At times it seemed that Lotus’s Romain Grosjean or Red Bull’s Mark Webber might emerge victorious from a tactical race in Japan on Sunday, but in the end it was Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel who took his ninth success of the season – and fifth in a row – after a finely judged two-stop race.
Webber’s chances were hampered at the start when both he and Vettel were slow away and Grosjean’s Lotus burst through from fourth on the grid to snatch the lead going into the first corner, but for a while the Australian’s three-stop strategy looked good as he swapped to Pirelli’s medium tyres for his final stint with 11 laps to go. Unfortunately it took him until the 52nd lap to dislodge Grosjean from second place, by which time Vettel was far too far ahead. Formula1.com
Pos | No | Driver | Team |
1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault |
2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault |
3 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault |
4 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
5 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault |
6 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari |
7 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari |
8 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes |
9 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes |
10 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari |
11 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes |
12 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari |
13 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari |
14 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes |
15 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes |
16 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault |
17 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault |
18 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault |
19 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth |
Ret | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
Ret | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault |
Ret | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth |