Sebastian Vettel finished the Suzuka Grand Prix in 3rd place, conforming his world championship for the second time, on Sunday 9th of October 2011. The race witnessed the on-form Jenson Button who drove a splendid race to his first dry Mclaren victory, with Fernando Alonso in close second.
Prior to the race, Vettel only need to finish in 10th place, i.e obtaining one point to confirm his driver championship. However, the Red Bull ace never actually complacent about that. He went to set Suzuka on fire and stormed to pole position. Behind him, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the top three.
At the start, Vettel hold the lead after aggressively hold the fast-starter Button, squeezing him right to the grass, while Hamilton capitalize on that and snatched second place after the first turn. The race also observed the continuity of Hamilton vs Massa episode, with the former apparently touched Massa car on the run to the last corner. The bits fallen off Massa's car triggered the safety car. More after the jump.
Both Button and Alonso jumped Vettel at the pit stop. In the closing stage of the race, Vettel did try to attack Fenando, which the Spaniard give no inch of spare track space, swerving to break the DRS and tow on start-finish straight. He is visibly aggressive and state his intent very clearly that he is defending. Vettel was then advised to chill by his team and take no more risk with Alonso.
The top three remained in that order to the flag, and by finishing third, Vettel gain enough points to give him unassailable lead in the driver championship. The world hailed the youngest double, back to back F1 world champion! Well done Sebastian!
Full result as below:
Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Grid | Pts |
1 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | Winner | 2 | 25 |
2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 53 | +1.1 secs | 5 | 18 |
3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 53 | +2.0 secs | 1 | 15 |
4 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 53 | +8.0 secs | 6 | 12 |
5 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | +24.2 secs | 3 | 10 |
6 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 53 | +27.1 secs | 8 | 8 |
7 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 53 | +28.2 secs | 4 | 6 |
8 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | +39.3 secs | 17 | 4 |
9 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault F1 | 53 | +42.6 secs | 10 | 2 |
10 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 53 | +44.3 secs | 23 | 1 |
11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 53 | +54.4 secs | 11 | |
12 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 53 | +62.3 secs | 12 | |
13 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | +63.7 secs | 7 | |
14 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 53 | +64.1 secs | 14 | |
15 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 53 | +66.6 secs | 16 | |
16 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault F1 | 53 | +72.6 secs | 9 | |
17 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 53 | +74.1 secs | 13 | |
18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 53 | +87.8 secs | 18 | |
19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 53 | +96.1 secs | 19 | |
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 51 | +2 Laps | 21 | |
21 | 25 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 51 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
22 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 51 | +2 Laps | 22 | |
23 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 50 | +3 Laps | 24 | |
Ret | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 11 | +42 Laps | 15 |