Button wins, Vettel is World Champion

Jenson Button won Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

Third place was still enough for Vettel to seal his second title. The German thus becomes the youngest ever double World Champion and was highly emotional as he made his way on the podium.

Mark Webber finished fourth ahead of Hamilton, Schumacher and Massa. Pérez, Petrov and Rosberg scored points.

How the race unfolded :

As it often happens, the McLarens took a better start than polesitter Sebastian Vettel. Button challenged him strongly on the run down to the first corner and the Red Bull driver had to defend rather aggressively to hold on to the lead. His move helped Hamilton past Button at Turn 1.

Massa was still in third place ahead of teammate Alonso and Red Bull’s Webber.

Being under investigation from the stewards, Vettel set a fast pace at the front to pull away from his pursuers. At the other end of the field, Liuzzi had an off but managed to rejoin the track. On lap 8, race control informed no further action would be taken regarding the incident between Vettel and Button at the start.

The pace of the frontrunners started to fade away as their soft tyres suffered around Suzuka. Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 9 with a slow puncture. Sutil came in too. The Briton rejoined in P11. Vettel pitted from the lead at the conclusion on this lap. Schumacher followed suit. The Red Bull driver came out in 6th place.

Temporary leader Button stopped on lap 10, as well as Alonso, Webber, di Resta and Kobayashi. Massa was now in the lead, with Vettel up to 2nd, Button 3rd, Alonso 4th and Hamilton 5th. The Brazilian soon pitted too, handing back the lead to Vettel.

Buemi’s race came to an end on lap 13, with a loose right front wheel. The Swiss had just come out of the pits.

On lap 16, a tussle for 4th place was developing between Hamilton, Massa and Webber. The McLaren driver was slower than his rivals who rapidly closed in. The Australian dropped some time on lap 17, while Massa was getting closer to Hamilton.

At the front, Button was quicker than Vettel and was trimming down his lead when the German pitted for the second time. His teammate Webber came in seconds later. They rejoined in 5th and 6th place respectively.

Button came in next time round and rejoined right in front of Vettel. Alonso and Hamilton were next to stop for fresh tyres. Massa pitted from the lead on lap 22. Button was the new race leader and had a better pace on the softer tyre option than Vettel. His efforts to shake the German off were cut short by the deployment of the Safety Car. There were debris to be cleared at Turns 7 and 16.

Several drivers took the opportunity to pit. Meanwhile, the stewards decided to have a look at the incident having involved Massa and Hamilton a few laps earlier. They took no further action.

The race resumed on lap 28. Button sprinted away at the front. Vettel held on to 2nd while 3rd-placed Alonso came under pressure from Webber. He managed to up his pace slightly, just enough to keep him at bay.

Vettel pitted for medium tyres on lap 34 and rejoined in 11th place. Webber came in shortly afterwards.

Hamilton dived in the pitlane on lap 35, so as di Resta. Button and Massa stopped on lap 37. It was Alonso’s turn one lap later. Michael Schumacher was now the race leader.

The Mercedes driver was leading from Button, Alonso and Vettel. He pitted on lap 41, relinquishing the lead to Button. Behind the Briton, Alonso was being given a hard time by Vettel who was looking for a way past the Ferrari. The Spaniard defended well and was further helped by backmarkers as Vettel dropped one second behind.

Both of them were faster than Button whose lead was reduced to 2 seconds. On lap 48, both Red Bull drivers were told to take no risks in the closing stages of the race. They duly obliged.

Alonso, meanwhile, kept pushing, which prompted a reaction from Button. The McLaren driver upped his pace to extend his lead back to 1.2s with just two laps remaining.

It was now done and dusted and Button went on to win the race ahead of Alonso. Third place sealed the title for Vettel. Webber came home in fourth place. Hamilton was fifth, Schumacher sixth and Massa seventh.