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Japanese GP

2009 Formula 1 Japanese GP

Oct 1, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009
Suzuka, JP
Live text
Formula 1 Japanese GP

2009 Japanese Grand Prix Race day at Suzuka

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Lap 23: It is a race against Barrichello out of the pits, which goes in the favour of Rubens.
Lap 23: Nico Rosberg pits from second place. He was matching the pace of Hamilton and Vettel while the Williams was light.
Lap 22: Behind Kubica, Raikkonen is eighth with Barrichello ninth. Alguersuari, Nakajima, Liuzzi and Alonso come next and all four drivers have yet to stop. Jenson Button is closing down on all of them and will be hoping that they pit soon.
Lap 22: Lewis Hamilton is now 3.9 seconds behind Vettel with the pair on a similar pace at the moment.
Lap 21: Kovalainen is sixth, with a stop due in a couple of laps, with Kubica running much further before a single stop in seventh.
Lap 21: Button is 4.5s behind Fernando Alonso in 13th and closing at the rate of six-tenths of a second per lap.
Lap 20: The order now is Vettel from Rosberg, who has several laps before his stop. Hamilton is third followed by Trulli and Heidfeld.
Lap 20: Jenson Button has rejoined in a lowly 14th place after that first stop, but several cars ahead of him have still to come in.
Lap 19: Heidfeld, Raikkonen and Barrichello leave the pits after a brace of stops.
Lap 19: There was a slight pause for Vettel as Heidfeld trundled down the pitlane but he is out well clear of Hamilton and Trulli.
Lap 19: Fisichella also pitted from 11th place on that lap.
Lap 19: Nick Heidfeld is also in for his first stop.
Lap 19: Vettel pits from the lead.
Lap 19: Button swaps hard for hard in terms of tyres, and he rejoins in a clear piece of track. He can now push hard to try and reduce the gap to Rosberg.
Lap 18: Vettel is the fastest man through the first sector as he heads towards his first stop. The young German is in dominant form today.
Lap 18: Jenson Button comes into the pits from eighth place.
Lap 18: Adrian Sutil rejoined in 17th place after that first stop. Only the lapped Webber is behind him.
Lap 17: Vettel continues to lead but is due in shortly.
Lap 17: Trulli is away but Hamilton is at speed down the main straight and Jarno has not made it past, despite the extra lap.
Lap 17: Jenson Button is immediately homing in on that seven second deficit to Nico Rosberg in sixth, but is now faced with the rejoined Hamilton in front of him.
Lap 17: Trulli does pit this time.
Lap 16: The Toyota team were getting ready in the pits to receive Jarno Trulli, but he didn't pit. They are in a fight with Hamilton over second.
Lap 16: Sutil gets rid of the soft tyres, takes on the hard compound and fuel and rejoins further down the order.
Lap 16: Jenson Button now has clean air in front to the tune of 6.8 seconds, as Sutil pits from 12th place.
Lap 16: Predictably, Hamilton swaps to the harder tyres, resuming behind Rosberg.
Lap 16: Lewis Hamilton pits from second.
Lap 15: Poor Adrian Sutil has been savaged by a competitor once again and runs in 12th place.
Lap 15: Kovalainen was able to keep momentum and runs in ninth now. Kubica is up to 10th, Fisichella to 11th.
Lap 15: Button slices through and is up to eighth place and now is set to score one point.
Lap 14: Sutil sends the move up the inside of Kovalainen at the chicane ... Kovalainen defends and the pair make contact! Sutil is spun round by the McLaren driver.
Lap 14: The lead gap closed to 4.3 seconds after that off-track moment for Vettel.
Lap 14: Jenson Button in 10th has dropped to 1.2s behind the Kovalainen-Sutil battle. Sutil is having a real go at the Finn and keen to pass him before he stops.
Lap 13: Vettel has a major scare out of Degner two with the Red Bull almost fully off the road going under the bridge. He continues to lead, however.
Lap 13: Sebastien Buemi comes into the pits and pulls straight into the Toro Rosso garage. A weekend that started brightly has vanished into thin air in qualifying and today's race. Buemi is out.
Lap 12: Most of the drivers will plan to use the softer tyres for the final stint when track conditions will be much better.
Lap 12: Jenson Button reports on the team radio that he is struggling to match the pace of Adrian Sutil and Kovalainen. As soon as he gets close to the pair, his Brawn is developing huge understeer.
Lap 12: Hamilton really seems to be struggling on his soft tyres now as his choice of rubber for the start begins to hurt his pace.
Lap 12: Adrian Sutil lost patience last weekend in Singapore when he was stuck behind slower traffic. It will be interesting to see if he holds station behind Kovalainen.
Lap 11: Jarno Trulli is keeping Hamilton in sight, still 1.9 seconds behind the McLaren as Vettel breaks away to 4.1s in the lead.
Lap 11: The gap between Barrichello (sixth) and Button (10th) is up to 10 seconds, as the Briton is still stuck behind Sutil and the heavier Kovalainen.

By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton

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