Sebastian Vettel moved a step closer to overhauling championship leader Fernando Alonso in the latest Formula One event which took place at Suzuka, Japan last weekend.
The Red Bull Racing driver was in dominant form throughout the weekend, placing his car in pole position before streaking away from the start and leading the race throughout.
Perhaps one of the biggest talking points was not the victory of Vettel but a number of first lap collisions involving Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari's Alonso, Vettel's teammate Mark Webber and second Lotus driver Frenchman Romain Grosjean.
A hectic run down to the first corner from the start saw Alonso tag the front end of Raikkonen, resulting in the championship leader spinning out of the race in under 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, Grosjean continued his run of first lap accidents this season by colliding with Webber as the pair approached the second corner. This resulted in Webber having to limp back to the pits on just the opening lap.
Despite this setback he did manage to fight his way back through the pack and finish in a highly credible ninth position.
Following the race, Webber reacted angrily to the event and said: "It was the first-lap nutcase again, Grosjean. The rest of us are trying to fight for decent results each weekend, but he's trying to get to the third corner as fast as he can at every race."
These early incidents aside the 15th Grand Prix of 2012 proved to be a highly competitive and entertaining affair, with Vettel taking the win followed by Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.
With just five races to go, the championship would now appear to be wide open, with Alonso leading on 194 points, followed by Vettel (190), Raikkonen (157), Lewis Hamilton (152) and Webber (134), while a further 125 points are up for grabs.
The next race will take place this weekend at the Korea International Circuit.
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Posted by Mark Thompson
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