F1: Vettel crashes as Button tops practice

McLaren driver fastest in both sessions of Japanese GP.

SUZUKA: Jenson Button showed he will make Sebastian Vettel sweat for his second world championship as the Briton topped the timesheets in both practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 31-year-old McLaren driver, after leading the morning practice, set his benchmark time of one minute and 31.901 seconds with 31 minutes remaining in the 90-minute afternoon session at a sunny but windy Suzuka.

Button, the 2009 world champion, is 124 points adrift of Red Bull’s Vettel, meaning he has to win all five remaining races – and needs Vettel to finish no better than 11th in every race – to deny the German back-to-back titles.

Vettel, who crashed out in the final stages of the morning session, was third in afternoon practice, 0.194 seconds off top spot. He needs only one point to seal the world driver’s crown. The 24-year-old said the crash was a timely reminder to retain focus.

“I think it wasn’t really a big mistake,” said Vettel. “Maybe at that moment I was not 100 per cent awake, and mistakes around here can be quite costly. I went off and tried to slow the car down, but didn’t make it and hit the wall slightly. I had a good reminder not to start thinking about something else.”

Button said despite heading the timesheets, McLaren still needed to search for more pace in Japan.

“I’m pretty happy, but we need to improve a lot more to really feel confident that we could really challenge the Red Bulls,” he said.

Splitting the only two men in mathematical contention for the title was Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who finished 0.174 seconds behind Button’s session-best time for Ferrari. Australian Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull, while Alonso’s Ferrari teammate, Brazilian Felipe Massa, was fifth.

German pair and Mercedes teammates Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were sixth and seventh ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton, who had a below-par session.

Schumacher fined

Meanwhile, Schumacher has been fined €5,000 for making a late entry into the pits during the second practice. The Mercedes driver dived into the pits after a bollard that marks the official start of the pit lane, a breach of the sporting regulations.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2011.