Suzuka star

Sebastian Vettel posted a peerless lights-to-flag victory in Japan, at a circuit he described as "phenomenal, like it was made by God's hand".

Second place man Jarno Trulli celebrated by climbing the tall fence in front of Suzuka's main grandstand to wave to a sea of Toyota supporters. He was passed at the start by Lewis Hamilton but then began "a race of qualifying laps" to beat the world champion as the pitstops played out. "I really wanted to win, but Vettel was untouchable," he conceded.

The tension as Trulli emerged from the pits to slot in ahead of Hamilton was high, during a race that was largely processional.

Drama came nine laps from the end, though, when cameras cut to the dusty silhouette of a heavily damaged car at the 320kph 130R corner. It was Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, who had gone wide, lost the rear, and slewed across the track nose-first into a tyre wall and through an advertising hoarding. Fortunately, the Spaniard was able to walk away. The safety car came out, but on the restart the order of the top eight cars remained unchanged.

"The last few races were a bit up and down, so it's great to be back up here," said Vettel after doing a Schumacher-style star jump on the podium. It's his third win of the year, the last being seven races ago. Jenson Button finished eighth, so Vettel is 16 points shy of the championship leader. "He's got nothing to lose. He just has to win the next two races," said Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner.

It's certainly true that, with only 20 points now available, Vettel will need to repeat this performance if he's to beat Button. But if the Englishman fails to score four more points, this season could end in a similar fashion to 2007, when Kimi Raikkonen made a last minute dash into the history books ahead of the odds-on favourites.

Optimistically, Vettel says: "Two more races like this and it's looking good."

RACE RESULTS:
1.    VETTEL - RED BULL-RENAULT
2.    TRULLI - TOYOTA
3.    HAMILTON - MCLAREN-MERCEDES
4.    RAIKKONEN - FERRARI
5.    ROSBERG - WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
6.    HEIDFELD - BMW-SAUBER
7.    BARRICHELLO - BRAWN-MERCEDES
8.    BUTTON - BRAWN-MERCEDES

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1.    BUTTON - 85
2.    BARRICHELLO - 71
3.    VETTEL - 69

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1.    BRAWN GP - 156
2.    RED BULL RACING - 120.5