Vettel confident title is still possible

The Red Bull driver started the Suzuka race from pole position and was never challenged for first place, scoring his third win of the season.

Vettel's victory kept his title chances alive after championship leader Jenson Button had to settle for a single point from eighth position.

The result left Vettel 16 points behind Button with two races to go, and the German believes he can still beat the Brawn driver.

"It can still be done," said Vettel after the race. "It would be nice to have a couple more races left, but with two races to go, we are here to fight and the best thing we can do is win like today.

"We have a great car, still improving, everyone in the factory is improving so we'll see."

Vettel said he was very confident for the race after having clinched pole position, but he admitted his main concern was the start, where Lewis Hamilton in the KERS-equipped McLaren got closer than he had expected.

"Yesterday with pole position and also strategy wise we were the favourites, but first of all you had the start," he said. "We were confident and had good starts in the past, so were confident to defend the position.

"It was closer than I thought it would be, going into turn 1 I saw a silver arrow on the left hand side. I was on the inside so I had advantage but it was closer than I thought.

"From there I pushed every single lap. The car was fantastic, I was able to get a good lap, we were longer than Jarno and Lewis so it all worked out. Until the end it was all under control until I put the soft tyres on the last stint.

"I wanted a bit of fun so did one quick lap, then the engineer came on and said be careful with the tyres as there might be a safety car and then two laps later there was a safety car. But I was still taking care of tyres. At the restart I was able to use it and had a bit of a cushion with Grosjean behind me. It was a good restart and then built a gap that was safe enough to win it."

He added: "Finally we made it. It the last couple of races we were a little bit up and down. Sometimes we had the pace, sometimes we didn't, so it is good to be back in the top position on Sunday."