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Vettel Takes Fifth Consecutive Win In Japan

SUZUKA, Japan- With 11 laps to go before the end of the Japanese Grand prix, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of a late Mark Webber pit stop to take first place for his fifth consecutive grand prix win in a row, and his ninth of the season. Webber recovered from his last stop to overtake Romain Grosjean two laps from the end to place second.

“A very rewarding win today; it’s a great feeling.” Commented Vettel. “I love this track and it’s just fantastic to win here. It was a horrible start to be honest; we found ourselves sitting in third place and then tried to go longer in the first stint. I had great traction after I got past Romain( Grosjean)and after that the only threat was Mark (Webber) who got stuck behind Romain. We could then manage the gap until the end of the race.”

Right from the beginning, Vettel was threatened as both Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton went around the German into the first corner. But Hamilton’s right rear tire was struck by Vettel himself, and the Englishman ended shredding his rear right tire as well as damaging his brake system as Hamilton managed to receive a tire change, but the brakes were so damaged, that the 2008 world champion retired his Mercedes on lap nine.

Grosjean lead the race for the first 14 laps of the race before pitting, only to recover three laps later to regain the lead and hold it through lap 29 with a slim 1.3 second lead. But the Frenchman had to pit once again and lost the lead to Webber, before on lap 41 his second place was lost when Vettel overtook him for second.

But Webber still had to pit one more time in the race, and as the Australian did so, Vettel and Grosjean overtook Webber, putting him in third place. However, Webber’s determination was intense, and the Australian finally passed Grosjean with a couple of laps to go, but could not catch his teammate as Vettel took another win, his fifth in a row, and the ninth of the season.

But the world championship was not locked up for the German, as Vettel’s Spanish challenger for the title, Fernando Alonso took fourth, as Kimi Raikkonen followed him in fifth. Sauber drivers Nico Hulkenebrg and Estaban Gutierrez took a fine sixth and seventh, respectively, while Nico Rosberg was eighth. Jenson Button just passed Felipe Massa on the last corner to finish in ninth, as the duo rounded up the last two point positions.

For Vettel, his win made him happy, but still knew that he did not lock up the championship yet.

“The Championship is the big target of course,” he added, “but the season is very long still and the best way to wrap it up is not to think about it. I’m happy to go home for a bit now and to relax before we go out to India. That’s an impressive country and I’m looking forward to racing there in a couple of weeks.”

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