Sebastian Vettel took his fourth victory of the season leading his Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber to a one-two finish in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

This result also confirmed Vettel as championship runner-up behind Jenson Button. The 2009 world champion came home in third behind the victorious Red Bulls though he did had an opportunity to snatch second with a late-race duel with Webber. It was a thrilling contest to see the pair fighting over the position but at the chequered flag, the Australian just managed to hold off the Briton.

Despite that Button has ended his championship season with a podium finish, his first since the Italian Grand Prix, while his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello survived a clash with Webber’s Red Bull on the opening lap which broke part of the front wing endplate to finish in fourth.

Competing in BMW Sauber’s final race, Nick Heidfeld recorded a solid fifth place (a nice send-off for the team) while the impressive Kamui Kobayashi scored his first championship points for Toyota in only his second appearance as a Grand Prix driver. Team-mate Jarno Trulli was seventh with Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi taking the final point with eighth.

As for the race favourite, Lewis Hamilton, who started the twilight Grand Prix in pole position, the McLaren driver was forced to retire with a rear brake issue. It was a shame as he was the quickest all weekend and this non-finish was a disappointment, though the development of the MP4-24 in the late stages of this season has given optimism for Lewis into next year.

Just finishing outside the points was Nico Rosberg, racing for the last time at Williams, followed by Robert Kubica (BMW Sabuer), Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

After a poor qualifying session, Fernando Alonso was unable to recover from a low grid position and to finish in P14 was not the ideal way to end his seven-year stint at Renault.

The same can be said to Giancarlo Fisichella. Representing the Scuderia for the last time and potentially racing in his final race in Formula One, the Italian finished in a disappointing P16. Speeding in the pit lane didn’t help matters for Giancarlo…

And so ends the 2009 Formula One World Championship. Red Bull Racing might have missed out on the championship honours, but scoring a hat-trick of wins is an impressive achievement for the outfit. Can Vettel and the Red Bull team challenge Button and Brawn GP next year for title honours? Let’s wait and see when the new season commences in Bahrain in March 2010.

Race results from the Yas Marina circuit, 55 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      1h34:03.314
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      +17.857
3.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        +18.467
4.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        +22.735
5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            +26.253
6.  Kobayashi     Toyota                +28.343
7.  Trulli        Toyota                +34.366
8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    +41.294
9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       +45.941
10. Kubica        BMW Sauber            +48.180
11. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      +52.798
12. Raikkonen     Ferrari               +54.317
13. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       +59.839
14. Alonso        Renault               +1:09.687
15. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  +1:34.450
16. Grosjean      Renault               +1 lap
17. Fisichella    Ferrari               +1 lap
18. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  +1 lap

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:40.279

Not classified/retirements:

Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      21 laps
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    19 laps

World Championship standings, round 17:

Drivers:

1.  Button        95
2.  Vettel        84
3.  Barrichello   77
4.  Webber        69.5
5.  Hamilton      49
6.  Raikkonen     48
7.  Rosberg       34.5
8.  Trulli        32.5
9.  Alonso        26
10. Glock         24
11. Kovalainen    22
12. Massa         22
13. Heidfeld      19
14. Kubica        17
15. Fisichella     8
16. Buemi          6
17. Sutil          5
18. Kobayashi      3
19. Bourdais       2

Constructors:

1.  Brawn-Mercedes        172
2.  Red Bull-Renault      153.5
3.  McLaren-Mercedes       71
4.  Ferrari                70
5.  Toyota                 59.5
6.  BMW Sauber             36
7.  Williams-Toyota        34.5
8.  Renault                26
9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     8

Lewis Hamilton took his third pole position of the season after dominating the unique twilight qualifying session at the Yas Marina circuit. The McLaren driver set the fastest time in all three sessions and proved unbeatable in Q3 with a margin of 0.7 seconds over his Red Bull Racing rivals.

It would have been an all-McLaren front row following the team’s impressive practice pace but alas the poor luck that hampered Heikki Kovalainen’s season continued with the Finn forced to pull out in Q2 with a transmission fault. At one point he was third but come the end, he slipped down to P13.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber will start the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in second and third respectively with the constructors’ champion Brawn GP next up.

The new world champion Jenson Button could only manage fifth and was once again out-qualified by his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was a contender for pole in the early stages of Q3 but found himself demoted down to sixth by the end. At least the Italian will be satisfied to start the race ahead of the BMW Sauber pair of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. The team will be taking part in its final Grand Prix from the fourth row.

Nico Rosberg lines up in ninth position in his last appearance as a Williams driver with Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi completing the top ten.

Neither Ferrari made it into the top ten – making 2009 the first season since 1993 that the team has not managed a single pole position. Kimi Raikkonen will start his final race as a Scuderia driver in P11 way ahead of his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who was the slowest of all in Abu Dhabi. The Italian team will have a tough situation to finish third in the constructors’ championship with only a two- point advantage over rival McLaren.

But if you thought Ferrari had a bad session, it was a nightmare for Renault. Fernando Alonso could only manage P16, which was not the ideal position to sign off his seven-year stint at the team. His team-mate Romain Grosjean also struggled and will start in a lowly P19, behind the disappointing Force Indias.

Qualifying times from Yas Marina:

1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      1:40.948
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      1:41.615
3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      1:41.726
4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        1:41.786
5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        1:41.892
6.  Trulli       Toyota                1:41.897
7.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            1:41.992
8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            1:42.343
9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       1:42.583
10. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:42.713
11. Raikkonen    Ferrari               1:40.726
12. Kobayashi    Toyota                1:40.777
13. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      1:40.983
14. Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       1:41.148
15. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:41.689
16. Alonso       Renault               1:41.667
17. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  1:41.701
18. Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1:41.863
19. Grosjean     Renault               1:41.950
20. Fisichella   Ferrari               1:42.184

After a difficult second half of the 2009 Formula One World Championship, Jenson Button has finally fulfil his dream ambition in winning the drivers’ title after an aggressive drive in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Starting in P14 after a frustrating qualifying session, the Brawn GP driver pulled off some impressive overtaking manouvres to land fifth spot in the end. This was enough to secure the championship.

It capped off an amazing season and Jenson has undoubtedly silenced his critics whether he fully deserves the drivers’ title following this thrilling Grand Prix, won by Mark Webber.

The result also gave Brawn a remarkable Constructors’ Championship title in the team’s first year, less than 12 months after Honda’s departure left its staff facing an apparently bleak future.

As for the winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix, this was a comfortable victory for Mark Webber. The Australian took the lead after the first round of pitstops and never look back.

Behind the victorious Red Bull, Robert Kubica took his best result of the year in second for BMW while Lewis Hamilton came through from the tail end of the field to take third for McLaren.

For Rubens Barrichello, who started his home Grand Prix in pole position, the Brazilian’s crude luck at Interlagos continued. Even though Rubens had the opportunity to take the championship down to the wire if he wins, his mid-race pace wasn’t enough to prevent his team-mate in taking the title. A puncture eight laps from the chequered flag while running in fourth ending his chances.

As for Sebastian Vettel, who started alongside his title rival in P15, the German drove his heart out in the 71-lap Grand Prix but fourth was not enough to keep his title bid alive.

The opening lap was quite dramatic with Vettel making contact at the Senna S with Heikki Kovalainen, who spun his McLaren and was almost collected by Giancarlo Fisichella, who took avoiding action in the Ferrari. Both were able to continue but at the tail end of the field.

Kimi Raikkonen was also involved in the chaotic first lap when he broke his front wing against the back of Webber’s Red Bull as the Australian defended his position into the Descida do Lago.

Through the next corner Toyota’s Jarno Trulli went wide onto the grass – accusing Adrian Sutil of putting him there – and spun back across into the Force India, which was then collected by the Renault of Fernando Alonso. All three were out on the spot and prompting a safety car.

There was even more drama under the yellow, as Kovalainen took the McLaren fuel hose with him as he left the pits, resulting in a flash fire as fuel splashed out of the hose onto Raikkonen’s close-following Ferrari! Remarkably both were able to continue without delay.

As the race stewards began investigating all of those incidents, Button and Vettel found themselves ninth and eleventh in the restart queue, with Barrichello leading the race over Webber, Rosberg and Kubica.

Both Button and Vettel immediately charged forward with some aggressive passes, before getting stuck behind Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota and Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams in seventh and ninth respectively.

It took until lap 24 following several near-misses before Button successfully dived inside Kobayashi at the Senna S. By that time his title prospects looked much better, for Barrichello had fallen from first to third after the first pitstops.

The Brawn had only managed to pull two seconds clear of Webber, and when Barrichello stopped on lap 20 he emerged into the thick of the traffic and was further delayed being overtaken by Vettel. He not only lost out to Webber, but also fell to third behind Kubica, with Rosberg losing a chance to also get involved in this fight when he retired on lap 26.

That settled the lead battle for the rest of the race. Webber ran a comfortable five seconds ahead of Kubica, with Barrichello becoming an ever more distant third. The Brazilian’s only hope of keeping the title fight alive was now that Button finished eighth or lower, but the Briton’s excellent progress continued as he moved up to second before making the first of his two stops on lap 29.

Vettel ran a similar strategy but pitted even later, which enabled the German to jump Button at the final stops, but by that time they had moved up to fifth and sixth – which was not enough for the Red Bull driver but it was perfectly adequate for Jenson in the Brawn.

Just to underline that Barrichello’s task was hopeless, he was passed for third by Lewis Hamilton ten laps from the end, then fell to eighth with a puncture – no thanks to a brush with the McLaren – two laps later.

Hamilton had pitted under the safety car to immediately get rid of his soft Bridgestone tyres, meaning he could run the rest of the race on a one-stop strategy. He then had the pace to quickly move through the field, keeping up with the lighter-fuelled cars, and emerging fourth behind Barrichello as others stopped.

Behind Vettel and the euphoric Button, Raikkonen recovered to sixth, with Sebastien Buemi scoring two points for Scuderia Toro Rosso in seventh.

Kovalainen finished in ninth, with Kobayashi losing ground as others around him ran longer strategies, but pushed past Fisichella for tenth in the closing laps.

The Toyota rookie escaped a frightening incident with compatriot Nakajima – who he had already banged wheels with through the Senna S – that saw the Williams have its front wing swiped off on the rear of Kobayashi’s defensive Toyota as it came out of the pits. Nakajima lost control on the grass and speared into the Descida do Lago barriers, but was unhurt.

So, congratulations to Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team in winning the title. For Button, this was a dream come true and he becomes the tenth British driver to taste success as the world champion.

What is ever more remarkable is that Brawn GP has achieved the constructors title in its first-ever season. Credit to the all the members at Brackley and especially Ross Brawn in leading the outfit to championship glory.

Race results from Interlagos, 71 laps:

1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      1h32:23.081
2.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            +7.626
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      +18.944
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      +19.652
5.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        +29.005
6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               +33.340
7.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    +35.991
8.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        +45.454
9.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      +48.499
10. Kobayashi     Toyota                +1:03.324
11. Fisichella    Ferrari               +1:10.665
12. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  +1:11.388
13. Grosjean      Renault               +1 lap
14. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    +1 lap

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:13.733

Not classified/retirements:

Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       31 laps
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       28 laps
Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            22 laps
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1 lap
Trulli        Toyota                1 lap
Alonso        Renault               1 lap

World Championship standings, round 16:

Drivers:
1.  Button        89
2.  Vettel        74
3.  Barrichello   72
4.  Webber        61.5
5.  Hamilton      49
6.  Raikkonen     48
7.  Rosberg       34.5
8.  Trulli        30.5
9.  Alonso        26
10. Glock         24
11. Kovalainen    22
12. Massa         22
13. Kubica        17
14. Heidfeld      15
15. Fisichella     8
16. Sutil          5
17. Buemi          5
18. Bourdais       2

Constructors:
1.  Brawn-Mercedes        161
2.  Red Bull-Renault      135.5
3.  McLaren-Mercedes       71
4.  Ferrari                70
5.  Toyota                 54.5
6.  Williams-Toyota        34.5
7.  BMW Sauber             32
8.  Renault                26
9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari      7

Next race: Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit. October 30-November 1.

After nearly three hours of persistent rain delaying the qualifying proceedings, Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello ultimately secured a crucial pole position at home while his title rivals suffered major problems in the tricky wet conditions.

World championship leader Jenson Button will start the Brazilian Grand Prix down in P14, having opted not to fit the Bridgestone intermediates tyres that could have vaulted him up the grid order. By staying out on track with full wets, Jenson lost the opportunity in setting a competitive laptime. Position fourteenth is not ideal but at least it is no worse than Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull Racing driver will start in P16 and will need at least second place on Sunday to remain in the title hunt.

Mark Webber joins Barrichello on the front row in the second Red Bull, ahead of another impressive qualifying effort from Force India’s Adrian Sutil in third.

The first qualifying session was red flagged after just four minutes following a spin by Giancarlo Fisichella in his Ferrari. The Italian lost control at the bottom of the Senna S and stalled on the racing line. He will start the race at the tail end of the grid.

With the conditions near impossible due to the heavy rain, race control decided to halt the session until the weather relented at least slightly.

As the skies became a little lighter, Q1 was restarted following a 12-minute pause, and although the spray and standing water remained a major issue for the drivers, the lap times were immediately 12 seconds faster than the pre-red flag laps.

Outside championship contender Vettel had been fastest by a full second among the seven cars that set times prior to the stoppage, but he was quickly shuffle down the order to P16 and could not improve. A trip off the circuit at Turn 5 did not help, and with the rain coming down harder again Sebastian abandoned his final lap. P16 is his worst-case scenario and the German faces a near-impossible task in Sunday’s Grand Prix as he strives to stay in title contention.

Also going out in Q1 were the McLarens, with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton in P17 and P18 respectively. The latter having a spin after exiting Turn 5.

The start of Q2 was delayed further as the rain continued to fall. Despite no obvious let-up in the conditions, the green light appeared and the remaining 15 cars headed onto the track.

But in no time at all Vitantonio Liuzzi had a huge crash on the pit straight, bringing out the red flags once again.

With the rain continuing to fall it took an hour to get the session restarted. But when it finally did it brought a dramatic development – championship leader Button was eliminated.

The track began to dry quite quickly and halfway through several drivers switched to intermediate tyres – led by Nico Rosberg’s Williams, who once again looked instantly at ease with the wet conditions.

Neither of the Brawn GP drivers opted to try the intermediates and that proved a big mistake in Button’s case. But while Barrichello managed to scrape through to Q3, team-mate Button was 0.9 seconds slower and thus failed. He will start behind rookies Kamui Kobayashi – making a fine debut for Toyota – Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) and Romain Grosjean (Renault).

And so into the final ten minutes of Q3. With the track conditions improving all the time and the rain finally easing off, the top ten drivers all opted for the intermediates to set the quickest laps.

The pole position holder was changing at least once every minute with Sebastien Buemi, Robert Kubica and Jarno Trulli all having turns.

Twice Barrichello took the top spot but immediately was pushed back down the order. He eventually took the honour when the chequered flag was waved on the main pit straight, recorded his first pole position at the Interlagos track after five years of trying. His time of one minute, 19.576 seconds was just under a tenth of a second faster than rival Mark Webber.

Adrian Sutil grabbed third from Toyota’s Jarno Trulli right at the end, with Kimi Raikkonen fifth for Ferrari.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi was rapid throughout and took an excellent sixth, but there was disappointment for Nico Rosberg, who had been quickest in both Q1 and Q2 but could not maintain that pace as the track dried. He fell to seventh, with his team-mate Kazuki Nakajima ninth between Robert Kubica (BMW) and Fernando Alonso (Renault).

Before the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, Formula One’s ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone has said he wanted to see the championship decided at the final round in Abu Dhabi. Well, following this lengthy qualifying session and with a grid line-up for Sunday, it seems that we could be heading that way.

Qualifying times from Interlagos:

1.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        1:19.576
2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      1:19.668
3.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1:19.912
4.  Trulli       Toyota                1:20.097
5.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               1:20.168
6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:20.250
7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       1:20.326
8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            1:20.631
9.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       1:20.674
10. Alonso       Renault               1:21.422
11. Kobayashi    Toyota                1:21.960
12. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:22.231
13. Grosjean     Renault               1:22.477
14. Button       Brawn-Mercedes        1:22.504
15. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  1:24.645
16. Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      1:25.009
17. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      1:25.052
18. Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      1:25.192
19. Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            1:25.515
20. Fisichella   Ferrari               1:40.703

Sebastian Vettel dominated the Japanese Grand Prix from start to finish, even a late safety car period caused by Jaime Alguersuari’s big crash on the exit of 130R was unable to trouble the cool German in achieving his third victory of the season.

By winning at Suzuka, Vettel and Red Bull Racing still have the opportunity to win the drivers’ championship, following a challenging race for Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team’s grid penalties.

Jarno Trulli gave home team Toyota its second runner-up finish in a week by beating Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to second, with the world champion just resisting Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen for third.

Nico Rosberg finished fifth for Williams with fellow countryman Nick Heidfeld taking sixth for BMW Sauber.

As for the Brawn GP pair, the championship battle between Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button advances to the next race following a difficult Grand Prix. By finishing in seventh and eighth respectively, this was not enough to wrap up the constructors’ title and with only 14 points between the Brazilian and the Briton, the fight for top honours moves on to Sao Paulo in two weeks time.

As the five red lights went out, Vettel managed to fend off the KERS-assisted Hamilton at the start. The Red Bull stuck to the racing line, while the McLaren was forced to take the outside route, but at least Lewis was ahead of Jarno Trulli.

This trio pulled away from the rest of the field, with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW in a lonely fourth. At this point, Barrichello was trapped behind Raikkonen in sixth position.

Button fell to P12 at the start, but managed to overtake Giancarlo Fisichella’s Ferrari further around the first lap and then outbraked Robert Kubica’s BMW at the chicane on lap three.

The championship leader was then stuck behind the battling Mercedes-powered pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Adrian Sutil. Jenson needed to get by as soon as possible or risk losing ground to the top eight.

Fortunately for Button, the McLaren and the Force India ahead tangled at the chicane on lap 13 as Kovalainen tried to fight back on the exit after losing the place under braking.

While Sutil spun and Kovalainen lost momentum, Button cruised through to eighth – and the race continued to unfold in his favour through the middle stint. Rather than managing to jump Raikkonen and challenge for a podium, Barrichello stayed behind the Ferrari in the first stops and then lost ground on his second set of tyres, falling 15 seconds behind Raikkonen.

The threat from the fast-closing Kubica behind was then neutralised when Heidfeld emerged from his final stop right in front of his team-mate, and by the time Kubica had got ahead after several laps of frantic efforts, he was too far adrift to steal the point from the Brawn.

Up front, Vettel controlled the race with ease, while Hamilton looked to be secure in second, 2 to 3 seconds clear of Trulli, until the Toyota ran two laps further at the second stops and jumped ahead to claim the runner-up spot.

Raikkonen charged up behind Heidfeld in the middle of the race and then vaulted the BMW Sauber for fourth in the pits, with Nico Rosberg then pushing his countryman back to sixth by running very long in his second stint.

A huge crash for Jaime Alguersuari brought out the safety car with nine laps to go. The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver lost control of his car at the exit of 130R and slammed into the barriers at scarcely diminished speed. He climbed from the car unaided but was taken away on a stretcher for medical checks. His team-mate Sebastien Buemi retired early with a clutch problem.

The appearance of the safety car allowed Nico Rosberg to stay ahead of both Brawns with his last pit stop. After the race Button claimed Rosberg had gained four seconds under the safety car, allowing him to stay ahead. If Rosberg got a standard 25-second penalty, it would give Brawn two more points and make them constructors’ champions.

Vettel stormed away with ease in the final four-lap sprint, with Trulli safe in second as Hamilton held off Raikkonen despite KERS malfunctions.

All eyes were on the championship contenders as Button mounted a final attack on Barrichello, but then Jenson was under huge pressure from Kubica instead. The Polish driver tried several attempts to get by but it did not pay off, and Button was able to take the remaining point with eighth.

Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to come through from the back of the grid to tenth for Renault, ahead of Kovalainen and Fisichella, who had a dramatic moment after their final pit stops. The Ferrari jumped ahead in the pits but the McLaren retaliated with a bold wheel-banging move into the first corner.

While Vettel dominated, Mark Webber’s bad luck continued and after making three early pit stops – two to secure a loose headrest, and the third to attend to a puncture. Fastest lap showed what might have been for the Red Bull driver.

Vettel’s stunning victory aside, the German’s hopes of winning the title may appear slim, especially given his engine situation, but Sebastian knows how Kimi Raikkonen won the title back in 2007 and will remember that anything is possible in Formula One.

Race results from the Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. 67 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      1h28:20.443
2.  Trulli        Toyota                +4.877
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      +6.472
4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               +7.940
5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       +8.793
6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            +9.509
7.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        +10.641
8.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        +11.474
9.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            +11.777
10. Alonso        Renault              +13.065
11. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     +13.735
12. Fisichella    Ferrari              +14.596
13. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes +14.959
14. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes +15.734
15. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      +17.973
16. Grosjean      Renault              +1 lap
17. Webber        Red Bull-Renault     +2 laps

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:32.569

Not classified/retirements:

Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    58 laps
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    26 laps
Glock         Toyota                15 laps

World Championship standings, round 15:

Drivers:

1.  Button        85
2.  Barrichello   71
3.  Vettel        69
4.  Webber        51.5
5.  Raikkonen     45
6.  Hamilton      43
7.  Rosberg       34.5
8.  Trulli        30.5
9.  Alonso        26
10. Glock         24
11. Kovalainen    22
12. Massa         22
13. Heidfeld      15
14. Kubica         9
15. Fisichella     8
16. Sutil          5
17. Buemi          3
18. Bourdais       2

Constructors:

1.  Brawn-Mercedes        156
2.  Red Bull-Renault      120.5
3.  Ferrari                67
4.  McLaren-Mercedes       65
5.  Toyota                 54.5
6.  Williams-Toyota        34.5
7.  Renault                26
8.  BMW Sauber             24
9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari     5

Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos. October 16-18.

Sebastian Vettel took his fourth pole position this season in a chaotic Suzuka qualifying session that was interrupted by three red flags for massive crashes, one of which has left Timo Glock injured.

The Red Bull Racing driver dominated the all-important Q3 session by setting the quickest time in all three segments around the challenging 3.62-mile race track. Vettel stopped the clocks at one minute, 32.160 seconds to earn his first pole since Silverstone, beating Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton in the process.

As for the championship contenders at the Brawn GP team, Rubens Barrichello has outqualified his team-mate Jenson Button with fifth and seventh respectively. However the pair could possibly face penalties after setting their best Q2 times while yellow flags were out.

The first two red flags occurred in Q2 when Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari crashed head-on into the tyre barriers after running wide at the tricky Degner corner.

The Spaniard was assisted out of his broken car by track marshals and after a check-up with the Formula One medical team he is cleared to race.

Toyota’s Timo Glock had a far larger shunt when accelerating out of the Casino Triangle chicane. The German seemed to understeered off the turn leading to the pit straight and directly into the tyre barrier.

The medical team carefully extracted Glock, who was conscious and moving in the cockpit, and he was removed from the scene on a stretcher. The German waved to the crowd as he was placed into an ambulance and is being taken to hospital by helicopter with pain in his back and left leg.

The Toyota team will decide on race day morning whether Glock is available to take part in the Japanese Grand Prix. If the German is out of action following this incident, Toyota will consider the use of Kamui Kobayashi.

The Japanese driver has already replaced Glock in Friday’s wet practice sessions, when the German was feeling unwell. However, under the current Formula One regulations, Kobayashi would not be allowed to race unless he gets special dispensation from the sport’s governing body, the FIA. If not, then the sole remaining Toyota of Jarno Trulli will represent the team in its home Grand Prix.

With the red flags having interrupted most drivers’ preparation for quick laps in Q2, there was a last minute sprint to get through into Q3. In that rush, Sebastien Buemi crashed on the exit of Spoon Curve and deposited his Toro Rosso’s front wing and other carbon fibre debris in the middle of the track as he limited back to the pits.

Yellow flags were waved at this section of the circuit, and yet both Barrichello and Button set their fastest sector times to make it through into the top-ten shootout. Renault’s Fernando Alonso obeyed the warning by backing off (but had to overtake the slow Buemi even though overtaking is not allowed under yellow flags). The double world champion will start in a disappointing P12, with Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) also knocked out.

That Spoon Curve incident was Buemi’s second accident in qualifying, as he had already spun backwards into the Degner tyre wall in Q1. Luckily, he was able to return back to the pits and after fitting a new rear wing on his Toro Rosso, he was able to record a lap to go through into Q2. But in a bid to improve his time, the Swiss pushed too hard and it was trip into the barriers.

The third red flag came out in Q3 when McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen crashed at that demanding Degner Curve. The Finn had earlier spun at the tricky turn in Q1 without hitting anything. Unfortunately, the next time through on his first flying lap in Q3, he spun and hit the outside barrier. The Finn escaped unhurt but will join fellow shunt specialist Buemi on row five on the grid.

Why was so many drivers flying off the track and crashing? The reason could be down to two big factors. The first is the limited running on the dry track, no thanks to a complete washout in Friday’s practice sessions. The second is that the drivers were taking more risks in a bid to set competitive lap times. Combining these two factors has resulted in a messy qualifying session with drivers pushing a bit too far in a car that hasn’t been properly set up for the figure of eight race circuit.

Anyway, back to Q3 at Suzuka. With Kovalainen’s damaged car moved away, the session finally proceeded without any further drama to the chequered flag, with Vettel securing his pole position with just one flying lap.

His Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber missed out on the whole session after a crash in final free practice. Where did the Australian go off? Yes, it was that corner again… The team was unable to repair his RB5 so Webber will start the Japanese Grand Prix at the back of the grid in a new chassis.

Behind Trulli and Singapore Grand Prix winner Hamilton, Force India’s Adrian Sutil grabbed fourth spot with BMW’s Nick Heidfeld splitting the Brawns in sixth position.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen lines up eighth while team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella was within half a second of his team-mate’s pace in Q1, but that left him back in P16. It was a similar story for home driver Kazuki Nakajima, who only managed P17 for Williams.

Renault’s Romain Grosjean and the Force India of Tonio Liuzzi were the other Q1 departures, with the latter set to take a gearbox change penalty, along with Webber.

UPDATE: Revised line-up following penalties for five drivers for not backing off during a yellow flag period in Q2.

Qualifying times from Suzuka:

1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       1:32.160
2.  Trulli       Toyota                 1:32.220
3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1:32.395
4.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber             1:32.945
5.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                1:32.980
6. Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       1:31.482
7. Kubica       BMW-Sauber            1:32.341
8.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   1:32.466*
9.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes         1:32.660*
10. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:31.571
11.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes         1:32.962*
12. Fisichella   Ferrari               1:31.704
13. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes       1:31.223**
14. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:31.103*
15. Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       1:31.718
16. Grosjean     Renault               1:32.073
17. Alonso       Renault               1:31.638*
18. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  1:32.087**
19. Glock        Toyota                1:31.550***
20. Webber       Red Bull-Renault      No time***

* Five-place grid penalty
** Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox
*** Will use new chassis so will start from the pitlane

The worst kept-secret regarding Fernando Alonso joining the Scuderia has been finally confirmed. The Spaniard will replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari from 2010, signing a new three-year deal.

The double world champion’s move from Renault has been anticipated for many months, and will see him paired with Felipe Massa in the Italian race team.

“We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two world championships in his career to date,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.

Alonso’s arrival means Raikkonen is likely to make a return to his former team McLaren with Lewis Hamilton as his new team-mate next season.

The Finn delivered the world championship for the Scuderia in his first season with the team back in 2007, but his results have declined since and he will leave the squad a year before his contract had been set to expire.

“Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari,” said Domenicali. “In his first year with us, he managed to win the drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008.

“Even during a difficult season like this one, he has demonstrated his great talent, with several good results, including a great win in Spa and we are sure that we can share more good times together in the final three races of this season.”

Raikkonen underlined that his departure from Ferrari had been by mutual consent.

“With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule,” he said.

“I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races.

“Together, we have won 50 per cent of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career. I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team.”

Alonso’s confirmation at Ferrari will trigger off a series of driver announcements over the coming days for the 2010 season.

Lewis Hamilton took his second Grand Prix victory of the season with a faultless display of racing under the lights at Singapore. Toyota’s Timo Glock finished in an impressive second with last year’s winner Fernando Alonso third for Renault.

As for Sebastian Vettel, who had the opportunity to challenge the race win with Hamilton, the Red Bull driver was disappointed to come home in fourth. That penalty in which he was caught speeding in the pitlane and that moment on the kerbs, which damaged his double diffuser while chasing the leading McLaren, means the German is now out of contention for the championship.

Jenson Button was able to recover from his mid-field starting position to record a fifth place finish, which is crucial as the season reaches its conclusion. Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello struggled with brake wear and could only manage sixth.

By finishing in fifth, Jenson extends his lead in the drivers’ standings ahead of Rubens by 15 points. With only three races left, the Brawn GP driver is looking odds on in taking that elusive title.

In fact, Jenson Button could actually win the drivers’ title in the following race at Suzuka in a week’s time if he takes five more off Barrichello.

Heikki Kovalainen came home seventh for McLaren with Robert Kubica taking the remaining point finish for BMW Sauber.

It was a frustrating race for Nico Rosberg, who made a great start on the opening lap to pass Vettel, but that moment leaving the pitlane after his first stop, in which the Williams driver ran off the track meant he had to serve a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line. Without that, Rosberg would have achieved a solid result for Williams at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The same can be said to the Red Bull-sponsored teams with both Toro Rosso out on the same lap with separate mechanical problems while Mark Webber crashed at Turn 1 with brake problems 15 laps from the chequered flag. Only Vettel was able to record a points finish with fourth. Though the margin of 25 points behind championship leader Button means Vettel’s chances to overhaul his title rival is now over.

Ferrari had an anonymous race, with Kimi Raikkonen chasing Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) home in P10 ahead of the delayed Rosberg, and Giancarlo Fisichella P13 after a race-long duel with his Force India replacement Tonio Liuzzi.

While Glock achieved his best-ever result with a podium finish, his Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli compounded his poor qualifying with a poor start and only finished P12.

The second running of Formula One’s night-race at Marina Bay didn’t deliver in terms of on-track action bar drive-through penalties and a safety car period when Adrian Sutil colliding into Nick Heidfeld after a desperate bid to pass Jaime Alguersuari.

But in terms of the championship, for both the drivers’ and constructors’, this race has played a significant pact. Suzuka is the next event in this dramatic season of Formula One racing. Will we see Jenson Button crown champion next Sunday? Following this great recovery drive, he is the favourite to take the honour over current champion Lewis Hamilton, the winner of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Singapore Grand Prix race results, 61 laps:

1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1h56:06.337
2.  Glock         Toyota                +9.634
3.  Alonso        Renault               +16.624
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      +20.261
5.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        +30.015
6.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        +31.858
7.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      +36.157
8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            +55.054
9.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       +56.054
10. Raikkonen     Ferrari               +58.892
11. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       +59.777
12. Trulli        Toyota                +1:13.009
13. Fisichella    Ferrari               +1:19.890
14. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  +1:33.502

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:48.240

Not classified/retirements:

Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    48 laps
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    48 laps
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      46 laps
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  24 laps
Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            20 laps
Grosjean      Renault               4 laps

World Championship standings, round 14:

Drivers:
1.  Button        84
2.  Barrichello   69
3.  Vettel        59
4.  Webber        51.5
5.  Raikkonen     40
6.  Hamilton      37
7.  Rosberg       30.5
8.  Alonso        26
9.  Glock         24
10. Trulli        22.5
11. Kovalainen    22
12. Massa         22
13. Heidfeld      12
14. Kubica         9
15. Fisichella     8
16. Sutil          5
17. Buemi          3
18. Bourdais       2

Constructors:
1.  Brawn-Mercedes        153
2.  Red Bull-Renault      110.5
3.  Ferrari                62
4.  McLaren-Mercedes       59
5.  Toyota                 46.5
6.  Williams-Toyota        30.5
7.  Renault                26
8.  BMW Sauber             21
9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10. Toro Rosso-Ferrari      5

Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. October 2-4.

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton took his third pole position of the season in Singapore, as title contender Rubens Barrichello brought an early end to qualifying following a crash.

The Brawn GP driver, who had a gearbox change before the session, held fifth on the provisional grid before shunting heavily against the barriers at turn five. With the penalty applied, the Brazilian will start the Singapore Grand Prix in tenth, just two places ahead of his team-mate Jenson Button.

Series leader Button seemed to be struggling with a lack of balance in the BGP-001, with understeer his main complaint. To qualify outside the top ten at this crucial point of the season was not ideal and it will be interesting if he can avoid trouble on the opening laps following this low grid position. The last time Button started a race in the mid-field resulted in a retirement at Spa-Francorchamps.

Sebastian Vettel kept his and Red Bull Racing’s title hopes alive as he joined Hamilton on the front row. The German will be particular encouraged as his title rivals from the Brawn squad could only manage P10 and P12 on the grid.

Nico Rosberg achieved his career-best qualifying result with third for Williams. He even set the quickest lap time of the weekend around the demanding 3.148-mile street circuit with one minute, 46.197 seconds – which was set in Q2.

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber completes the second row, with last year’s winner Fernando Alonso fifth for Renault followed by the Toyota of Timo Glock.

The BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica take up row four, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren.

As for Ferrari, the team predicted it will be a difficult weekend and so it proved as Kimi Raikkonen could only manage P13 while Giancarlo Fisichella continues to struggle with P18 the best he could achieve. This result marked the first time all season that the Scuderia had failed to get into the top ten.

Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) were both a long way off their respective team-mates and ended up P11 and P15 respectively.

The return to a high downforce circuit meant the end of the fairytale for Force India. After recent front row performances, the team had to settle for P16 and P20 for Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi.

Sebastien Buemi was the only one of the three rookies to get into Q2, taking a solid P14. His Toro Rosso team-mate Jaime Alguersuari will start three places behind, while Romain Grosjean’s troubled weekend continues with issues over his brakes. The Renault driver will start his first night-time Grand Prix in a disappointing P19.

Qualifying times from Singapore:

1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      1:47.891
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      1:48.204
3.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       1:48.348
4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      1:48.722
5.  Alonso       Renault               1:49.054
6.  Glock        Toyota                1:49.180
7.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            1:49.307
8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            1:49.514
9.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      1:49.778
10  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        1:48.828*
11. Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       1:47.013
12. Button       Brawn-Mercedes        1:47.141
13. Raikkonen    Ferrari               1:47.177
14. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:47.369
15. Trulli       Toyota                1:47.413
16. Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1:48.231
17. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:48.340
18. Fisichella   Ferrari               1:48.350
19. Grosjean     Renault               1:48.544
20. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  1:48.792

*Five-place grid penalty after changing a gearbox

The Renault F1 team has announced that managing director Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds have parted company with the team and that it will “not dispute” the allegations of race-fixing when it appears before the World Motor Sport Council on September 21.

The team had been accused of asking racing driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash deliberately during last year’s Singapore Grand Prix in order to cause a safety car period that would work to his team-mate Fernando Alonso’s advantage. The Spaniard went on to win the race.

Renault were due to appear before the World Motor Sport Council next week to discuss what penalties should be imposed on the team as a result of the crash.

In the press statement, the team said:

“The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.”

“It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.

“Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment.”

This surprising turn of events has left question marks about the future involvement of the manufacturer. With Briatore and Symonds out, will the team even take part in the remaining four races of this season or quit with immediate effect?

The CEO and president of Renault Carlos Ghosn had earlier told L’Equipe that the parent company would not react “in hot blood” to the allegations that were made against the Formula One team. “Above all we don’t want to make a premature judgment one way or the other,” he said.

The FIA had charged Renault with “conspiring with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso.”

Following the crash, which took place on a part of the circuit where no cranes were available to lift Piquet’s car over the barriers, the safety car was deployed. Alonso was the only driver to have pitted before the incident, and consequently he emerged in the lead after the rest of the field refuelled after the safety car came out.

Alonso went on to take the chequered flag at Formula One’s first night race – his first after rejoining the team following a season with McLaren in 2007 – and at a time when Renault were considering quitting the sport because of the huge expense involved at a time when domestic car markets were struggling.