October 04, 2009

Australian Mark Webber was left to rue missing out on a taste of champagne Sunday after another difficult and pointless race saw him finish at the back of the field in Japan

The Red Bull driver had the same car as his victorious teammate German Sebastian Vettel, but instead of jumping on the podium at the finish, he was left to reflect on another missed opportunity.

"It would have been nice to have had some champagne today, which clearly I was in a position to do with the car I had - and the pace I showed in the race," he said.

"It's not nice to not have any momentum at the moment, and all I can do is dust myself down and go to Brazil.

"I'll be a furious man if I finish the season on 51.5 points - I can't get off that (number) now after accumulating so many (points) so fast. Seb has scored 20 in the last five races, and I've scored none."

Looking back on a year that saw him emerge as a possible championship challenger and then fade away, he said: "It's clearly been a very good season for us.

"A lot of the rules and regulations carry on to next year except the fuelling, so there's no reason why our car can't be good next year as well."

His crash on Saturday meant he started Sunday's race from the pit lane.

Then he experienced a series of misfortunes that put paid to any hopes of a decent finish.

"The first lap, the head rest came loose, to a point that I had to pit straight away as the turbulence in the cockpit was way too much for me," he said.

"The second lap, the same thing happened, so I pitted again. I went back out again, and on my first timed lap, I got a puncture on the front right. So I had to pit again. And then we started the race - on lap five.

"But my pace was good with the fuel we had and I did everything that was asked of me in the race. But when you start four laps down, you don't get anything."


Japan GP Results
1. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull) 1h 28 mins 20.443 secs.
2. Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota) at 4.877
3. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren) at 6.472
4. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) at 7.940
5. Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams) at 8.793
6. Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW Sauber) at 9.509
7. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Brawn) at 10.641
8. Jenson Button (GBR/Brawn) at 11.474
9. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW Sauber) at 11.777
10. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Renault) at 13.065
11. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/McLaren) at 13.735
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Ferrari) at 14.596
13. Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India) at 14.959
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA/Force India) at 15.734
15. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/Williams) at 17.973
16. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Renault) at 1 lap
17. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull) at 2 laps

Retirements
Sebastien Buemi (SWI/Toro Rosso) - lap 12
Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/Toro Rosso) - lap 44

F1 Drivers Ladder
1 Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn 85
2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn 71
3 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 69
4 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 51.5
5 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 45
6 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 43
7 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 34.5
8 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 30.5
9 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 26
10 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 24
11 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 22
12 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 22
13 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 15
14 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 9
15 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 8
16 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 5
17 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 3
18 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 2
19 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 0
20 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 0
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India 0
22 Luca Badoer (ITA) Ferrari 0
23 Romain Grosjean (FRA) Renault 0
24 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso 0


Team Pts
1 Brawn 156
2 Red Bull 120.5
3 Ferrari 67
4 McLaren 65
5 Toyota 54.5
6 Williams 34.5
7 Renault 26
8 BMW Sauber 24
9 Force India 13
10 Toro Rosso 5