2010 Japanese Grand Prix Race day at Suzuka

Under the crossover bridge and the German continues setting his own pace round the hairpin.

The mechanics rush across the track to clear the grid as Vettel leads the field round the Dunlop Curve.

The formation lap begins at Suzuka and Vettel leads the field of 23 away from the grid.

The engines fire with a minute to the formation lap.

Sebastian Vettel is highly concentrated and waiting until the last minute to pull on his gloves.

Rubens Barrichello stares straight ahead and puts on his racing gloves as he prepares to leave from sixth position on the grid.

The track temperature is up to 36 Celsius in the strong sunshine, with air temperature climbing to a very warm 27 degrees.

There are five minutes to go before the formation lap begins at a dry and sunny Suzuka circuit.

Mark Webber returns to the grid and puts on his helmet prior to climbing aboard the RB6. He starts second alongside team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

The weather radar remains clear to the north-west of Suzuka, and with increasing amounts of sunshine we are now set for a completely dry race.

Hamilton is getting himself ready to start from eighth. He is looking to score for the first time since his win in Spa six weeks ago.

The accident involving Lucas di Grassi was scarily reminiscent of the crash that Allan McNish endured exiting the same corner in qualifying back in 2002.

The track temperature is 37 Celsius in late afternoon sunshine at Suzuka.

The brakes are receiving attention on Mark Webber's Red Bull, as team boss Christian Horner oversees the routine maintenance.

Alonso tells the BBC there is some concern over the results of the practice starts he has conducted on the way to the grid.

The huge crowd of spectators rise to respect the Japanese national anthem, as it rings out over the Suzuka public address system.

The pit exit is now closed. Any car not on the grid by now will be required to start from the pitlane.

Jenson Button is once again wearing a cool vest in the 26 degree heat in the lead-up to the race. He starts today's race from sixth position.

Di Grassi's smashed Virgin car has been craned away and the marshals are finishing off the clean-up operation at 130R.

Trulli is making a late tour to the grid. His Lotus team have been looking at a radiator problem in the lead up to the race.

The marshals are now attending to the damaged Virgin car and will work to remove it quickly.

Alonso navigates the debris field at 130R and brings his Ferrari around to the grid.

Di Grassi was able to walk away from the accident, but there is no way he will be starting the race.

The Virgin Racing entry speared off the track after di Grassi ran wide onto the artificial grass. The car is badly damaged.

Di Grassi has crashed heavily on his lap to the grid at 130R!

The weather radar shows that there are no showers to the north-west of the circuit as the sunshine returns at Suzuka.

The Ferrari pair take to the pitlane and will complete a practice start and further lap to the grid.

Hamilton slowly tours up to the back of the grid and is met by the McLaren mechanics to be pushed to his eighth-place slot.

Vettel completes one lap and heads towards his pole position grid slot.

Button is chasing one of the Virgin cars on his lap to the grid and he gets past on the way down to the hairpin.

Some drivers may choose to come in and run through the pitlane to get another lap in the bag before heading to the grid.

Vettel, Buemi, Hulkenberg, Alguersuari, Sutil and Liuzzi are all on their way round on a reconnaissance lap.

Massa, Button and Alonso pile out of a busy pitlane.

Hamilton practices a start and is followed off onto a lap by Kubica in the Renault.

Most of the drivers are straight out onto the track to check the conditions ahead of the start.

The pitlane is now open for drivers to make their way around to the grid. The track will be open for 15 minutes and drivers will make one or more reconnaissance laps to the grid during this time.

They will want to check important basic functions such as the team radio, throttle, brakes, gearbox and engine settings. They may also play around with the front wing level from inside the cockpit.

Any driver not on the grid with 15 minutes to go will be required to start this afternoon's race from the pitlane.

Kobayashi is the local hero starting 14th

Kobayashi is the local hero starting 14th © LAT
Our look through the field continues with Kamui Kobayashi who starts 14th this afternoon. The Sauber driver is racing a Formula 1 car in front of his home crowd for the first time, and has impressed many with his flamboyant and attacking style of driving. A regular points-scorer of late, he will again be looking to finish inside the top 10.

Force India has slipped down the pecking order of teams recently and we find Adrian Sutil in 15th and his team-mate Tonio Liuzzi in 17th position. They are set to battle with Toro Rosso drivers Alguersuari and Buemi in the opening laps and are in the danger zone for casualties in the opening laps.

Lotus won the qualifying battle of the new teams and drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will be looking to bring the two T127s home in front of Virgin Racing pilots di Grassi and Glock. HRT drivers Senna and Yamamoto qualified almost two seconds slower than Trulli. Both drivers will endure another difficult race today.

Hamilton needs points but drops to eighth

Hamilton needs points but drops to eighth © Sutton
Red Bull clearly has the pace to control this race from the front, but it's rarely been that simple for the Milton Keynes-based squad on a Sunday afternoon. With Vettel keen to claw back the points advantage enjoyed by team-mate Webber, and the Australian never happy to be beaten by the young German, there is always the potential for a skirmish between the pair - particularly into the first corner.

Kubica's superb qualifying effort puts him right in the mix with the championship contenders from third on the grid, but his race pace is unlikely to trouble the Red Bull pair, so his focus will likely be attempting to keep Alonso at bay for the final podium spot.

Jenson Button starts fifth and is playing the long game in his McLaren. He will be hoping the softer tyres of those around him begin to degrade rapidly, which in practice on Friday appeared to start after around 10 laps. Button can stay out much longer on the harder tyre, before a switch to the option compound to unlock its speed when the track is at its best late in the race.

“The prime tyre is clearly the slower tyre over one lap but it will be the strongest race tyre," said McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh after qualifying.

“We know how good Jenson is at looking after his tyres and running smoothly, and he will be setting out to really run long into this race, that is not a secret, and hopefully if we get a little bit of luck go our way this weekend.”

Hamilton, demoted to eighth by his gearbox penalty, really needs a stellar start to make progress this afternoon. If he can clear Barrichello and Rosberg in the early stages, the Briton may have a chance of salvaging some decent points from a nightmare weekend.

Further back, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Heidfeld, Massa and Petrov look set to dispute the final points positions.

Here's how the grid will line-up for today's race: Pos Driver Team 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2. Mark Webber Red Bull 3. Robert Kubica Renault 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 5. Jenson Button McLaren 6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 7. Rubens Barrichello Williams 8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren * 9. Nico Hulkenberg Williams 10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 11. Nick Heidfeld Sauber 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 13. Vitaly Petrov Renault 14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 15. Adrian Sutil Force India 16. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 17. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India 18. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus 20. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 21. Lucas di Grassi Virgin 22. Timo Glock Virgin 23. Bruno Senna Hispania 24. Sakon Yamamoto Hispania * Five-place penalty for gearbox change

Since qualifying it has been largely dry and sunny at the circuit, but some darker cloud has blown in from the north-west in the last 20 minutes.

We have been monitoring a potential shower threat over the last hour or so, but generally the Suzuka mountains have taken care of any showers approaching the circuit. Temperatures are up on yesterday's poor values and will reach 25 Celsius this afternoon.