Only team-mate Mark Webber could stop Sebastian Vettel from recording a perfect weekend this afternoon in Japan, as the young German romped clear from pole position to win his third race of the season, leading every lap of the race in the process. Had it not been for Webber’s late pitstop for new tyres on low fuel, Vettel would also have recorded fastest lap, but more significantly his 10 points and Brawn’s struggle to 7th and 8th means he remains in title contention with just two races remaining.

From the start, Vettel was challenged strongly by the KERS-boosted Lewis Hamilton, and after successfully fending him off, was never again under pressure for the lead. With more fuel on-board than his nearest rivals, he kept the lead even during the pitstops, and shrugged off a late-race safety car period to record a comfortable five-second victory.

After streaking away on the opening lap, Vettel built his lead steadily during his first 18-lap stint, resetting the fastest lap six times. By the time second-placed Hamilton, who beat Trulli off the line from third, pitted on lap 15 Vettel held almost five seconds of an advantage. Despite being delayed from leaving his first pitstop, Vettel still emerged with a four-second cushion, and once again set about extending the gap. Once the second set of stops had been completed, Vettel was over 15 seconds clear, before the safety car emerged to give him some last-minute worries. But a perfect restart saw him streak clear again.

Behind, Lewis Hamilton and Jarno Trulli had a competitive race-long battle for second place. With the pair swapping positions off the grid, Hamilton held the upper hand throughout the first half of the race, but things began to go downhill for the Briton when he lost the use of KERS before his second pitstop. A gear-selection problem coming out of his second pitstop further compounded his woes, and Trulli was able to overturn a three-second deficit to lead the reigning champion by 1.5 seconds after his pitstop two laps later. Despite both drivers struggling on the soft tyre compared to Vettel, Trulli hung on to the place.

With the podium settled between the leading trio, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen had a fantastic race to take fourth and keep Ferrari ahead of McLaren in the fight for third-best constructor. The result was thanks to a superb second stint on the soft tyre, which saw him close a five-second gap to Nick Heidfeld, enabling him to leapfrog the German during their second pitstops after a slow stop on BMW Sauber’s part. Nico Rosberg took fifth for Williams having controversially gained two places during his second pitstop, at the time of the safety car emerging.

The safety car was triggered by Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari, who crashed heavily at the high-speed 130R corner. The Spanish teenager went wide off the corner, before spinning back to the inside of the track, making heavy contact with the tyre barrier. Thankfully he was fit and healthy after the accident.

Behind Rosberg, Heidfeld took sixth, while Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button took seventh and eighth respectively after another poor afternoon for the championship leaders. A poor second stint for Barrichello left the door open to a Button assault, but the Brazilian held off the challenge thanks to Rosberg between the pair, before Rosberg jumped Barrichello during his final stop.

Elsewhere in the field, Robert Kubica just missed out on a point after pushing Button hard when the safety car pitted, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso finishing tenth. Along with Alguersuari, team-mate Sébastien Buemi was the only other retiree, after clutch problems first plagued his start before eventually giving up altogether forcing his fifth retirement of the season.

Here are the full results;