused by Rosberg – the driver to benefit most from it.

His Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher was delayed on the inside of the track by the defending Rubens Barrichello. Rosberg tried to drive around his team-mate into the chicane but they were squeezed together and Schumacher spun on the exit.

Just as he was trying to restart, Vitantonio Liuzzi arrived on the scene, in the middle of a pack with nowhere to go. His Force India hit and climbed up the front of the Mercedes and blocked the track. It was this that prompted Rosberg and Petrov to make their early pitstops.

So a fantastic win for Sebastian Vettel. Despite the bad luck and crashes this season, the achievements set by Vettel has been remarkable. Ten pole positions and five victories. The young German deserves the championship thanks to a great car, the Renault-powered RB6, and the team, Red Bull Racing. Double world champions!

Race results from Abu Dhabi, 55 laps:

1. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault            1h39m36.837s
2. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes            +10.1s
3. Button        McLaren-Mercedes            +11.0s
4. Rosberg       Mercedes                    +30.7s
5. Kubica        Renault                     +39.0s
6. Petrov        Renault                     +43.5s
7. Alonso        Ferrari                     +43.7s
8. Webber        Red Bull-Renault            +44.2s
9. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari          +50.2s
10. Massa         Ferrari                    +50.8s
11. Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +51.5s
12. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +57.6s
13. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +58.3s
14. Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +59.5s
15. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1m03.1s
16. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1m04.7s
17. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +1 lap
18. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +2 laps
19. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
20. Klien         HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
21. Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +4 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1m41.274s

Not classified/retirements:
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              44 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     1 lap
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1 lap

World Championship standings, round 19:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel       256
2.  Alonso       252
3.  Webber       242
4.  Hamilton     240
5.  Button       214
6.  Massa        144
7.  Rosberg      142
8.  Kubica       136
9.  Schumacher    72
10. Barrichello   47
11. Sutil         47
12. Kobayashi     32
13. Petrov        27
14. Hulkenberg    22
15. Liuzzi        21
16. Buemi          8
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Heidfeld       6
19. Alguersuari    5

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          498
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          454
3.  Ferrari                   396
4.  Mercedes                  214
5.  Renault                   163
6.  Williams-Cosworth          69
7.  Force India-Mercedes       68
8.  Sauber-Ferrari             44
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         13

Sebastian Vettel achieved his tenth pole position of the 2010 season for Red Bull Racing at Abu Dhabi, while team-mate Mark Webber will face a difficult job on Sunday with the fifth quickest time in qualifying.

The Red Bull Racing pair elected to do just a single run in Q3, with the McLarens having already set times in the mid one minute, 39 seconds a few moments earlier.

Vettel immediately took provisional pole followed by another impressive lap (one minute, 39.394 seconds) to take the honours. As for Webber, the Australian was struggling to keep pace compared to his team-mate and remained behind the times the McLarens set on their first runs.

When the McLarens and Ferraris came back out for one final run at the end of Q3, Lewis Hamilton claimed his place on the front row alongside Vettel, seconds before Fernando Alonso pipped Jenson Button to head row two.

Webber was left in fifth spot, and will start the season finale alongside Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

As for Hamilton, the McLaren driver survived an earlier scare in Q2 when he had yet to set a decent time in the final minutes of the session.

Having already out-braked himself into Turn 8, which ruined his lap, Lewis was searching for a gap in the traffic to set his proper qualifying run. But in doing so, he appeared to delay Massa into the chicane and Hamilton had to demolish a corner bollard to avoid contact with the Ferrari. Both made it through into the top ten shootout but the race stewards will take a look into the incident.

Jenson Button complained of a “massive vibration” in his McLaren at the beginning of Q1, but after pitting for treatment to his brakes he found his pace and was able to record the second quickest time in Q2.

For the Silver Arrows, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg opted to running the harder compound Bridgestone tyre. This tactic worked for the Mercedes pair with Rosberg in particular up in second position in Q1 and third in Q2. But when it matters in Q3, the Germans decided to do one run that resulted in Schumacher in eighth and Rosberg ninth.

Rubens Barrichello put Williams into seventh position ahead of the Silver Arrows, while Renault’s Vitaly Petrov completed the top ten.

His Renault team-mate, Robert Kubica ended his run of making it through to Q3 in every race this season. The Polish driver was unable to match Petrov’s split times and his scrappy last-gasp effort fell more than a tenth short.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi will start alongside Kubica in P11, with Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld on row seven. Brazil pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg was just P15 for Williams, with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jaime Alguersuari concluding the Q2 runners.

At the back, Jarno Trulli outqualified Lotus team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, with Timo Glock beating Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna ahead of Christian Klien.

So the stage is set for an exciting end to this intense 2010 Formula One World Championship. The grid order points to a fascinating battle for the drivers’ title on Sunday with Alonso surrounded by McLarens, and Webber facing a mountain to climb to keep the Ferrari driver from the title. Let battle commence!

Qualifying times from Abu Dhabi:

1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault     1m39.394s
2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1m39.425s
3.  Alonso       Ferrari              1m39.792s
4.  Button       McLaren-Mercedes     1m39.823s
5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1m39.925s
6.  Massa        Ferrari              1m40.202s
7.  Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth    1m40.203s
8.  Schumacher   Mercedes             1m40.516s
9.  Rosberg      Mercedes             1m40.589s
10. Petrov       Renault              1m40.901s
11. Kubica       Renault              1m40.780s
12. Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari       1m40.783s
13. Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1m40.914s
14. Heidfeld     Sauber-Ferrari       1m41.113s
15. Hulkenberg   Williams-Cosworth    1m41.418s
16. Liuzzi       Force India-Ferrari  1m41.642s
17. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m41.738s
18. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m41.824s
19. Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth       1m43.516s
20. Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth       1m43.712s
21. Glock        Virgin-Cosworth      1m44.095s
22. di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth      1m44.510s
23. Senna        Hispania-Cosworth    1m45.085s
24. Klien        Hispania-Cosworth    1m45.296s

Sebastian Vettel took his fourth victory of the season at Interlagos leading home team-mate Mark Webber to earn Red Bull Racing their first-ever constructors’ title.

By winning in Brazil, Vettel ensured that a three-way title fight will go to Abu Dhabi next Sunday after beating his Red Bull team-mate and Ferrari rival to race victory.

The German took the lead into the Senna S on the opening lap, easily passing the Williams of Nico Hülkenberg who started in pole position.

From that point onwards, Vettel drove a perfect race to take the chequered flag in style. The focus will now shift to the drivers’ championship as the Milton Keynes-based team celebrated their first constructors’ title thanks to a one-two finish.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished in third and he still leads the drivers’ championship with an eight-point advantage with one race remaining.

As for Lewis Hamilton, he is still within the title battle with a fourth place finish and yet the McLaren driver complained all race about a lack of grip which made it difficult for him to challenge.

Team-mate Jenson Button finished in fifth position but is now out of the running in this season’s championship battle.

The Silver Arrows came home in sixth and seventh with Nico Rosberg ahead of Michael Schumacher. The latter was the last driver to finish on the lead lap.

Qualifying hero Nico Hülkenberg took eighth for Williams after starting the Brazilian Grand Prix in pole position. The young German drove a solid race resisting heavy pressure from Lewis Hamilton and by scoring four points, The Hulk is helping out his Williams team in the constructors’ standings. Hopefully his performance in Brazil will earn the Formula One rookie a seat on the grid next season.

Renault’s Robert Kubica took ninth while Kamui Kobayashi claimed the final point for Sauber after a fraught race-long scrap for the position that involved Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello at various stages of the race.

Felipe Massa ended up P14, his already poor race ruined early on when he had to stop twice due a problem with a wheel-nut on the right front. As for Rubens Barrichello, his bad luck at Interlagos continued as he suffered a puncture while battling with Alguersuari. The Brazilian finished in P16.

In the battle of the new teams, Heikki Kovalainen claimed the honours for Lotus, leading team-mate Trulli to the flag well clear of Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and HRT’s Bruno Senna.

So the drivers’ championship now goes down to the wire in Abu Dhabi, with Fernando Alonso leading the standings with eight points over Mark Webber and 15 points compared to race winner Sebastian Vettel. For Lewis Hamilton, he is 24 points behind and has admitted he needs a miracle to claim the title.

Race results from Interlagos, 71 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h33:11.803
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +4.243
3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +6.807
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +14.634
5.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +15.593
6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +35.300
7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +43.400
8.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
9.  Kubica        Renault                    +1 lap
10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari            +1 lap
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +1 lap
12.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes      +1 lap
13.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +1 lap
14.  Massa         Ferrari                   +1 lap
15.  Petrov        Renault                   +1 lap
16.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth         +1 lap
17.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari            +1 lap
18.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth            +2 laps
19.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth            +2 laps
20.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth           +2 laps
21.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth              +2 laps
22.  Klien         HRT-Cosworth              +6 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:13.851

Not classified/retirements:
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              63 laps
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         50 laps

World Championship standings, round 18:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       246
2.  Webber       238
3.  Vettel       231
4.  Hamilton     222
5.  Button       199
6.  Massa        143
7.  Rosberg      130
8.  Kubica       126
9.  Schumacher    72
10. Barrichello   47
11. Sutil         47
12. Kobayashi     32
13. Hulkenberg    22
14. Liuzzi        21
15. Petrov        19
16. Buemi          8
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Heidfeld       6
19. Alguersuari    3

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          469
2. McLaren-Mercedes          421
3. Ferrari                   389
4. Mercedes                  202
5. Renault                   145
6. Williams-Cosworth          69
7. Force India-Mercedes       68
8. Sauber-Ferrari             44
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11

Next race: Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina. November 12-14.

In a dramatic wet qualifying session at Interlagos where the track was drying out, Nico Hülkenberg took a sensational pole position for the Williams team as the championship contenders were caught out in the damp conditions.

The young German and the Williams team opted for the slicks tyre in the final top ten shootout and that gamble paid off. A whole second advantage over the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber!

Hülkenberg is the sixth youngest driver to ever score a pole position in the history of the Formula One world championship, behind Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton and Andrea de Cesaris. In addition, this is the team’s first pole since Nick Heidfeld took the honours at the European Grand Prix back in 2005.

All the frontrunners had changed to the slick Bridgestone tyres for their final runs at the end of Q3 and the Formula One rookie unleashed a string of fastest laps to beat the Red Bull Racing pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to the top spot.

The Red Bulls looked in danger of starting at the wrong end of the top ten right up until the last few seconds, with Webber having an off-track moment with two minutes remaining. The Australian recovered and leapt up to second with his last effort, only to be demoted down to third position by his team-mate Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton initially held pole position during the final run but was eventually shuffled down to fourth. Still, at least the McLaren is competitive against the charging Red Bulls.

As for the championship leader Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver did set provisional pole but in the drying conditions, the others went faster and in the end, he lines up fifth on the grid. Joining him on the third row is home crowd favourite Rubens Barrichello in the Williams.

Robert Kubica was one of the first drivers to go out on slicks, although he spun at Turn 12 (Junçao) before rejoining the track and setting his personal best laps. The Renault driver will start the Brazilian Grand Prix in seventh, one position ahead of Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa just made it into Q3 and will start ninth in front of the passionate Brazilian fans, while Vitaly Petrov completing the top ten.

For the reigning world champion Jenson Button, this was another difficult qualifying session. The McLaren driver again struggled with a lack of balance and will start the Brazilian Grand Prix in P11.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi lines up in P12, just ahead of Nico Rosberg who missed Q3 for the first time since Spa. Jaime Alguersuari will share row seven with Nick Heidfeld once Sebastien Buemi, who qualified P15, has taken his grid penalty for crashing into Timo Glock in Korea.

Adrian Sutil was the casualty of Q1, joining the six regulars in the elimination zone. He was swapped that spot during the session with Vitantonio Liuzzi, but ended frustrated after his Force India team-mate spun off at Mergulho and spoiled his lap when rejoining. To make matters worse for Sutil, he will take a five-place penalty for his collision with Kobayashi in Korea.

In the battle between the new Formula One teams, the honour went to Timo Glock for Virgin Racing, beating the Lotus pair of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen to P19. Christian Klien out-qualified HRT Bruno Senna, who spun at the end of Q1 and will start his first home Grand Prix from the back.

So a fantastic qualifying session for Hülkenberg and Williams. Can The Hulk remain in front during Sunday’s race? Or will we see the championship contenders coming through as the fight for the championship intensified? Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix is going to be thrilling.

Qualifying times from Interlagos:

1.  Hülkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:14.470
2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.519
3.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.637
4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.747
5.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:15.989
6.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:16.203
7.  Kubica         Renault                1:16.552
8.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:16.925
9.  Massa          Ferrari                1:17.101
10. Petrov         Renault                1:17.656
11. Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:19.288
12. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:19.385
13. Rosberg        Mercedes               1:19.486
14. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.581
15. Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari         1:19.899
16. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:20.357
17. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:22.130
18. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:22.250
19. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:22.378
20. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.847*
21. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:22.810
22. Klien          HRT-Cosworth           1:23.083
23. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:20.830*
24. Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:23.796

*Five-place penalty for causing an avoidable accident in the Korean Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso took his fifth victory of the season at the inaugural Korean Grand Prix, taking the championship lead by winning in a wet and delayed race at Yeongam.

For Red Bull Racing, this was a disastrous day with Mark Webber crashing out from second position, with Sebastian Vettel suffering an engine failure while leading from the beginning.

Lewis Hamilton kept his title hopes alive with a superb drive in tricky wet conditions to come home in second, but the same cannot be said to McLaren team-mate Jenson Button. The reigning world champion had a difficult race struggling for pace and finished in a lowly P12.

The racing didn’t actually start until nearly one hour and three quarters after the scheduled time. The rain forced the original start to delay by ten minutes and after four laps behind the safety car, it was red flagged.

The wet conditions made it impossible for the 24 drivers to race with fear of visibility. After a pause of nearly an hour, and then a further 13 laps behind the safety car, the race got going to the delight of Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren driver was quite vocal over the radio about the improving conditions.

Once the race started Vettel immediately pulled out a 2.8-second gap over Webber on the first proper lap of racing. Then it all went hideously wrong for the pre-race championship leader next time around.

The Australian ran slightly wide at Turn 12 and spun into the opposite wall damaging his car before rebounding back onto the track and collecting the passing Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, who just overtaken Hamilton for third at Turn 3 a lap earlier.

With two wrecked cars to collect from a narrow section of the circuit, the safety car returned for a few more laps before racing finally got underway once more. Vettel made a break once again, establishing a three-second cushion over Alonso until another safety car interruption on lap 30. This time when Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi – who had already tipped Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus into a spin – crashed into the side of Timo Glock’s Virgin at the end of the long straight.

Buemi was among those who had already taken on intermediates, and everyone else running on the full wets decided to following suit during the safety car period.

Vettel and Alonso had passed the pits when the yellow came out so had to do another lap, but Vettel retained his lead after his tyre change. A problem with the right-front wheel change on Alonso’s car let Hamilton into second position, but not for long as the McLaren ran wide at Turn 1 at the restart and handed the position straight back.

Unlike his previous restarts Vettel could not make a break with Alonso and Hamilton close behind. Despite that, the German had the race under control until his Red Bull’s Renault engine erupted at the start of lap 46.

After inheriting the lead Alonso then edged away from Hamilton to clinch his fifth victory of the season, opening up a 11 point lead over Webber. As for Hamilton, his second place finish moves the McLaren driver to third in the standings, only ten points adrift.

Felipe Massa completed the podium for the Scuderia after a consistent race, while Michael Schumacher produced his best performance of the year by taking fourth.

Renault’s Robert Kubica was fifth having passing both Williams as their tyres faded in the closing stages. Tonio Liuzzi followed him through to take sixth for Force India.

Sauber got both cars in the points again with Kamui Kobayashi in eighth ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld.

As for Jenson Button, finishing in P12 was a major disappointment. Initially he was running in sixth after making an early pit stop for intermediates but that change of tyres dropped him down to the midfield. Jenson lost even more ground after being forced off the road while battling with Adrian Sutil’s Force India. Struggling with the McLaren’s handling and tyre wear, Jenson had a late spin and came home 90 seconds after the race winner.

Other drivers to slip up included Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, who had a massive crash at the final corner when running seventh on lap 40. Adrian Sutil, who had a series of wheel-banging incidents and excursions while battling with the Saubers, was out after breaking his suspension against Kobayashi’s car. As for Lucas di Grassi, he spun his Virgin Racing car into the barrier while trying to pass Sakon Yamamoto’s Hispania.

Heikki Kovalainen was top new team driver for Lotus, despite a pitlane speeding penalty, while his team-mate Jarno Trulli had a spin, a clash with Bruno Senna’s Hispania and eventually a race-ended hydraulic problem.

So it was an eventful Korean Grand Prix. Neither Red Bulls made the finish despite locking out the front row. Alonso’s race victory has promoted the Spaniard to the top of the drivers’ championship with two races left.

But the biggest issue will be made to the drivers and race officials for not racing in the early stages and at the sport governing body for approving the circuit despite the late completion.

Race results from Yongam after 55 laps:
1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    2h48:20.810
2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +14.999
3.  Massa         Ferrari                    +30.868
4.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +39.688
5.  Kubica        Renault                    +47.734
6.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +53.571
7.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1:09.257
8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:17.889
9.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +1:20.107
10. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1:20.851
11. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:24.146
12. Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1:29.939
13. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +1 lap
14. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
15. Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:50.257

Not classified/retirements:
Sutil    Force India-Mercedes   46 laps
Vettel     Red Bull-Renault   45 laps
Petrov   Renault   39 laps
Glock   Virgin-Cosworth   31 laps
Buemi   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   30 laps
Di Grassi   Virgin-Cosworth    25 laps
Trulli   Lotus-Cosworth   25 laps
Webber   Red Bull-Renault   18 laps
Rosberg   Mercedes   18 laps

World Championship standings, round 17:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       231
2.  Webber       220
3.  Hamilton     210
4.  Vettel       206
5.  Button       189
6.  Massa        143
7.  Kubica       124
8.  Rosberg      122
9.  Schumacher    66
10. Barrichello   47
11. Sutil         47
12. Kobayashi     31
13. Liuzzi        21
14. Petrov        19
15. Hulkenberg    18
16. Buemi          8
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Heidfeld       6
19. Alguersuari    3

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          426
2. McLaren-Mercedes          399
3. Ferrari                   374
4. Mercedes                  188
5. Renault                   143
6. Force India-Mercedes       68
7. Williams-Cosworth          65
8. Sauber-Ferrari             43
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11

Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos. November 5-7.

Sebastian Vettel heads another Red Bull Racing front row in the Far East by taking pole position in the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. Championship leader Mark Webber lines up in second, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Vettel’s ninth pole position of the season came in dramatic fashion as the resurgent German stole the top spot from Alonso after the chequered flag had fallen.

The double world champion’s lap around the 3.492-mile track was one minute, 35.766 seconds, which looked quite impressive, but Vettel’s lap was even more spectacular with a time of one minute, 35.585 seconds. A clear demonstration of the superior pace from the Renault-powered RB6.

To rub salt into the wounds for the Scuderia driver, Webber recovered from his poor first attempt to take second position and lock out the front row. However, the Australian will doubtless be concerned that he must start on the dirty side of the track.

After setting some impressive straight-line speed in the first sector on the new Yeongam thanks to the F-duct and powerful Mercedes engine, the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button could only manage fourth and seventh, with the latter struggling with grip.

For Lewis Hamilton, this was a disappointment. He shown flashes of speed throughout the qualifying session but in the all-important top ten shootout, he missed out on pole by a margin of half a second. It could have been much worst, as entering that controversial pit lane entrance, Lewis lost control of the car and just missed the barrier as he trundled over the grass at high-speed.

Nico Rosberg will start fifth for Mercedes GP, ahead of a subdued Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari. The Brazilian has been complaining all weekend about the lack of balance in the F10 and yet team-mate Alonso is right at the sharp end of the grid…

Jenson Button struggled for tyre temperature through all three sessions and ended up a distant seventh ahead of Robert Kubica’s Renault, Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes and the Williams of Rubens Barrichello.

Kamui Kobayashi outqualified his Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld to go P12, while Adrian Sutil could only manage P14. As for Vitaly Petrov, who will be demoted down five places following his start-line crash at Suzuka, the Russian set the fifteenth fastest time but will start twentieth on the grid.

In the battle of the new teams competing in Formula One, Jarno Trulli took the honours for Lotus with P18 ahead of Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock, who spun in Q1. Behind Petrov will be Heikki Kovalainen followed by Lucas di Grassi, Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna.

Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix is going to be fascinating. Not only for the championship contenders but also in terms of the tyres. Bridgestone has commented that the 24 drivers will face a big challenge to conserve their tyres as they did in Canada if track conditions do not improve. In that race at Montreal, the varying tyre strategies made it an exciting Grand Prix. Hopefully it can provide that on race day at Yeongam.

Qualifying times from Yeongam:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:35.585
2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:35.659
3.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:35.766
4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:36.062
5.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1:36.535
6.  Massa          Ferrari               1:36.571
7.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:36.731
8.  Kubica         Renault               1:36.824
9.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1:36.950
10. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:36.998
11. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:37.620
12. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:37.643
13. Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari        1:37.715
14. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:37.783
15. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:37.853
16. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:38.594
17. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes  1:38.955
18. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:40.521
19. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:40.748
20. Petrov         Renault               1:37.799*
21. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:41.768
22. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:42.325
23. Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth          1:42.444
24. Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:43.283

*Five-place grid penalty

Sebastian Vettel took a commanding victory at the Japanese Grand Prix leading a Red Bull Racing one-two at Suzuka, with Mark Webber extending his championship lead to 220 points, 14 ahead of race winner Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

This was the perfect weekend for the German. Fastest in both practice sessions on Friday, taking his eighth pole position of the season on Sunday morning followed by his second successive victory on this unique figure of eight circuit a few hours later.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished in third while Jenson Button took fourth for McLaren after take a gamble in starting the race on the prime Bridgestone tyre.

As for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, he put on a brave fight following a row four grid slot due to the team changing the gearbox, but ironically had a problem with a loss of third gear and came home in a disappointing fifth position.

Most of the incident in the race was compacted into the opening minutes – although the destruction began even before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, when Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi had a massive crash at the 130R on his way to the grid.

Then when the race got underway, the fast-starting Renault of Vitaly Petrov clipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams and slammed into the barriers on the pits straight, moments before Ferrari’s Felipe Massa took to the grass going into the first corner and speared into the side of Tonio Liuzzi’s Force India.

The safety car was immediately brought out, and one of the race’s most intriguing possibilities was removed during the yellow caution period. Robert Kubica had split the Red Bulls off the line, but the second-placed Renault pulled off on lap three after shedding its right-rear wheel while cruising around behind the safety car.

Red Bull therefore resumed one-two formation at the restart, with Vettel and Webber easily pulling away from Alonso at around a second per lap initially.

The only time the Red Bull pair were headed was when Button’s alternative strategy allowed the McLaren to lead from laps 25 to 38, as the reigning world champion ran long on his hard prime tyres before changing to the soft option and mounting a late charge.

Button’s targets were his team-mate Hamilton and rival Alonso. A battle between the McLaren pair would have been interesting but alas Lewis encounter a gearbox issue in the final stages of the Japanese Grand Prix, and into the hairpin on lap 44 Lewis allowed Jenson through with ease. As for the possibility of catching and passing Alonso, the time gap was too great and there wasn’t enough laps left.

This was Michael Schumacher’s strongest performance of the season and to finish in sixth for Mercedes GP is a solid achievement following criticism all year long. Michael would have finished beind his Silver Arrows team-mate Nico Rosberg, who had pitted under the safety car at the start, until the younger German lost a wheel and had a big shunt at the S curves with five laps to the flag. Earlier, Rosberg escaped a near-miss with Sebastien Buemi in an attempt to pass the Toro Rosso on the outside at the 130R went skew.

Home crowd favourite Kamui Kobayashi provided the race entertainment with some brave and superb overtaking manoeuvres. Running on the same tyre strategy as Button, the Japanese driver dived past Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso and the Force India of Adrian Sutil at the hairpin in his first stint, but drop back behind both after pitting.

After switching to the option tyre, Kobayashi was flying and once again surging pass Alguersuari at the hairpin, with the Toro Rosso breaking the front wing as Jaime trying to retaliate.

The Japanese gained another place when Sutil’s engine blew, then passing Rubens Barrichello’s Williams and his Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld to the delight of the home crowd with a hard-earned seventh.

Completing the top ten was Sebastien Buemi while in the battle between the second division teams the Lotus pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli finished in P12 and P13 respectively ahead of the sole remaining Virgin Racing of Timo Glock.

Korea is the next stop in this dramatic Formula One season and following news reports whether this new event will take place due to the late completion, the latest is that it will take place and it will be fascinating how the teams and drivers adapt to the new circuit.

Race results after 53 laps, Suzuka:
1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:27.323
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +0.905
3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +2.721
4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +13.522
5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +39.595
6.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +59.933
7.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:04:038
8.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +1:09.648
9.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1:10.846
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:12.806
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
12.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +1 lap
13.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +2 laps
14.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +2 laps
15.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
16.  Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps
17.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +5 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:33.474

Not classified/retirements:
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         45 laps
Kubica        Renault                      4 laps
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            1 lap
Massa         Ferrari                      1 lap
Petrov        Renault                      1 lap
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1 lap
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              1 lap

World Championship standings, round 16:

Drivers:
1.  Webber       220
2.  Alonso       206
3.  Vettel       206
4.  Hamilton     192
5.  Button       189
6.  Massa        128
7.  Rosberg      122
8.  Kubica       114
9.  Schumacher    54
10. Sutil         47
11. Barrichello   41
12. Kobayashi     27
13. Petrov        19
14. Hulkenberg    17
15. Liuzzi        13
16. Buemi          8
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Heidfeld       4
19. Alguersuari    3

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          426
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          381
3.  Ferrari                   334
4.  Mercedes                  176
5.  Renault                   133
6.  Force India-Mercedes       60
7.  Williams-Cosworth          58
8.  Sauber-Ferrari             37
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11

Next race: Korean Grand Prix, Yeongam. October 22-24.

Championship contender Sebastian Vettel continued his impressive performance at the Japanese Grand Prix with pole position at the Suzuka International Circuit. After setting the fastest time in both Friday’s practice sessions, the German extended his advantage with his eighth pole this season, his first since Hungary.

In fact, the speed of the Renault-powered RB6 around this figure of eight circuit led to a commanding performance from the Milton Keynes-based outfit with team-mate Mark Webber taking second on the grid. The Australian was within a few hundredths of the flying Vettel to form an all-Red Bull Racing front row.

As for Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver claimed the ‘best of the rest’ honours with the third quickest time but due to a gearbox change, he will start the Japanese Grand Prix in eighth position.

This five-place grid penalty means that Renault’s Robert Kubica moves up to third. As for Fernando Alonso, the winner at Monza and Singapore, the double world champion lines up in fourth for Ferrari.

The postponed qualifying session made it a challenge for Felipe Massa, as the Brazilian was unable to find speed in Q2 and the best he could manage with only P12.

For Jenson Button, the reigning world champion made a unique choice on the hard compound tyres for Q3 and recorded the fifth fastest time for McLaren.

The Silver Arrows took sixth and tenth with Nico Rosberg four tenths of a second faster than team-mate Michael Schumacher, with a pair of Williams in between – having been second and fourth in Q1. Rubens Barrichello narrowly beat Nico Hulkenberg in the session that matter.

Nick Heidfeld was within touch distance in making it through to Q3 in only his second race appearance with Sauber. His final lap of Q2 was even faster than Schumacher and Massa, although a late improvement by his fellow countryman pushed Heidfeld back down to P11.

Despite that, he still outqualified his team-mate and home favourite Kamui Kobayashi, who looked set to reach the top ten until a slight error at the chicane left the Japanese in P14, alongside Renault’s Vitaly Petrov.

There was no repeat of Toro Rosso’s strong 2009 Suzuka pace. Jaime Alguersuari back in P16 between the Force Indias and his team-mate Sebastien Buemi did not get beyond Q1.

Lotus F1 Racing dominated proceedings in the new teams’ battle, with Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen nearly a second clear of Virgin Racing, which saw an upset as Lucas di Grassi outqualified team-mate Timo Glock for only the second time all year.

Qualifying times from Suzuka:

1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull     1m30.785s
2.  Mark Webber         Red Bull     1m30.853s
3.  Robert Kubica       Renault      1m31.231s
4.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari      1m31.352s
5.  Jenson Button       McLaren      1m31.378s
6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes     1m31.494s
7.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams     1m31.535s
8.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren      1m31.169s*
9.  Nico Hulkenberg     Williams     1m31.559s
10. Michael Schumacher  Mercedes     1m31.846s
11. Nick Heidfeld       Sauber       1m32.187s
12. Felipe Massa        Ferrari      1m32.321s
13. Vitaly Petrov       Renault      1m32.422s
14. Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber       1m32.427s
15. Adrian Sutil        Force India  1m32.659s
16. Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso   1m33.071s
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi   Force India  1m33.154s
18. Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso   1m33.568s
19. Jarno Trulli        Lotus        1m35.346s
20. Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus        1m35.464s
21. Lucas di Grassi     Virgin       1m36.265s
22. Timo Glock          Virgin       1m36.332s
23. Bruno Senna         Hispania     1m37.270s
24. Sakon Yamamoto      Hispania     1m37.365s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

Qualifying for the sixteenth round of this dramatic Formula One World Championship has been rescheduled to take place on Sunday morning following torrential rain at the Suzuka International Circuit.

The heavy rain made the conditions for the drivers impossible to go out on track, as fear of losing control due to aquaplaning.

Despite several time delays to try and wait for the weather to improve, the sport governing body (the FIA) decided to postponed the session to Sunday morning.

The qualifying session is now expected to take place at 10.00 am local time to form the 24-car grid for the Japanese Grand Prix – just five hours before the actual race!

This is the second time in five races at Suzuka that qualifying has been postponed to Sunday.

Back in 2004 the approaching typhoon Ma-on led the race organisers to hold qualifying on Sunday instead of Saturday. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher secured pole position on October 9th followed by a race victory a couple of hours later.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took his second successive victory – his fourth this season – after resisting a race-long challenge from Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull Racing’s team-mate Mark Webber finished in third after surviving a clash with Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to retire with damage to his McLaren.

That crash at Turn 7 on lap 36 with the championship leader has dented Hamilton’s title ambitions dearly. Lewis tried to snatch a position off Mark after a lapped Virgin Racing car of Lucas di Grassi held up his Red Bull Racing rival.

Hamilton slipstream past Webber on the run down to Turn 7 and took an outside line – but his left rear wheel was tagged by his rival on the exit of the corner and he was pushed wide.

Although Webber was able to continue and finish on the podium, the impact damaged Hamilton’s car enough to force him out of the Singapore Grand Prix. Another disappointing result especially when he retire from the previous race at Monza.

For Mark Webber, finishing in third was the best reward following a row three qualifying spot. The Australian still leads the drivers’ championship with 202 points, eleven ahead of race winner Alonso, twenty over Hamilton and twenty-one from team-mate Vettel.

Alonso’s win proved to the relatively straightforward – lights to chequered flag – but with two safety car periods and Vettel never far behind the Spaniard, it was a great result for the double world champion after nearly two hours of intense racing.

The pair even came into the pits at the same time for a single pit stop and their track position remained unchanged to the flag.

Webber’s third place owed much to a tyre gamble when the safety car came out on lap three to remove Tonio Liuzzi’s stricken Force India from the circuit. The Red Bull Racing pitwall decided to gamble and bring in the Australian from fifth to change to the harder Bridgestone tyre – with Webber being the only one of the frontrunners to do so.

He returned to the track in P11 and over the laps that followed regained enough lost ground that Webber was able to leapfrog the McLarens in the pits. Hamilton later had an opportunity to get the position back on a race restart – following a safety car appearance caused when Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna collided at Turn 18 – but heading into Turn 7 the Red Bull and McLaren made contact.

The only consolation for McLaren was Jenson Button finishing in fourth, ahead of Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg. As for Rosberg’s team-mate Michael Schumacher, he had a difficult race after clashing with both Saubers and coming home a lap down in unlucky P13.

For Williams, both Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg finished in the points with sixth and ninth respectively. The pair being split by Renault’s Robert Kubica – who made some spectacular overtaking moves in the final laps thanks to fresh tyres – and Force India’s Adrian Sutil.

After starting last on the grid, Felipe Massa drove a solid race to claim the final point for Ferrari in tenth.

In the battle between the second division of Formula One, Lucas di Grassi finished two laps down in P15 for Virgin Racing while Heikki Kovalainen was classified P16 even though his Lotus burst into flames on the main straight near the end.

Alonso’s victory means he is now within 11 points of Webber with four races remaining. The 15 points the Australian scored on Sunday should be credited to the strength of his front wheel and could be the factor in the outcome of this world championship.

Race result from Singapore, 61 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h57:53.579
2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +0.293
3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +29.141
4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +30.384
5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +49.394
6.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +56.101
7.  Kubica        Renault                    +1:26.559
8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +1:52.416
9.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1:52.791
10. Massa         Ferrari                    +1:53.297
11. Petrov        Renault                    +1 lap
12. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13. Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1 lap
14. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
15. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +2 laps
16. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +3 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:47.976

Not classified/retirements:
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              51 laps
Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari               35 laps
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             34 laps
Klien         HRT-Cosworth                 30 laps
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               29 laps
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 28 laps
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               26 laps
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes         1 lap

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:
1.  Webber       202
2.  Alonso       191
3.  Hamilton     182
4.  Vettel       181
5.  Button       177
6.  Massa        125
7.  Rosberg      122
8.  Kubica       114
9.  Sutil         49
10. Schumacher    46
11. Barrichello   39
12. Kobayashi     21
13. Petrov        19
14. Hulkenberg    18
15. Liuzzi        13
16. Buemi          7
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Alguersuari    3

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          383
2. McLaren-Mercedes          359
3. Ferrari                   316
4. Mercedes                  168
5. Renault                   133
6. Force India-Mercedes       62
7. Williams-Cosworth          57
8. Sauber-Ferrari             27
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10

Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. October 8-10.