Japanese Grand Prix: Webber pushes to the max!

The end of the Japanese Grand Prix was a bit of an anti-climax, in the closing few laps, simply because neutral fans were denied a fight between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The redeeming factor in preventing Webber from snatching the win back from Vettel, was a fellow by the name of Romain Grosjean. Grosjean showed a level of maturity and competency that we have not really seen from him before. On the podium he choked up a little, when interviewed by Eddie Jordan, and it was a fascinating display of how much success means to the young man. The old hand, Mark Webber, was a little disappointing and disappointed, in equal measure. Yelling at the TV screen, did very little to help Webber pass Grosjean at his first and most ideal opportunity, a pass that would almost certainly have seen him then racing with Vettel.

Vettel appears to simply get better and better. As the race began, he found himself squeezed and hampered by both Grosjean and Hamilton and was lucky to come out of it in third place. Hamilton was less fortunate, as he clipped his right rear tyre on Vettel's front wing and was victim to an instant puncture. The puncture all but ended his race and when he detected further damage he was forced to retire his Mercedes. Vettel played a game that many would have felt he was incapable of, protecting his tyres and saving his engine. He has become renowned for his habit of pushing hard when the team is telling him to ease off. However, in a race that quickly became a two stopper for the German, he had to preserve the car and did it perfectly.

Once again, the racing in the middle of the field was intense. Race cars chopping and dicing for positions, with tyres bouncing off each other on the exits of corners. DRS didn't seem to have too much impact on the race and it allowed some of the real quality to shine through. Nico Hulkenberg had yet another fantastic race, whilst the two McLaren drivers found themselves well down the order again. With only four races to go, despite Seb looking certain for the title now, its fair to say that the racing, further back down the order, will just get more exciting.

The Result:

	Driver	Car	Team	Grid	Fastest Lap	Race Time	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	1	Red Bull	2	1:35.317	1:26:49.301	25
2	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull	1	1:34.587	+00:07.129	18
3	Romain Grosjean	8	Lotus	4	1:35.991	+00:09.910	15
4	Fernando Alonso	3	Ferrari	8	1:35.877	+00:45.605	12
5	Kimi Raikkonen	7	Lotus	9	1:35.516	+00:47.325	10
6	Nico Hulkenberg	11	Sauber	7	1:36.482	+00:51.615	8
7	Esteban Gutierrez	12	Sauber	14	1:36.499	+01:11.630	6
8	Nico Rosberg	9	Mercedes	6	1:34.650	+01:12.023	4
9	Jenson Button	5	McLaren	10	1:35.549	+01:20.821	2
10	Felipe Massa	4	Ferrari	5	1:37.001	+01:29.263	1
11	Paul Di Resta	14	Force India	12	1:37.407	+01:38.572	0
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	18	Toro Rosso	17	1:35.895	lapped	0
13	Daniel Ricciardo	19	Toro Rosso	16	1:35.020	lapped	0
14	Adrian Sutil	15	Force India	22	1:37.367	lapped	0
15	Sergio Perez	6	McLaren	11	1:35.845	lapped	0
16	Pastor Maldonado	16	Williams	15	1:37.423	lapped	0
17	Valtteri Bottas	17	Williams	13	1:37.856	lapped	0
18	Charles Pic	20	Caterham	20	1:37.489	lapped	0
19	Max Chilton	23	Marussia	18	1:38.713	lapped	0
20	Lewis Hamilton	10	Mercedes	3	1:41.202	retired, 7 laps	0
21	Giedo van der Garde	21	Caterham	19	No time	retired, 0 laps	0
22	Jules Bianchi	22	Marussia	21	No time	retired, 0 laps	0

Kamui does it for Japan!!

Well the story of the day had to be Kamui Kobayashi, who became only the third Japanese driver to ever stand on a Formula One podium. He drove a fantastic race, from third on the grid, to hold third right to the chequered flag. The crowd went crazy, chanting "Kamui! Kamui! Kamui!", as the three podium finishers received their trophies and it felt as though Kobayashi had been the victor as opposed to the young German World Champion.

The Japanese Grand Prix winner, Sebastien Vettel, is really taking the fight to Alonso, chopping Fernando's Championship lead down to only four points. It appears to be coming down to a two horse race, as we approach the conclusion of the season, and with Alonso trying to defend his Championship lead in a slower car and only completing two out of the last four races, it's looking more and more like Vettel might make it three titles in a row.

Grosjean took the controversy headline in Japan. It's an awkward situation when a driver simply appears to be out of his league. Another first lap incident and another one that's been caused solely by Romain Grosjean and, almost the worst thing about it, the incident wasn't malicious. If Romain was causing these collisions with intent, then action could be taken against him and we could all say that he needs to change his attitude. However, it's not an easy task to actually improve your driving skills at the absolute peak of motorsport. It's very difficult to know what to hope for with Grosjean; that he gets banned from the sport? that he gets dropped from the team? but I guess the most favourable outcome would be that he can improve and overcome this period.

The incidents and accidents are ramping up, people making rash moves and irresponsible decisions, as we close in on the final race of this topsy turvy season. With only five races to go, every single point is extremely valuable.