2010 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

Race

As a consequence of the final result, Webber extended his lead over Alonso to 14 points in the World Drivers' Championship. Vettel's victory promoted him from fourth to third and he had the same number of points as Alonso. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was demoted to fourth as a result of his finishing fifth, and his teammate Button remained in fifth. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull further increased their lead over McLaren to 45 points, with three races remaining in the season. Alonso had won the preceding Italian and Singapore Grand Prix to be eleven points behind Webber and said the season's final four rounds would challenge him mentally believing a top-three result and figuring his championship position in Abu Dhabi was vital. Webber admitted Ferrari's recent form had given them momentum but felt Red Bull would be competitive in Japan, saying they needed to extract performance. His teammate Vettel said he felt he could win the title and noted the importa... Some teams modified their cars for the Grand Prix. Adrian Newey , Red Bull's technical director, moved the RB6 's front brake calipers backwards to a vertical position to prevent mechanical failures associated with the brake discs, pads and pistons moving more. Both Vettel and Webber had two separate diffusers and rear wing specialisations and a revised rear wing featuring a delta shaped beam wing in the centre. Ferrari modified the F10 's diffuser to include a small omega shaped wing on t... A total of 12 constructors and 24 drivers participated with one driver change and a single free practice entrant. Having driven one of its cars at the preceding Singapore Grand Prix, local driver Sakon Yamamoto replaced Christian Klien as partner for Bruno Senna at Hispania Racing . Lucas di Grassi was replaced for the second successive first free practice session by GP2 Series driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio at Virgin Racing to allow the latter to undergo evaluation as a driver. [... When the five red lights went out to begin the Grand Prix, Vettel made a brisk getaway to maintain the lead into the first corner. Behind him, Kubica overtook Webber for second, but he could not challenge Vettel for first into the first turn. Two separate accidents occurring further down the order promoted the safety car's deployment. Petrov made a brisk start but came across the front of Hülkenberg and collided with the corner of the latter's car while trying to pass him. [ ... The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of the sixth lap and racing resumed with Vettel leading his teammate Webber, and Alonso. On lap seven, Rosberg attempted to pass Buemi on the outside into 130R corner but ran wide onto the damp artificial grass and returned to 13th place. His teammate Schumacher overtook Barrichello's hard-to-handle car at the final chicane with some minor contact for sixth position and maintained the place into the first corner. [ ... Pit stops began on lap 19 when Sutil and Heidfeld stopped for hard compound tyres. Newer hard compound tyres were quicker than worn soft tyres dictating the first driver to make a pit stop would gain a significant advantage. While Sutil went fastest overall in the second half of the lap, suggesting newer hard compound tyres had more performance, no leading drivers decided to do pit stops. This was due to there being half the race left and both Red Bull cars were eight seconds ahead ... On lap 24, Schumacher made a pit stop for the hard compound tyres from fifth. He rejoined the track behind his teammate Rosberg in ninth, allowing Red Bull to conduct their own pit stops at a convenient time for them. On lap 25, Vettel and Alonso made their pit stops from first and third, emerging in third and fourth respectively with Webber taking over the lead. Hamilton slipstreamed Kobayashi on the main straight and overtook him on the inside into the... At the conclusion of the 38th lap, Button made his pit stop from the lead for the soft compound tyres. He returned to the track in fifth as Vettel retook the lead and Webber returned to second. Kobayashi made his pit stop from sixth on the same lap and rejoined the race in 12th. Hamilton radioed his team that he could not use third gear due to a possible dog-ring breakage; he had to rely on fourth gear to finish the race. This allowed Hamilton's teammate Button on soft ... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Vettel said achieving a brisk start was key to victory and heralded "an incredible day" for his team: "It was down to the team. They have been working very hard, most of the guys they didn't sleep the Thursday until the Saturday, so it was good there was no qualifying as they didn't have to touch the car and got some sleep. I think they deserve it today." ... Hamilton spoke of his fear, due to the noises he could hear coming from his gearbox, that he would not finish the event, but said he was satisfied to finish and remained optimistic about his title chances: "There are still three races to go and 75 points available, so we'll remain optimistic and keep doing the best job we can. I'll keep fighting." His teammate Button believed other drivers would struggle on the soft compound tyres and would need to review the data to determine why he rema... The FIA stewards investigated both of the first lap collisions. They deemed Petrov responsible for causing the accident with Hülkenberg and imposed a five-place grid penalty on him for the following Korean Grand Prix . The stewards decided the collision between Liuzzi and Massa was "a racing incident". Massa commented on the moments before colliding with Liuzzi: "I saw that Sutil was on the left so when I saw him I tried to go to the right, because Rosberg was going to the l... The final result of the Grand Prix meant Webber with 220 points extended his lead over Alonso in the World Drivers' Championship to 14 points with his teammate Vettel moving from fourth to third to tie Alonso with 206 points. [ d ] As a result of his finishing fifth, Hamilton with 192 points was demoted from third to fourth and his teammate Button with 189 points remained in fifth. Red Bull further increased their World Constructors' Championship gap over McLaren in second by 45 points. Fe... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Practice

Wet weather arrived at the circuit early in the morning of 9 October; the rain got heavier before the final practice session began and worsened throughout the session, causing low visibility. The safety car was used to assess the track conditions prior to the session's commencement. Due to rivers running across multiple turns and puddles causing aquaplaning , teams were reluctant to send drivers onto the circuit and two competitors set lap times. Toro Rosso 's Jaime A...

Qualifying

Vettel took his eighth pole position of the season and the 13th of his career. He set a lap of 1 minute, 30.792 seconds that he subsequently improved by seven-thousandths of a second by not slowing through the first corner. Vettel was joined on the grid 's front row by Webber who was 0.078 seconds slower than his teammate after losing time in the final third of the lap. Hamilton qualified in provisional third place by being faster than both Red Bull drivers for ... Heidfeld in 11th used the soft compound tyres but was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten since Schumacher's final lap in the second session prevented him from advancing to the final session. 12th-placed Massa could not qualify higher due to slower cars impeding him and causing him to make an error at Casio Triangle turn during his first timed lap. Petrov in 13th was 1.2 seconds slower than teammate Kubica, with Kobayashi looking set to advance to the... The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold .