05.40 BST - Good morning to you all for what could be the race that decides the destination of the 2009 Championships that don't matter. But it probably won't after a highly dramatic qualifying session which we brought to you yesterday which saw multiple crashes, yellow flags aplenty and one third of the grid ending up with some kind of grid penalty! During the next 20 minutes we'll try and clear up the revised grid order for you.05.45 BST - I had some pre-rehearsed spiel for this, but that's all just gone out of the window after Brundo interviewed Ickle, who talked about "ranking", or at least Brundo was at great pains to ensure everyone knew it was "ranking" and not some other "complicated German word".
Anyway, After Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock had crashed in Q2, Sebastien Buemi ran wide on the exit of Spoon and left all sorts of mess all over the track, and then proceeded to drive his damaged car back to the pits. That earned him a 5 place penalty from his 10th position. However, Adrian Sutil (4th), Rubens Barrichello (5th), Jenson Button (7th) and Fernando Alonso (12th) were deemed not to have slowed significantly for the yellow flags and were also each given a 5 place penalty. Furthermore, after a crash in Q3, Heikki Kovalainen (9th) had to undertake a gearbox change and loses 5 places, as does Tonio Liuzzi (19th).
05.50 BST - Glock's crash saw him taken to hospital for checks on what was said to be a leg wound and some back pain, and the bad news is that he has not been given the all clear to race. Toyota had hoped to attain permission for Japanese GP2 Asia Series Champion Kamui Kobayashi to substitute for the German in today's race, but they have failed to do so. Thus we're down to 19 starters for the race with Mark Webber, whose damaging accident in FP3 yesterday meant he was unable to play any part whatsoever in qualifying, starting from the pitlane.
The revised grid is thus: Vettel, Trulli, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Rosberg, Sutil, Kubica, Button, Kovalainen, Alguersuari, Buemi, Fisichella, Nakajima, Alonso, Liuzzi, Webber.
05.55 BST - Many times in the earlier history of the Japanese GP at Suzuka, the driver in second on the grid made it into the first corner first and/or went on to take victory, and Jarno Trulli will be hoping that happens, for the first time in a few years here. Threatening in third however is the KERS-equipped McLaren of Hamilton. The other intriguing thing is that Rosberg and Kubica are now relatively handily placed on the grid with long 1-stop fuel loads. But then again this has always really been a 2-stop race.
06.00 BST - Of course, the destiny of the title has quite often been decided at Suzuka - in fact, for the first 5 years of it being held here, it was won here (Piquet in 87, Senna in 88, 90 and 91, and Prost in 89), as well as by Hill in 96, Hakkinen in 98 and 99 and Schumacher (M) in 2000 and 2003. Will it be decided here today? It has to be considered unlikely, it has to be said. Nevertheless, the formation lap gets underway.
Lap 1 - One of the STRs is left on the grid as Vettel holds off the KERS-assisted Hamilton into the first corner, while it's bad news for Button who's down in 11th behind some very heavy runners in Kovalainen and Kubica. Mark Webber is changing tyres already at the end of the first lap, and Alonso passes Liuzzi at the end of the lap for 15th.
Lap 2 - Vettel sets a very rapid lap and has pulled out 1.9 seconds already on Hamilton. Webber pits again and they're having to tape down his headrest, another trivial issue for the poor Aussie.
Lap 3 - Button has passed Kubica somewhere off-camera for 10th. He also passed Fisichella at some point as the Italian had jumped him off the line.
Lap 5 - Button now flying up to the back of Sutil, who seems somewhat stuck behind KERSalainen's McLaren. Unbelievably, Webber pits again, with a puncture. Surely the most unlucky man in F1.
Lap 7 - Another new fastest lap from Vettel extends his lead to 2.9 seconds. He's over 2 seconds a lap quicker than the Kovalainen-Sutil-Button trio.
Lap 9 - The top 3 runners are so much quicker than anybody else it's painful. Especially if your name is J.Button. He's a pitstop behind Vettel already.
Lap 11 - Ted tells us Button's car is OK, thank god for that, we were all so worried about it. Trulli takes a couple of tenths out of Hamilton in pursuit of 2nd. Button complaining that he doesn't have the pace on the straight to jump Sutil.
Lap 12 - Bwemmy drives into the garage, which can only be a good thing after his wrecking exploits yesterday in Qualifying. Heidfeld has finally found some pace, while Kimi and Boobens also set personal bests, as does the Kovy train.
Lap 13 - Sutil gets a good run out of 130R and drills it up the inside of Heikki into the chicane, but Heikki just decides to drive into him on the exit. What a fool, albeit not as much of a fool as Legard, who starts banging on about Sutil "getting in scrapes". How dare he try to overtake someone perfectly fairly?! Of course, all of this benefits Button, who's up a pair of places.
Lap 15 - First frontrunner to pit is Hamilton, who ran softs for the first stint and is into harder tyres for the second. Also in is poor Adrian Sutil, he does often make a mess of things but this time I can't possibly blame him at all.
Lap 16 - Trulli pits from what was second after Hamilton's stop, and 8.7 seconds later he's on his way, rejoining not too far behind the McLaren again in 7th. Vettel doing a purple S1 on whats probably his own in-lap.
Lap 17 - Vettel carries on, having managed to save an extra lap of fuel, but Button pits, as does Fisichella. Heidfeld is pretty rapid in second as well, while Boobens has found some pace as well.
Lap 18 - Longer than hoped-for stop for Vettel as they had to hold him, he'll lose a little bit to Hamilton but not too much. Heidfeld, Raikkonen and Barrichello all pit and rejoin. All of that leaves Vettel in the lead ahead of Nico, who's not looking too shabby on his one-stopper.
Lap 21 - Algie complaining on the radio that Barrichello is holding him up, bless. Nico has some decent pace up in 2nd in his Williams.
Lap 22 - Damn, Nico only had enough for 22 laps, so that'll be a 2-stopper I guess. He emerges behind Boobens but ahead of Nakas, as Algie pits as well.
Lap 24 - Barrichello really isn't fast in this stint, as Heikki pits in the Macca.
Lap 25 - Liuzzi is the latest to pit in the Findia. Trulli takes a tenth or so out of Hamilton, which could end up being crucial in their battle for second at the 2nd pitstops.
Lap 26 - Kubby pits and emerges behind Button in 11th place. Short middle stint for Kubby.
Lap 27 - Nakajima is the latest man to pit, which means only the Renault pair have yet to stop.
Lap 28 - Grojo going a bit wide at Spoon, lucky that there's tarmac there, but unable to stop Sutil sliding up the inside of him for 13th. Brundo rightly points out that the young chap makes a lot of mistakes.
Lap 30 - The Franco-Swiss guy does indeed make what one would imagine is his one and only stop of the afternoon, as Vettel turns the wick up and sets a new fastest lap of the race. Alonso is the last man to pit, rejoining behind his fellow countryman Alguersuari.
Lap 31 - Kimi is lapping very quickly at the moment, faster than everyone except the leader. Liuzzi puts a nice move on Nakajima into the first corner for 15th place, although my heart was in my mouth for a second as the tyres nearly contacted.
Lap 33 - Raikkonen sets a purple S2 and indeed the quickest lap of the race so far in his relentless pursuit of Heidfeld, although we think he might be running a shorter middle stint.
Lap 34 - Webber makes his 4th stop of the afternoon from a distant 18th and last place, poor bloke. Grosjean must have had an off on that lap, he was 7 seconds slow in the middle sector.
Lap 35 - Kimi does indeed make an early final stop, and sadly for him he rejoins right in the midst of the Rosberg-Button-Kubica train, between the championship leader and the BMW.
Lap 36 - Heidfeld pits next time around, and a slower stop for BMW loses Ickle the place to Kimi, and ensures Ickle is holding up his teammate who really needs to be moving quickly to stand a chance of jumping Button.
Lap 37 - Hamilton pits and a rapid 6.6 second stop sees him on his way, although a slow exit from the pitlane might harm him slightly. Trulli instantly throws in a personal best lap in his bid to steal second place from under the Champion's nose. Meanwhile, Kubby tries to pass his teammate into Spoon but is chopped off.
Lap 39 - Trulli makes his stop after 2 extra laps, and it turns out he's done enough to get ahead of Hamilton! Great job from the Italian there, and you have to say he's driven a great race today, as Fisichella and Kovalainen pit together. The Italian emerges infront, but Kovalainen slips down the inside of him exiting the pitlane in a frankly hilarious move.
Lap 40 - Vettel pits and is delayed by maybe half a second by a slow front-right, but no real harm done. Button also pits and rejoins ahead of Alguersuari.
Lap 41 - Kubica pits, but the damage was done as he was held up by his teammate, and he's well behind Button.
Lap 42 - Boobens makes his final stop and rejoins ahead of his teammate, with a bit of empty track between them, which Nico will be hoping to slot into. Vettel is going purple everywhere and just taking the mick out of everyone.
Lap 43 - Algie and Tonio make their final stops, just 5.8 seconds for the Toro Rosso crew. Sebvet was 1.8 seconds faster than Trulli on that lap, he's just having a giggle out there.
Lap 45 - Algie loses it a bit at 130R and ends up in the barriers on the inside of the corner. Fortunately he's absolutely fine, but race control sensibly deploy the safety car. This could be good news for Nico, who was hoping to pit and rejoin ahead of the Brawns. Indeed, he's not only done that but he's also somehow got ahead of Heidfeld.
Lap 47 - Might be another lap or so before we restart yet, there's a car still down at 130R. Mark Webber makes his 5th stop of the afternoon to replace his front wing. They've put Algie in an ambulance as a precaution, but he did walk away from the accident.
Lap 48 - The marshals are having trouble repairing the tyre wall on the inside of 130R, which could be a problem when it comes to restarting. Or not, as they seem to have just decided to leave it as it is. And the safety car will be in at the end of the 49th lap.
Lap 50 - Nobody fancying a look into turn 1 it seems. Grosjean deciding to let everyone through at Spoon, which was an interesting move.
Lap 52 - Mark Webber sets the fastest lap of the race, bless him. Sadly nobody seems bothered to pass anyone in this little 4 lap sprint.
Lap 53 - The chequered flag is out, and Vettel pulled out an astonishing 4.8 seconds in those 4 laps. Trulli takes an excellent second ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen. Nico takes 5th after a strong race, ahead of Ickle, Boobens and Button, so the Englishman limits the damage as far as his teammate goes anyway to one point. However, another 2 results like this would see Vettel take the title!
EPILOGUE
07.40 BST - Vettel looks suitably delighted, Toyota certainly are, Hamilton seems fairly cheerful but he was outdriven by Trulli today. Oh and there's everyone's favourite anthem, 'Land der Berge, Land am Strome' to celebrate Austria's victory.
07.50 BST - Short epilogue I'm afraid as I'm off to bed again. Thanks for joining us this morning and I hope you'll join us again in a fortnight's time for the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Button gets another shot at sealing the drivers title. Until then, cheerio.
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