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Formula 1
Japanese GP
2012 Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix
Live Standings
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7 Days
17 hrs
59 min
21 sec
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Lap 44: Maldonado maintains a solid eighth with Webber unable to make any impression in ninth. Ricciardo is 10th with Schumacher closing fast.
Lap 44: Just 2.2 seconds between Kobayashi and Button now as the Sauber driver tries to respond to recent pressure from the McLaren.
Lap 45: Di Resta is 12th with Vergne 13th and on the tail of the Scot. Senna is 14th and catching them at one second per lap.
Lap 45: Button will have fresher tyres towards the end and has a good chance of depriving Kobayashi of his third place.
Lap 45: Grosjean is 15th with Kovalainen 16th, Glock 17th and Petrov has just been into the pits from 18th place.
Lap 46: Vettel's lead is now 19.3 seconds as he continues towards a dominant back-to-back win.
Lap 46: Kobayashi responds to the pressure from Button, but the McLaren is now just over a second behind.
Lap 47: Vettel won't give up the fight for fastest lap with a new best of 1m36.486s.
Lap 47: Raikkonen's pace is again fading towards the end of his long stint, with Hulkenberg and Maldonado closing in.
Lap 47: Button is told to "give it everything from here" in his battle with Kobayashi.
Lap 47: Raikkonen is holding onto sixth, but Hulkenberg and Maldonado are both in close attendance. Webber is ninth with Ricciardo maintaining 10th.
Lap 48: However, Schumacher is right on the gearbox of the Toro Rosso driver with not many laps to do something about it.
Lap 48: Kobayashi is holding his own for the moment, pausing Button's progress at 1.8 seconds.
Lap 48: Schumacher has a go at Ricciardo as they fight for 10th but the Australian defends well at Turn 1 and keeps track position.
Lap 49: Petrov has been handed a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags earlier in the race. He is 18th.
Lap 49: Vettel is again hinted to back off as he dominates with five laps remaining.
Lap 49: Some 14 seconds behind the entertaining Ricciardo versus Schumacher fight, di Resta is 12th with Vergne and Senna on his tail.
Lap 50: Kobayashi is reacting well to Button's pressure and is holding on to a vital podium finish with his drive under threat.
Lap 50: Ricciardo gets slightly out of shape in the slow hairpin, but Schumacher is not close enough to gain any advantage.
Lap 50: Petrov answers the call and comes in to serve his drive-through penalty.
Lap 50: He loses 14 seconds with that and comes out very close to de la Rosa's HRT.
Lap 51: Button closes to 1.2 seconds behind Kobayashi as he finds the benefit of fresher tyres.
Lap 52: Ricciardo in 10th is doing well holding off Schumacher, while behind them di resta is similarly able to contain Vergne and Senna.
Lap 52: Vettel sets the fastest lap at a rapid 1m35.774s on his penultimate tour of a dominant day in Japan.
Lap 53: Button has DRS for his final attempt but it is not enough and Kobayashi looks on course for a brilliant podium.
Lap 53: A timing glitch meant that Ricciardo wasn't picked up as he crossed the line on his last lap. He is still 10th.
Lap 53: Meantime, Grosjean is wheeled into the garage and his difficult afternoon is over for Lotus.
Sebastian Vettel wins the Japanese Grand Prix!
A commanding victory from the world champion, taking giant strides towards a title defence after Alonso's early exit.
Massa limits the damage for Ferrari with a great, but distant, second place.
But it's delight for the home fans as Kobayashi holds on for a brilliant home podium for Sauber.
Button piled on the pressure to the flag but ends up in fourth after surviving another attack of gearbox gremlins.
Hamilton takes the points for fifth but would have wanted more on a day when Alonso didn't make it past Turn 1.
Raikkonen holds on to fading rubber for sixth, ahead of a strong seventh for Hulkenberg.
Delight for Red Bull, Ferrari and particularly Sauber as the crowd celebrate wildly at Kobayashi's home podium.
Maldonado finishes well in eighth spot for Williams, with Webber ninth and Ricciardo holds onto the final point with 10th spot.
Out of the points, Schumacher finishes in 11th, with di Resta 12th. The Scot held off Vergne (13th) and Senna (14th).
Kovalainen ended up 15th - a solid finish after a brilliant opportunistic start from the Finn. Glock was 16th with Petrov 17th.
De la Rosa ends the race in 18th place, while the retiring Grosjean was the last classified finisher in 19th spot.
"Fantastic!" says Kobayashi as he thanks the team and reflects on a great drive to third place.
By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton, Simon Strang
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