Sebastian Vettel's kiss of life to world title bid

Sebastian Vettel returned to the top step of the Formula 1 podium for the first time in almost four months following his victory in yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix.

• Vettel powers through his final lap towards Germany flags and, below, carries the trophy off after leading from polePicture: Getty Images

The German led home championship leader Mark Webber for a Red Bull one-two at Suzuka to breathe new life into his title bid. It was the German's third victory of the season and the first since the European Grand Prix at Valencia in June during Red Bull's weekend of total dominance.

The 23-year-old led the way in both practice sessions on Friday and, after Saturday's qualifying hour was postponed due to bad weather, took pole in the morning's rescheduled session.

Vettel is now level on 206 points with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who, after two straight wins, had to be content with third place. The pair trail Webber by 14 points.

Vettel controlled the race from the front, a feat that has often eluded him this season. He has secured eight poles this season, but has converted just two of those into wins owing to a mix of mechanical woe and driver error.

Yesterday's win, his second in a row at Suzuka, will go a long way to dispelling questions over his temperament, and Vettel believes he is well placed heading into the final three rounds. "It's obviously been a tough season for us, with a lot of ups and downs and not so trouble-free, but still I think we're in a very good position," he said.

"It's about time, so I'm really happy to be back and to have won. Obviously it was a special experience with qualifying and the race in one day. It wasn't too easy in terms of focus to be ready, but I think the whole team did a very good job."

Webber conceded he was always playing catch-up to Vettel's blistering pace. "Basically it was a formation finish," said the Australian, who was less than a second behind at the chequered flag after 53 laps. "It was very difficult for me to do anything about Sebastian in terms of overtaking; virtually impossible."

Asked whether he now regarded Vettel as his chief title rival, he added: "Two weeks ago it was Lewis Hamilton, then it was Fernando. It's chopping and changing, but the most important thing is that the gap is going the right way. I need to keep it like that."

Red Bull's perfect day was in stark contrast to that of McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and world champion Jenson Button. The latter took fourth place, but only after Hamilton was struck by a gearbox problem that saw him lose third gear. The Briton suffered a weekend to forget, beginning with an accident on Friday that lost him set-up time and continued with a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox overnight. He was also the subject of a stewards' investigation after Williams' Nico Hulkenberg accused him of blocking in qualifying, although he avoided punishment."This wasn't a great weekend for me," he said.

"I made a mistake on Friday, then we changed the gearbox and I got a grid penalty, and then I had another gearbox problem in the race." Hamilton, who finished fifth, is now on 192 points - 28 down on Webber - while Button has seen the gap to the leader grow to 31.

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher was the first home of the non-championship challengers in sixth, while Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi produced a drive to thrill the home crowd as he finished seventh. The second Sauber of Nick Heidfeld was eighth, while the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi rounded out the points scorers. The race was marred by a number of accidents which began when Virgin Racing's Lucas Di Grassi crashed on his installation lap. Renault's Vitaly Petrov clipped Hulkenberg off the start and speared into the barriers. Ferrari's Felipe Massa smashed into Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi at the first corner, while Mercedes' Nico Rosberg retired in spectacular fashion on lap 50 when he suffered a failure at the rear of his car, pitching him into a barrier.