With just two weeks to go until the wraps come off the new cars from the challengers for the championship, attention is building on what kind of season we will have and how close the racing will be.

Mateschitz went on to say in the same interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, that he thinks the closest challenger this year will be McLaren, then Ferrari and then Mercedes. Before any of the cars turns a wheel that is also my assessment of what lies in store. If that is the case then Vettel’s superiority over his team mate may be a crucial factor in the battle with the two McLaren drivers, who are likely to take wins and points off each other. I’d also expect Lewis Hamilton to shake off the malaise that affected him last season and be on top of his game again.

Fernando Alonso enjoys an even greater superiority over his Ferrari team mate and is very clearly the Scuderia’s favoured runner in any tight situation.

In a close title fight these could prove the decisive factors. And I expect a closer title fight with car development again a crucial factor throughout the long season.

Red Bull ended the 2011 season in very strong form with a 1-2 finish in Brazil and there is every reason to expect them to pick up in Melbourne where they left off, despite the banning of the exhaust blown diffusers on which they led the way in collaboration with Renault.

But Mateschitz choosing this moment to suggest that Vettel has taken his training and preparation to a new level in anticipation of the new season is interesting.

Vettel is young and, despite saturation levels of success in the last 36 months, he’s still hungry. That’s one key message here. Another is that he still has more development and maturity to come as a driver.

The success in 2011 was all about the team reaching the highest levels in all areas; design, development, operations, strategy, tyre management, crisis management and above all driving.

Keeping the momentum of a large organisation going at such an extremely high level is very hard, especially when winning becomes a habit and your well funded rivals are gunning for you. But the inspiration comes from the man who holds the steering wheel, the rest of the team follows.

At this early stage I’d suggest that Vettel starts favourite and will step up another gear in 2012, both in terms of driving and team leadership in search of the third world title that would put him among the greats like Senna, Prost, Schumacher and Stewart in the record books, even if many fans still deny that he merits that status.

He’s the man to beat.

It was a scintillating lap by Vettel, only a tenth faster than team mate Mark Webber, but a perfect summing up of the season in many ways, as the German put everything together in one lap. The Red Bull’s prowess in the middle sector was the decisive factor in keeping them ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, who edged out team mate Hamilton with a very strong performance.

“These number are made for ever. I said to myself going into qualifying that I must get everything out of the car. It’s all about putting everything into one lap. Fortunately we had some great Saturdays and this feeling now is very special,” Vettel said.

Vettel acknowledged that he beat Mansell’s record with three more races in the season,
but it still clearly means a lot to him.

Rain showers had been forecast, but as the qualifying hour got underway the track was dry and the ambient temperature was high, but the wind was increasing in force.

Nevertheless everyone went out early to get a lap in as the weather was hard to predict.

Rubens Barrichello did a fantastic lap to get into Q2 half a second ahead of team mate Maldonado who was eliminated along with the new teams. Heikki Kovalainen was only 4/10ths of a second slower than the Williams, the best of the season, thanks to the new rear wing.

Meanwhile the HRT cars both outqualified the Virgin cars, Liuzzi ahead of Ricciardo for the first time since Korea.

In Q2 Paul Di Resta failed to make the most of a quick Force India car, ending up 11th three tenths behind team mate Sutil as he has been all weekend. “I really struggled. We have a top speed issue which gave away some lap time to the opposition,” he said.

Barrichello did an excellent job to get the Williams up to 12th when their expectation had been that they’d be in lower reaches of Q2. “The people pushed, I used the power of the people,” said a delighted Brazilian.

Bruno Senna did a great job to get his Renault into the top ten.

In Q3 Vettel set the pace in the first runs, three tenths ahead of Webber and four tenths up on Button. In his second run he broke through into the 1m 11s, with a perfect lap.

Button edged out Hamilton for the seventh time this season and the younger man was forced to admit he was beaten for pace,

“Jenson was massively quick today,” said Hamilton candidly. “I ended up a couple of tenths away from him, so clearly I could have gone a bit faster, but the fact is that although I didn’t make any mistakes on my best lap I just wasn’t quite quick enough on the day.”

Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos, Qualifying
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m11.918s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m12.099s + 0.181
3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m12.283s + 0.365
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m12.480s + 0.562
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m12.591s + 0.673
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.050s + 1.132
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m13.068s + 1.150
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m13.298s + 1.380
9. Bruno Senna Renault 1m13.761s + 1.843
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes

11. Paul di Resta Force India 1m13.584s + 1.138
12. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m13.801s + 1.355
13. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m13.804s + 1.358
14. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m13.919s + 1.473
15. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m14.053s + 1.607
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m14.129s + 1.683
17. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m14.182s + 1.736

18. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m14.625s + 1.344
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m15.068s + 1.787
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m15.358s + 2.077
21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT 1m16.631s + 3.350
22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT 1m16.890s + 3.609
23. Jerome D’Ambrosio Virgin 1m17.019s + 3.738
24. Timo Glock Virgin 1m17.060s + 3.779

It was Vettel’s 14th pole of the season, equalling Nigel Mansell’s record from 1992 and the 29th of his career.

McLaren had controlled the pace throughout the weekend, but in the final crucial phase they lost out to Vettel, who strung together a perfect lap, with a stronger Sector 1 and Sector 2. It seemed that the McLaren didn’t perform quite as well as the Red Bull when the temperature came down to 28 degrees. In Q2 Hamilton did a best time of 1m38.434s and if he had been able to repeat that in Q3 he would have had pole.

Once again Vettel has geared his car expecting pole position, as he did in Monza and a few other places. So he hits the rev limiter on the straights, but his acceleration out of corners is superior. It makes him vulnerable in the race if another car can get within 1 second of him for DRS activation, but he is confident that he can build a lead in the opening laps to stop that happening.

The final practice session before qualifying had shown that the fastest way to use the tyres was to do a quick lap followed by a slower lap and then push again. The third lap should be 2/10ths faster than the first one.

As the qualifying session started in fading light, the temperature had dropped by ten degrees, so everyone needed to locate the grip and find the fastest way to use the tyres.

They went for the first lap in the end, but the falling temperatures played their part.

“We all feel something (as it cools) you can be surprised either way.” said Vettel. “The front grip is affected, but it’s not the same for all cars, it wasn’t the case for me. As it gets cooler it gets quicker, but then after a break it is hard to read the trends.”

In Q1 Rubens Barrichello’s technical problems continued, sidelined by an engine failure on Friday and and oil leak on Saturday morning he didn’t even get to leave the pits and will start what many feel could be his penultimate Grand Prix in 24th place.

Dan Ricciardo got a career best 21st place ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio and half a second clear of team mate Tonio Liuzzi. He knows this track well having done three days here last year in the Red Bull RB6 during the Young Guns test.

The second session was red flagged when Felipe Massa clouted a kerb very hard and dislodged a bollard, which lay in the middle of the track.

The cut off for the top ten shootout was predicted at 1m 40.5secs and Michael Schumacher was struggling to beat that.

But the Toro Rosso cars underperformed in qualifying with their upgraded car and ended up 13th and 15th. Also eliminated were Petrov, Senna, Kobayashi and Maldonado.

The Venezuelan takes a ten place grid penalty for having to take a ninth engine in the season, which means that the two Williams cars will start at the back of the grid, a very awkward result on a weekend when they are in the spotlight with negotiations with Qatar over a huge sponsorship and the possibility of Kimi Raikkonen coming back with the team.

In Q3 Hamilton controlled the pace, but his second run saw him fall into the clutches of team mate Button who set an almost identical lap time.

Vettel grabbed the initiative and took his 14th career pole.

ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX, Yas Marina, Qualifying
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m38.481s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m38.622s + 0.141
3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m38.631s + 0.150
4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m38.858s + 0.377
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m39.058s + 0.577
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m39.695s + 1.214
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m39.773s + 1.292
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m40.662s + 2.181
9. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m40.768s + 2.287
10. Paul di Resta Force India

11. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m40.874s + 2.440
12. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m40.919s + 2.485
13. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m41.009s + 2.575
14. Bruno Senna Renault 1m41.079s + 2.645
15. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m41.162s + 2.728
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m41.240s + 2.806
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m41.760s + 3.326

18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m42.979s + 3.197
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m43.884s + 4.102
20. Timo Glock Virgin 1m44.515s + 4.733
21. Daniel Ricciardo HRT 1m44.641s + 4.859
22. Jerome D’Ambrosio Virgin 1m44.699s + 4.917
23. Tonio Liuzzi HRT 1m45.159s + 5.377
24. Rubens Barrichello Williams no time

It was his 11th win of the season and the 21st of his career.

It was one of Vettel’s most comfortable wins of the season; he won from pole position, led every lap and set the fastest lap.

“I’m very proud to be the first winner of the Indian Grand Prix,” said the world champion, “It’s a great country, great people, they don’t have much but they are happy and we can learn a lot from them. I find it inspiring.

“Jenson was at some stages very strong today. We were in a comfortable position, always controlling it, but with Jenson in my mirrors we had push to the end. I have mixed emotions with two tragic weekends for everyone who is a fan of motorsport. We have to pay respect to Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli who lost their lives, young and committed race drivers.”

It was one of Vettel’s most perfect wins; covering Button, controlling every phase of the race and taking no chances.

He opened a gap early on over Jenson Button and managed it to the end, making his pit stops calmly and keeping out of reach of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had another strong race after a troubled qualifying session.

Fernando Alonso grabbed the final podium spot, after a race long battle with Mark Webber. Alonso’s mechanics were busy on the grid, fixing a problem on the left side of his front wing, with a retaining screw on the top element.

Three cars started the race on the hard tyre; Perez, Di Resta and Petrov.

At the start Button dived up the inside from P4 on the grid and went past Alonso, he then passed Webber on the long straight for the first time.

Behind them Trulli, Barrichello, Glock and Kobayashi got in trouble with various incidents and had to pit on lap one.

Di Resta pitted on lap 2 to get off the hard tyre and onto the soft, Perez and Petrov did likewise soon after.

Webber came back at Button on lap 5 using the DRS wing, trying a move at the end of the long straight, Button squeezed him out.

Michael Schumacher got a great start up to 8th, right behind his team mate Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton got a poor start, losing a place to Felipe Massa, finding himself behind the second Ferrari as he has quite a bit recently.

Alguersuari and Buemi was in the the improved Toro Rossos were able easily to pass Sutil. Buemi retired however on lap 26, leaving a long trail of oil on the circuit.

Alonso, Webber and Hamilton all stopped on lap 16, Alonso falling behind Schumacher as he exited the pits. This cost him time in his battle with Webber. But he was able to pass the German a lap later.

Button pitted on lap 19, Vettel a lap later. Hamilton had closed on Massa by three seconds through the first round of stops, by pitting a lap earlier.

Hamilton attacked Massa for 5th place and got alongside, but Massa turned into him, yet another coming together between the pair.

This time it was definitely Massa’s fault, Hamilton came alongside and Massa turned into him, damaging the McLaren’s front wing. Hamilton had to pit for a new one, dropping to 9th.

“We had the one minute silence before the start of the race and me and Felipe were standing next to each other,” said Hamilton. “He hasn’t spoken to me in a long, long time so I put my arm around him and just said ‘good luck for the race.

“But in the race I tried to overtake and I tried to come out of it because it didn’t look like he was going to give me any space, and we collided.”

Massa wasn’t available for comment as I post this, but a comment from him will appear here soon.

Massa got a drive through penalty and a lap after serving it, when he was just 6 seconds ahead of Hamilton and all set for a second round battle, Ferrari pulled him in for a tyre stop and front wing change. He rejoined but soon after retired with a broken front suspension.

Once again it looked like he had hit a kerb at a bad angle and the front left suspension broke.

In the battle for third place, Webber was struggling with higher tyre wear than Alonso and when he suddenly lost a second a lap he was forced to pit and take the hard tyre. Alonso stayed out and was able to jump him when he came in for hard tyres soon after.

The two Mercedes drivers had a great battle for 5th and 6th places, Schumacher recovering well from a poor qualifying session to take the fight to Rosberg. He got ahead of the younger man in the second round of pit stops.

He was told “You are free to race, but keep it clean.” He held off Rosberg to the end.

Vettel set the fastest lap of the race near the end to round out a perfect day.

INDIAN GRAND PRIX, Buddh International, 60 laps
1. Vettel Red Bull 1h30:35.002
2. Button McLaren + 8.433
3. Alonso Ferrari + 24.301
4. Webber Red Bull + 25.529
5. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:05.421
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:06.851
7. Hamilton McLaren + 1:24.183
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso + 1 lap
9. Sutil Force India + 1 lap
10. Perez Sauber + 1 lap
11. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
12. Senna Renault + 1 lap
13. Di Resta Force India + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus + 2 laps
15. Barrichello Williams + 2 laps
16. D’Ambrosio Virgin + 2 laps
17. Karthikeyan HRT + 3 laps
18. Ricciardo HRT + 3 laps
19. Trulli Lotus + 4 laps

It was Vettel’s 10th win of the season, making him the only driver apart from his countryman Michael Schumacher do win 10 or more races in a season. It was the 20th victory of his career and with Mark Webber’s third place it gave Red Bull the constructors’ championship for the second year in a row. It was also Red Bull’s 25th F1 victory. The first was in 2009.

“It’s good to see that the whole team keeps on pushing,” said Vettel. “The car was fantastic, fun to drive. I managed to get a bit of a gap because those guys were fighting. It’s great after last week winning the drivers’ championship now to get the constructors’ championship.”

It was a fantastic fight for the podium places, particularly Hamilton and Webber. It was a race which summed up the season in many ways; without Vettel it would have been a close and thrilling battle between Hamilton, Button, Webber and Alonso.

After five races of finishing behind his team mate Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton was satisfied to get back in front again. It was only his second podium in the last 11 races, while it was Button’s first time off the podium for six races.

And there were some stunning performances from drivers lower down, most notably Jaime Alguersuari who finished seventh, equally his career best.

At the start, Hamilton got the better getaway off the line, but Vettel was intent on passing him and managed to do it at the end of the back straight.

Behind them the other McLaren was also struggling as Massa, Webber and Alonso got ahead of Jenson Button.

Vettel opened up a gap of a second over Hamilton on the remainder of the opening lap but wasn’t able to drive away from him, Hamilton regrouped and stayed just over a second behind.

The opening stint was uneventful, but the worn supersoft tyres lasted longer than anticipated, which required a change of plan for Vettel at the first stop.

Button closed up on the Ferraris and tried the undercut at the first stops, but Mercedes brought Rosberg in at the same time and faster pit work put him ahead. Rosberg made a mistake and lost the place, but then repassed Button at the end of the DRS zone.

The following lap Button used the DRS to pass Rosberg back again.

Schumacher jumped Alonso in the first pit stops, but then a promising race was wrecked by Petrov who misjudged the braking zone and smashed his rear wing. It was the third time this year that the pair have collided.

This brought out the safety car.

At this stage Vettel and the McLarens were on a second set of super softs, while Webber and Alonso were on softs.

Red Bull’s plan to use up new supersoft tyres in Q1 and save soft tyres for the race had clearly not worked out as expected, so they had to make the most of what they had. And this is a good example of how adaptable they are as a team, they still managed to come out on top even though Plan A had not worked. A fast car helps, but it’s also about staying calm and improvising. This is something they’ve done a lot this year.

The race restarted with Vettel leading Hamilton, Webber, Button, Rosberg, Massa, Alonso and Alguersuari. Alonso was still behind Massa at this stage, no easy breeze past as we saw in Japan.

Webber, on the soft tyres, was able to open a gap of five seconds over Button on supersofts and closed in on Hamilton in the second stint. By lap 32 he was looking to pass.

At this stage the top three were separated by less than three seconds, but Hamilton holding Webber up played into Vettel’s hands and allowed him to pull away and took away any possibility of him losing the race and of Webber winning it.

Alonso pushed very hard at the end of the stint on used softs and jumped team mate Massa in the second stop, begging the question why did Webber not try the same thing on Button and run a lap or two longer? “If the strategy had been a bit different we might have had a different result,” said Webber after the race.

It also begged the question about what might have happened if Alonso had been able to get ahead of Massa earlier in the race?

Webber and Hamilton battled all the way to the finish, Webber got ahead briefly on lap 49 as the pair lapped a Lotus, but Hamilton was able to steam back past him on the straight.

It was another good day for Toro Rosso with Alguersuari challenging Rosberg for seventh place on much newer tyres as Buemi passed Di Resta for 9th place.

They have had some very good races this season, using imaginative strategy and thoroughly deserved the points they scored.

There were three fights to resolve in the closing stages: Webber vs Hamilton, Alonso vs Button and Alguersuari vs Rosberg.

Then on lap 54 Alonso said, “I give up,” possibly a bit of gamesmanship, possibly a message to the Ferrari team that a good result had been jeopardised by him spending so much time behind Massa early on. Alonso said afterwards that this was not the case, that he wasn’t fast enough in the early stages of the race.

Vettel finished the job off with a flourish, setting fastest lap on the final lap.

KOREAN GRAND PRIX, Yeongam, 55 laps

1. Vettel Red Bull 1h30:01.994
2. Hamilton McLaren + 12.019
3. Webber Red Bull + 12.477
4. Button McLaren + 14.694
5. Alonso Ferrari + 15.689
6. Massa Ferrari + 25.133
7. Alguersuari Toro Rosso + 49.538
8. Rosberg Mercedes + 54.053
9. Buemi Toro Rosso + 1:02.762
10. Di Resta Force India + 1:08.602
11. Sutil Force India + 1:11.229
12. Barrichello Williams + 1:33.068
13. Senna Renault + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus + 1 lap
15. Kobayashi Sauber + 1 lap
16. Perez Sauber + 1 lap
17. Trulli Lotus + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin + 1 lap
19. Ricciardo HRT + 1 lap
20. D’Ambrosio Virgin + 1 lap
21. Liuzzi HRT + 3 laps

No 24 year old driver has achieved more – two world titles, 19 wins, 27 pole positions.

And now Fernando Alonso has challenged him to a contest to see who can be the youngest ever three times world champion – one of them is likely to beat Ayrton Senna’s record of 31 years of age. Alonso has been waiting five years for his third title..

Whatever the hype, the hyperbole or the criticisms swirling around this morning, the fact of the matter is that Sebastian Vettel is now a two times world champion, the youngest of the nine drivers who have achieved that feat.

And he thoroughly deserves it. He wanted to clinch it in style yesterday with victory in Suzuka, but when it became clear that the Red Bull’s tyre wear was going to make that impossible and Jenson Button had him covered, pragmatism took over and he settled for a place on the podium and a smaller trophy to clutch as he celebrated his historic achievement.

Many F1 fans don’t like Vettel; they don’t like the finger he waves around when he comes first in a qualifying session or race, they don’t like the fact that he has the fastest car when he hasn’t struggled enough in his early life to deserve it – the dreaded “entitlement” argument so regularly trotted out against Lewis Hamilton. And they don’t like some of the things he does on the track like the chop on Button at the start yesterday, or the whirly finger “loony” gesture after he’d collided with team mate Mark Webber in Turkey last year.

I do like Vettel. I like him very much as a person and as a racing driver and I respect him, because he is true to his craft. He’s the perfect combination of fast, intelligent, focused and hard working. Apply those criteria to the other drivers on the grid and see how many tick four boxes. Chances are the ones that do will be the most successful, because that’s the way it’s always been at the top level of F1.

This season has gone pretty much as expected. Coming off the back of last season, the signs were all there that the confidence which that unlikely title win in Abu Dhabi gave to both Vettel and the technical team at Red Bull, would mean that they would come flying out of the traps in 2011. The fast car they produced gave them pole position at every race, but winning the races has proved more difficult, as McLaren and Ferrari were able to challenge them at most places on race day, with a few exceptions. The rivals beat them six times, but it could easily have been more.

I don’t think he’ll match Schumacher’s seven titles, because he’s around at the same time as some formidable talents and the likelihood is that McLaren and Ferrari will get their act together soon and build a car which can fight for the title. When they do, both teams have the drivers to take on Vettel.

It may be next year, it may be 2013, but it will happen.

Some fans believe he would not beat Alonso or Hamilton if they were his team mate. Maybe, but it’s a moot point; we’ll never know because it makes no sense for a team to try an experiment like that when F1 history shows how counterproductive it is to employ two drivers with a voracious appetite to win.

In the meantime, it’s time for fans of every persuasion to set aside any partisan feelings and accept that this year Vettel has been superb. He’s hardly put a foot wrong all year; a few crashes in practice sessions, the spin on the last lap in Montreal.

But he’s also given us some great moments; several perfect laps in qualifying, the pass on Alonso in Monza among them.

F1 is about the best of the best, in every department, “competing to win”, as Senna used to put it. And few people have a real understanding of what it takes to win in F1.

While rivals have missed opportunities, missed a trick on car design or botched pit stops, the fact of the matter is that this year, Vettel and his Red Bull team have given a text book example of how it should be done.

“To win the championship here is fantastic,” said an emotional Vettel. “I’m so thankful to everyone in the team, working day in and day out pushing hard. We found ourselves in a strong position and it’s great to achieve our goals. This year we have always been one step ahead. There is no secret, it’s step by step. The hardest thing is winning after winning, to go out and do it again. I needed all the support from the team, from Mark everyone working for me.”

The top four cars finished just 8 seconds apart at the end. The race was won with some style by Jenson Button, his 12th Grand Prix victory. Button was the only driver able to match Vettel’s pace in the early stages and who took advantage of some rather conservative strategy by Red Bull which was designed to ensure Vettel got a podium rather than push the limits in search of the race win as well.

Vettel had said before the race that he was going to “go for glory” in the race, to clinch the title in style. It didn’t work out that way, but they had a bigger prize in sight.

Alonso also took advantage of this conservatism to jump Vettel at the third pit stop for second place.

It was Button’s fifth win with McLaren, the first in fully dry conditions and surely one of his best. He extended his lead over team mate Lewis Hamilton in the championship to 32 points.

“This circuit is very special. We love this place so to get a victory here does mean a lot,” said Button.

Strategy was critical and pre-race predictions from Pirelli suggested that the soft tyres were degrading at around 0.2 secs per lap and it was felt that some cars starting the race on used soft tyres could be pitting as early as lap 7 or 8. The strategy engineers were very much playing a watching and waiting game.

Nevertheless many of the cars outside the top six who had the choice of tyre at the start went for the soft tyres too.

At start Vettel pushed fellow front row starter Jenson Button onto the grass in an uncompromising move which forced Button to back out of the throttle. This allowed Hamilton to pass him around the outside for second place.

The stewards looked into it but decided not to give him a penalty. However in the cool down room before the podium Button picked him up on it saying, “Is this how we’re racing now then?” Vettel did not respond.

Paul Di Resta got a good start from 12th up to 8th, Sutil gained two places from 11th to 9th. While Kobayashi lost four places, to the disappointment of the crowd.

Vettel settled into his usual rhythm early on, opening a gap over Hamilton, while on lap 6 Alonso sailed past team mate Felipe Massa, who had out-qualified him. Massa didn’t put up much of a fight, Alonso was using the DRS which was very powerful on the pit straight today.

Hamilton let Button past as he had a puncture, which brought him into the pits first. This ultimately caused him to lose a track position to Alonso.

Vettel followed into the pits on lap 10, Button and Alonso pitted a lap later and made up three seconds on Vettel in the process.

Button was the only one who could live with the pace of Vettel, matching his pace, while Alonso and Hamilton were a few tenths of a second off and Webber was held up in 6th place by Massa.

Towards the end of the stints on the soft tyres we saw Button and Alonso faster than Vettel and so it was at the end of the second stint.

Vettel had to pit on lap 20 and when Button came in a lap later he was ahead of the German. Alonso didn’t come in on that lap.

Hamilton and Massa tangled again on lap 21, the lap Hamilton came in for his second stop. The stewards looked into it. Massa’s car had some damage on the left side front wing and floor.

Webber undercut Massa for P4 and really came into the race when on lap 24 the safety car was deployed for debris on the track, this allowed all the cars who had only made one stop to pit.

On lap 28 the race was restarted with Button leading from Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa and Hamilton, with Schumacher Perez and Di Resta all drivers in the top ten who had been helped by the safety car.

On lap 34, Vettel became the first of the front runners to pit for medium tyres, Webber did the same a lap later, still coping with a front wing which was missing some vital parts.

Vettel emerged in traffic behind Rosberg and Sutil, and was a second a lap slower than leader the Button, which gave Alonso a chance.

Button pitted on lap 37 and Alonso came in a lap later jumping Vettel in the process for second place.

Schumacher led the race for a while, by virtue of making one less stop and helped by the safety car, it worked for him, when he made his third stop he was ahead of Massa.

In the closing stages Alonso closed in on Button as once again the Ferrari proved faster at the end of the stint on the tyres. Button soaked up the pressure and kept his car out of DRS range for Alonso.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX, Suzuka, 53 laps
1. Button McLaren 1h30:53.427
2. Alonso Ferrari + 1.160
3. Vettel Red Bull + 2.006
4. Webber Red Bull + 8.071
5. Hamilton McLaren + 24.268
6. Schumacher Mercedes + 27.120
7. Massa Ferrari + 28.240
8. Perez Sauber + 39.377
9. Petrov Renault + 42.607
10. Rosberg Mercedes + 44.322
11. Sutil Force India + 54.447
12. Di Resta Force India + 1:02.326
13. Kobayashi Sauber + 1:03.705
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso + 1:04.194
15. Maldonado Williams + 1:06.623
16. Senna Renault + 1:12.628
17. Barrichello Williams + 1:14.191
18. Kovalainen Lotus + 1:27.824
19. Trulli Lotus + 1:36.140
20. Glock Virgin + 2 laps
21. D’Ambrosio Virgin + 2 laps
22. Ricciardo HRT + 2 laps
23. Liuzzi HRT + 2 laps

It was Vettel’s ninth win of the season, he joins Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell as the only drivers who have won nine races in an F1 season. It was also the 19th of his career. Amazingly, having led almost 600 laps this year this was the first time this year he has led a race from start to finish!

Jenson Button had another strong weekend with second place, which consolidates his position behind Vettel in the drivers’ championship and takes him further ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton in the points race.

Button, who jumped Webber for second place at the start and was untroubled thereafter, was reeling Vettel in at the end here, but he didn’t really have a chance to attack the champion, especially after being held up earlier by Kobayashi, who didn’t observe the blue flags and was given a drive through penalty. He also lost time at the end behind the two Williams cars which were battling for position.

“I was in control,” said Vettel of the closing stages. “Obviously I faced the traffic first, had to slow down, but then Jenson has to face the same problem once I’m through. I found myself on the last lap with five seconds lead. We had turned the engine down towards the end of the race. Jenson looked like he was flat out, nothing to lose, but we were in control.”

Mark Webber finished third after a good battle with Fernando Alonso, whom he had to overtake once again. But once again he is left ruing his poor starts, losing two places off the line here to Button and Alonso, albeit he did start from the dirty side of the grid.

Paul di Resta had an outstanding night; he chose a different strategy being the highest placed driver on the grid to start on the (harder) soft tyre. It set him up for a career best sixth place, with Force India’s joy being completed by Adrian Sutil picking up more points in 8th place.

Force India knew they didn’t have the pace to compete with Mercedes on qualifying pace, but believed they could get from lights to flag faster than the Silver Arrows using the two types of tyre available. So it proved, Di Resta beating Rosberg, who once again was not able to finish ahead of his grid position.

Ferrari saw Alonso come in fourth on a day when Technical Director Pat Fry admitted that their car didn’t have the pace on either tyre compound. This is a big disappointment for Ferrari, who were very competitive in Monaco on the same tyre compounds.

And it was another of “those” races for Lewis Hamilton who lost four places at the start, then had a collision with Felipe Massa in which he broke his front wing and for which the stewards gave him a drive through penalty. In total Hamilton passed through the pits five times.

Massa lost out hugely in the incident; he had a puncture and had to tour slowly back to the pits. He was furious with Hamilton after the race and confronted him privately, but Hamilton rebuffed him. So he raised his objections in front of the TV cameras and later lambasted the Englishman,

“He cannot use his mind,” said Massa. “He could have caused a big accident. He is paying for that, that’s the problem. He doesn’t understand, even paying for a problem.

“The problem was that I was in the middle so I had a puncture in my tyres and I pay a lot. It is important that FIA is looking and penalising him all the time he is going in the car because he cannot think about it,” Massa added.

The pair had had problems the day before with Hamilton forcing his way past the Ferrari driver on an outlap.

Hamilton fought back through the field with a series of overtakes to claim fifth place at the end and following the confrontation with Massa, did not face the media for comment.

The race once again featured a safety car around half distance; this seems to be the time when it happens here – possibly as a result of tyre wear and driver fatigue – and it maintains Singapore’s 100% safety car record. It was annoying for Vettel in one sense, as he had built an 18 second lap, largely thanks to a mesmerising opening stint.

But in another sense it was helpful to him as traffic was a big problem today and by bunching up the field behind him, it meant that he didn’t have to lap as many cars as he might have done in the second half of the race without a safety car.

The safety car was triggered by an accident for Michael Schumacher, who misread the body language of Sergio Perez’ Sauber and hit him. Perez was able to continue and scored a point for tenth place.

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX, Marina Bay Circuit, 61 Laps

1. Vettel Red Bull 1h59:06.537
2. Button McLaren + 1.737
3. Webber Red Bull + 29.279
4. Alonso Ferrari + 55.449
5. Hamilton McLaren + 1:07.766
6. Di Resta Force India + 1:51.067
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
8. Sutil Force India + 1 lap
9. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Perez Sauber + 1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams + 1 lap
12. Buemi Toro Rosso + 1 lap
13. Barrichello Williams + 1 lap
14. Kobayashi Sauber + 2 laps
15. Senna Renault + 2 laps
16. Kovalainen Lotus + 2 laps
17. Petrov Renault + 2 laps
18. D’Ambrosio Virgin + 2 laps
19. Ricciardo HRT + 4 laps
20. Liuzzi HRT + 4 laps
21. Alguersuari Toro Rosso + 5 laps

As I said in my qualifying post, Vettel has been untouchable all weekend in qualifying and race pace and only a misfortune of some kind will rob him of victory tomorrow. He easily has the pace to win.

Thanks to Sean Kelly, who goes by the soubriquet of Virtual Statman and is the stats guy for many of the TV companies working in F1, here are the permutations which will clinch it in Singapore.

If Vettel wins:
Alonso needs to be off the podium
AND
Webber/Button finish no higher than 3rd
Hamilton is automatically eliminated
(This scenario happened in Australia and Spain this year)

If Vettel is 2nd:
Alonso needs to be no higher than 8th
AND
Webber/Button need to be no higher than 5th
AND
Hamilton must not finish ahead of him
(This scenario has not happened at all this season)

If Vettel is 3rd:
Alonso needs to be no higher than 9th
AND
Webber/Button need to be no higher than 7th
AND
Hamilton must not finish ahead of him
(This scenario has not happened at all this season)

If Vettel is 4th:
The title cannot be decided in Singapore

If tomorrow’s race ended like that it would mean that the title race goes on to the Japanese Grand Prix, with Webber still in the hunt. In all likelihood we will see Alonso come up from fifth on the grid as the Ferrari has better performance and stronger tyre life in race conditions.

It was Red Bull’s fifth 1-2 grid lockout of the season and Vettel’s 26th career pole position, equalling Mika Hakkinen. Only Fangio, Mansell, Prost, Clark, Senna and Schumacher lie ahead of him.

Hamilton was unable to go out for a second run in Q3, due to a problem with refuelling the car, after losing time getting back to the pits due to a puncture and a random FIA weight check. The upside is he saved a set of tyres, but he also lost one with the punctured set. He also lost a front row start slot and two places in the process, as he was second after the first runs. It is the first time he’s been off the front row since Silverstone.

It’s been a messy couple of days for McLaren, with problems on both cars in Practice 2 and a broken floor stay, a puncture and a refuelling issue for Hamilton this evening. They have good pace in the car, but so far haven’t been able to maximise it. Vettel meanwhile, has exceptional long run pace and good tyre wear and only something exceptional will stop him from collecting his ninth win of the season.

Webber was quite pleased with his efforts, ending up 3/10ths off his team mate, who excels on tracks with stop and start corners like this. He believes that the ends of the stints will be crucial tomorrow, but acknowledged that a good start will be vital, something he’s often failed to do this season.

Ferrari’s lack of qualifying pace was highlighted with Alonso in fifth and Felipe Massa sixth, fighting off the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. Alonso said that his lap was probably his best of the season as it put him a tenth off Webber and the McLarens and a whole second faster than Felipe Massa. Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali observed that the qualifying result mirrored the story of the 2011 season; one car and driver in a league of their own with four drivers battling over who follows him home. Massa is very much adrift of that battle.

In the race we are likely to see the leading cars do three stints on supersofts and one on softs, with Ferrari possibly trying to make one stop less to gain track position. We could also see a one stopper in midfield, perhaps a Sauber.

The two Force India cars qualified in the top ten, but chose not to set a time in Q3, saving a set of soft tyres and two new sets of super soft tyres in the process. A one stop strategy could be on the cards for some of the midfield teams with good tyre durability tomorrow. Hamilton, meanwhile, will have to be aggressive in the race to make up the two places lost, even if he will have slightly better tyre life.

In the first part of qualifying the Renault’s weakness in traction out of slow corners was shown up with Vitaly Petrov eliminated with the new teams and Bruno Senna required to produce a high pressure lap to make it through. The Lotus cars were just over a second slower, while Daniel Ricciardo again outqualified his team mate Tonio Liuzzi, but lost out to the Virgin cars, with whom he’d been battling in Practice 3.

Kobayashi catches some air (Sauber)

In Q2 Sauber’s chances of getting into the top ten took a knock as Kamui Kobayashi crashed heavily after taking off over a kerb. This brought out a red flag stoppage. Team mate Sergio Perez had been on an out lap at the time. He wasn’t able to find the speed to take on the Force India cars and wound up 11th.

In Q3 Mercedes opted to do only one run at the end with Rosberg pressuring Massa, who responded and stayed ahead. Michael Schumacher, like the Force India cars, didn’t set a lap time, so all three have the option of what tyre to start the race on. Both Mercedes have two new sets of softs and one set of super softs available.

So the top ten grid slots are in team order, with Red Bull, from McLaren, from Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India. The midfield is jumbled up apart from the two Williams together in 12th and 13th and then the last three rows are in team order again.

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX, Qualifying
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m44.381s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m44.732s + 0.351
3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m44.804s + 0.423
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m44.809s + 0.428
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m44.874s + 0.493
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m45.800s + 1.419
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m46.013s + 1.632
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes no time
9. Adrian Sutil Force India no time
10. Paul di Resta Force India no time

11. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m47.616s + 2.685
12. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m48.082s + 3.151
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m48.270s + 3.339
14. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m48.634s + 3.703
15. Bruno Senna Renault 1m48.662s + 3.731
16. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m49.862s + 4.931
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber No time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m49.588s Gap *
18. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m49.835s + 3.438
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m50.948s + 4.551
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m51.012s + 4.615
21. Timo Glock Virgin 1m52.154s + 5.757
22. Jerome D’Ambrosio Virgin 1m52.363s + 5.966
23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT 1m52.404s + 6.007
24. Tonio Liuzzi HRT 1m52.810s + 6.413