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Sebastian Vettel kept alive his bid for this year’s Formula One championship when he won Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix and cut Jenson Button’s lead over him to 16 points with two races remaining.
The German delivered an impeccable drive from pole position to take his first victory since the British Grand Prix in June, his third of the season and the fourth of his career.
The 22-year-old Red Bull driver now has a chance to overhaul Button and his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the final events in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Two years ago, as he will know, Finn Kimi Raikkonen lifted the title after trailing by 17 points with two races remaining.
Button finished eighth on Sunday, one place behind Barrichello.
He had required a five-point advantage over the Brazilian to lift the title, but in the end saw his lead trimmed again.
The Briton now has 85 points, Barrichello 71 and Vettel 69.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber remains fourth with 51.5, having finished 17th at Suzuka.
But, with a win worth ten points, the Australian is out of title calculations.
Brawn, meanwhile, need just one more point to take the constructors championship ahead of Red Bull.
Vettel won at the challenging Suzuka circuit by almost five seconds from the Toyota of Italian Jarno Trulli and third-placed, outgoing world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
“It can still be done,” the German said of winning the drivers title.
“It would be nice to have a couple more races left, but with two races to go, we are here to fight and the best thing we can do is win like today.
“We have a great car, still improving, everyone in the factory is improving so we’ll see.”
His Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “He’s got nothing to lose. He just has to win the next two races.”
Raikkonen finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of German Nico Rosberg, fifth for Williams, with German Nick Heidfeld sixth for BMW Sauber.
Button said he was happy to pick up a point.
“I obviously lost a few (points) to Vettel but we expected him to win the race, their pace has been very good all weekend,” he told reporters.
“It’s nice to pick up one or two points, whichever one it is, and to finish just behind Rubens.”
Barrichello said he struggled with his set-up, and was now looking forward to his home race in Brazil.
“I was struggling with tyres. I would have finished sixth if it hadn’t been for the safety car though. I’ll be going happily to Brazil to win the race and keep my chances alive.”
Trulli, who had fought hard for his second place after an anonymous race in Singapore a week earlier, added: “I knew the start would be most difficult. It was a fantastic race for me after that though.
“I enjoyed it because the car was very strong.”
When the lights went out, Vettel made a flying start from pole and streaked clear while Hamilton passed Trulli for second. Button slipped back a place to 11th.
Vettel was in a world of his own in the early laps and by lap 10 was 3.3 seconds clear of Hamilton with Trulli third.
Button was struggling but was handed a lucky break on lap 14 when Adrian Sutil tried to pass Heikki Kovalainen at the chicane and, when they collided, spun.
It was a perfect invitation to Button and he managed to pass both men for eighth, a points position.
Vettel’s lead was so comfortable he was able to stay out for two laps longer than expected as he conserved fuel before the first round of pit stops and some reshuffling of the field.
For Button, all that mattered was that he was unlikely to pass the distant Vettel and was running behind his chief rival Barrichello.
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