2013 Japanese GP: Sebastian Vettel does it again - but Webber, Grosjean make him work

Sebastian Vettel moved to the brink of his fourth successive world title with yet another victory at the Japanese GP - however his route to a fifth straight win was far removed from recent races as he won a gripping three-way battle at the front.

Kimi Raikkonen also demoted Hulkenberg, the German finishing sixth, but the Finn's fifth place couldn't mask the fact that he finished the best part of 40 seconds behind team-mate Grosjean. Sauber's revitalisation was nonetheless underlined by Esteban Gutierrez producing the drive of his troublesome nascent F1 career to finish behind Hulkenberg in seventh, just ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg who had earlier served a drive-through penalty for an unsafe team pit release. It proved to be a thoroughly forgettable day for Mercedes, who lost ground to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship and slipped back towards Lotus. Hamilton's race was effectively ended before the first corner when, attempting to drive his W04 through a gap between the Red Bulls, innocuously tagged Vettel's frontwing, the contact puncturing his tyre but doing terminal damage to his car's floor. Jenson Button took ninth for McLaren with the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa tenth after a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. JG