Results from yesterday’s exciting and highly tactical Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka below the fold…

Overcoming Fierce Challenges from Webber and Grosjean, Vettel Wins Again in Japan

Despite being blown off the line by Lotus-Renault’s Romain Grosjean and despite the seemingly faster pace of teammate Mark Webber’s chassis, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel found a way to come out on top at Suzuka and win his astonishing fifth consecutive Grand Prix. While the conspiracy-minded had plenty to chew over after the race as to whether the team had intentionally scotched Webber’s race with an extra pit stop for tires, the fact remains that the German wunderkind has all but wrapped up his 4th consecutive Drivers’ World Championship at the age of 26. With four more races remaining, Vettel leads his closest pursuer, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, by an all but unsurpassable 90 points.

Webber’s third stop for tires while he was leading meant he came out behind both Grosjean and Vettel. Passing Grosjean proved too lengthy a proposition so that even when he did get by the very quick Frenchman on fresher tires, there was not enough time left in the race to catch up to his teammate. While NBCSN’s commentating team of David Hobbs and Steve Matchett speculated that Webber should have ignored the team’s request to pit and fought out the remainder of the race on older tires, mutiny never seemed to enter the Aussie’s mind. While he did say he was surprised that the team switched him to a 3-stopper while Vettel remained on a 2-stop, he did not accuse the Red Bull brass of anything nefarious or mention that he considered defying the team’s orders to pit. And so Webber had to settle for a very strong second place and hope that the opportunity for a final F1 victory presents itself in these last few races of his career at this level.

Lotus’s Grosjean led the early part of the race and was genuinely fast and a threat to the Red Bulls. Eventually his tires gave out and Webber overtook him late but he was still well ahead of his teammate Kimi Räikkönen, finishing 3rd to the Finn’s 5th. This was Grosjean’s second consecutive 3rd place finish and fourth podium of the season, seeming to solidify his position as Lotus’s team leader in 2014 once Räikkönen departs for Ferrari. It also meant that all three cars on the podium were powered by Renault.

Other notables: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous race when, as he was shooting by Vettel at the start, the Red Bull driver’s front left wing nicked the Mercedes’ left rear tire causing an instant puncture entering into Turn 1. Hamilton therefore had to drive slowly around the entirety of Suzuka to get back to the pits with the resulting delaminating tire whipping his chassis and ruining the floor and other aero components. He retired a few laps later with an undrivable car and nothing at all to show for the race weekend. His teammate Nico Rosberg also had an eventful race with a drive through penalty for speeding on pit lane that put him deep in the pack. But he managed to drive tenaciously after the setback regaining several places and finishing a decent 8th.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso kept his championship hopes on life support by finishing 4th, over 35 seconds adrift of Grosjean, while Massa salvaged a point at 10th. After the race it was revealed that Massa had defied team orders (which are ostensibly illegal anyway) by not stepping aside for Alonso earlier in the race. As Massa is headed out the door at season’s end, nobody including Ferrari themselves was particularly surprised or upset at the little Brazilian’s show of pride.

Sauber continued its late season surge as Nico Hulkenburg had another strong run and finished 6th. This time he was joined in the top 10 by his rookie teammate, Esteban Gutierrez, with the young Mexican directly behind the German ace in 7th and scoring his first-ever Championship points. For the cash-strapped Sauber team, the last several strong race results have been a godsend, catapulting them past Scuderia Torro Rosso for 7th position in the incredibly lucrative Constructors’ Championship. McLaren’s Jensen Button rounded out the top 10 with a 9th place finish, salvaging something after a poor pre-race decision to take downforce off the car made the McLaren even worse than usual in the early going.

Top 10 finishers at Suzuka here:

Full results here at Formula1.com

The next race weekend will be October 25-27 for the Indian Grand Prix, giving the teams two weeks to do what they have only rarely been able to do all season: stop Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull from kicking their asses. Good luck with that.