The Japanese Grand Prix 2009 was the 15th round of the 2009 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 4th.

Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Jarno Trulli, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
1:28:20.443
Finished
2
-
TRU
Jarno Trulli
Toyota
+4.877
Finished
3
-
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
+6.472
Finished
4
1
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
+7.940
Finished
5
2
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Williams
+8.793
Finished
6
2
HEI
Nick Heidfeld
BMW Sauber
+9.509
Finished
7
1
BAR
Rubens Barrichello
Brawn
+10.641
Finished
8
2
BUT
Jenson Button
Brawn
+11.474
Finished
9
-
KUB
Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber
+11.777
Finished
10
6
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Renault
+13.065
Finished
11
-
KOV
Heikki Kovalainen
McLaren
+13.735
Finished
12
2
FIS
Giancarlo Fisichella
Ferrari
+14.596
Finished
13
5
SUT
Adrian Sutil
Force India
+14.959
Finished
14
4
LIU
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Force India
+15.734
Finished
15
-
NAK
Kazuki Nakajima
Williams
+17.973
Finished
16
1
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Renault
+1 Lap
17
2
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
+2 Laps
18
6
ALG
Jaime Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
Accident
19
6
BUE
Sébastien Buemi
Toro Rosso
Clutch
20
-
GLO
Timo Glock
Toyota
Injured
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

Unfortunately we do not have pit stops information for this race.

Strategy

Unfortunately we do not have strategy information for this race..

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Jaime Alguersuari, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 43, Sébastien Buemi, who had a problem with the clutch on lap 11, and Timo Glock, who was injured on lap 0.

Accident

  • Jaime Alguersuari
    Lap 43

Clutch

  • Sébastien Buemi
    Lap 11

Injured

  • Timo Glock
    Lap 0

Qualifying

#1
VET
#2
TRU
#3
HAM
#4
SUT
#5
BAR
#6
HEI
#7
BUT
#8
RAI
#9
KOV
#10
BUE
#11
ROS
#12
ALO
#13
KUB
#14
GLO
#15
ALG
#16
FIS
#17
NAK
#18
GRO
#19
LIU
#20
WEB

Sebastian Vettel dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.06 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:32.160. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Jarno Trulli.

Q1

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:30.883
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:30.917
  • Jenson Button
    1:31.041
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:31.063
  • Sébastien Buemi
    1:31.196
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:31.272
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:31.286
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:31.288
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:31.386
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:31.401
  • Robert Kubica
    1:31.417
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:31.499
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:31.501
  • Timo Glock
    1:31.550
  • Jaime Alguersuari
    1:31.571
  • Giancarlo Fisichella
    1:31.704
  • Kazuki Nakajima
    1:31.718
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:32.073
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi
    1:32.087

Q2

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:30.341
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:30.627
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:30.737
  • Jenson Button
    1:30.880
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:31.052
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:31.055
  • Sébastien Buemi
    1:31.103
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:31.222
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:31.223
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:31.260
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:31.482
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:31.638
  • Robert Kubica
    1:32.341

Q3

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:32.160
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:32.220
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:32.395
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:32.466
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:32.660
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:32.945
  • Jenson Button
    1:32.962
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:32.980

Track evolution

Q1
-0.091
seconds faster
Q2
1.702
seconds slower
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 10 out of the 13 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.