Yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix was perhaps the best demonstration we've seen this year of precisely why Sebastian Vettel is firmly on course for a fourth successive Formula One title.
The difference between the champion-elect's run of victories from Spa to Korea and his latest victory at the Suzuka circuit is that, on this occasion, instead of leading the way from the beginning, Vettel was forced to come from behind in order to snatch the silverware.
Almost from the outset, the race was a three-horse race between Vettel, his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, the Australian taking pole position on his final trip to Suzuka as an F1 driver (aided by KERS problems for Vettel, it should be added), and Romain Grosjean, who, from fourth on the grid, jumped the pair of them heading into the first corner.
The second half of this season has seen Grosjean emerge as a credible candidate to lead the Lotus team into its post-Raikkonen era, and as the Frenchman seized the lead at the first corner, it seemed Grosjean could well be headed for the first win for a Frenchman in F1 since Olivier Panis stood atop the Monaco podium in 1996.
Another driver to make a good start was Lewis Hamilton, who started third. But, the Brit's race was to prove an exceptionally brief one - his Mercedes suffered an instantaneous puncture as his right-rear wheel made contact with the end-plate of Vettel's front wing as Hamilton tried to sweep across the reigning champion's bows.
Hamilton managed to coax his car back to the pit-lane, but the damage done to the floor and rear suspension in the process was sufficient to warrant his retirement a few laps later. Interestingly, had Hamilton successfully demoted Vettel to fourth place, it could have totally changed the complexion of the race.
As it was however, Vettel clung on to third place behind Grosjean and Webber, with Nico Rosberg running fourth in the sole remaining Mercedes ahead of Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and an ever-impressive Nico Hulkenberg.
Such was the pace advantage of the Red Bulls and Lotuses - something Mercedes believes is in large part thanks to clever engine mapping by Renault - that Grosjean, Webber and Vettel were able to escape the following pack at a rate of around a second per lap, Rosberg 10 seconds down on Vettel after as many laps.
The leading trio on the other hand were separated by little more than four seconds by the time Webber made his first pit-stop at the end of lap 11, swapping his options for a fresh set of primes. Grosjean followed suit the following lap, but crucially Vettel was able to stretch his opening stint to 14 laps before pitting.
Though Vettel resumed in third place behind Grosjean and Webber, the fact he had nursed his rubber more effectively up to this stage laid a rock-solid foundation on which he would build his ultimately irresistible challenge for victory.
Conversely, Webber was struggling with tyre wear, and as such was forced to switch to a theoretically slower three-stop strategy. There have been some who suggested after the race that this decision was a deliberate act of conspiracy on the part of Red Bull, but, with Vettel already so close to the title, what would the team have gained in hobbling Webber's bid for a first win of the season?
Webber made his second trip to the pits on lap 25, and it was at this stage that Lotus arguably sacrificed any slim chance Grosjean had of taking his first win. The Enstone team seemed not to realise that they were in fact racing Vettel, rather than Webber, for victory, and as such brought in Grosjean on lap 29 - far too early to give their driver any chance of holding off Vettel in the final stint.
Aided by his longer first stint, Vettel was able to go all the way until lap 37 before his second stop, after which he re-joined the track right behind Grosjean. With the black-and-gold machine's tyres already eight laps old by this stage, it took just three laps for Vettel to close down the two second advantage of Grosjean.
The inevitable pass for second place - Webber having re-taken the lead after Grosjean and Vettel's respective second stops - came at the first corner on lap 41, the Frenchman simply unable to respond to his rival's superior pace with his more used rubber.
One lap later, Webber came in for his third stop, and within a matter of laps was sat right on Grosjean's gearbox. An issue with his DRS prevented him from clearing Grosjean anywhere near as quickly as Vettel could, having to wait all the way until the first corner of the penultimate lap to do so. By this stage, Vettel had established an unassailable lead of nine seconds.
This meant there was no stopping Vettel taking a ninth win of the season - the 35th of his astonishing career - and extending his championship lead to a mammoth 90 points. With 100 now left to play for, the odds strongly favour Vettel sealing his fourth straight title crown in two weeks time at India - he needs just a fifth place finish, regardless of what any other driver achieves.
Behind Webber and Grosjean, Alonso made his way up to fourth place to keep himself in mathematical (if not actual) title contention. This involved a customary good start from a poor grid slot of eighth, followed by passes on teammate Massa during the second stint and Hulkenberg, who had jumped ahead in the first round of pit-stops, in the closing stages.
Hulkenberg was also demoted by Raikkonen with two laps to go, the Finn's race following a broadly similar trajectory to that of Alonso after starting one place behind the Ferrari driver on the grid. Sixth place for Hulkenberg marks the fourth top ten result in a row for the Sauber driver, who, if the paddock rumours are to be believed, has now signed a deal to join Lotus next season.
Coming home seventh was Esteban Gutierrez, who made a great start to climb immediately up to ninth and thereafter put in an assured performance behind the wheel of the second Sauber. It has taken a while for the Mexican to find his feet in F1, but since the summer break, Gutierrez has shown a marked upturn in form. Whether this will be enough to keep him in his seat for next season is an entirely different matter, however.
Having run in fourth early on, Rosberg ended up in eighth place after a drive-through penalty picked up at the first round of pit-stops as his Mercedes pit-crew released him into the path of Sergio Perez's McLaren. Rosberg was able to claw back some ground thereafter, but was unable to find a way by Gutierrez, behind whom he was stuck for the last half a dozen laps.
Another driver to pick up a drive-through penalty, albeit for pit-lane speeding, was Massa, who was forced to be content with a solitary point for tenth place; one position ahead of the Brazilian was McLaren's Jenson Button, who endured a fairly anonymous race en route to ninth.
Button's teammate Perez on the other hand had a far more eventful afternoon. Having run a creditable eighth early on, he lost time in the pits as a result of the near miss with Rosberg before becoming embroiled in an on-track skirmish with the German. Perez sustained a puncture in a clumsy attempt to defend his position from Rosberg at the Casio Triangle, dropping him to 15th at the chequered flag.
Eleventh place fell to Paul Di Resta in another tough race for Force India, who will now be looking over their shoulder at Sauber in the constructors' standings. Adrian Sutil meanwhile had to start from the very back of the grid following a penalty for a gearbox change, making his way up to 14th place by the finish.
Separating the two Force Indias were the Toro Rosso pair, Jean-Eric Vergne leading Daniel Ricciardo on this occasion. The latter started the race on the hard compound tyre, running as high as fourth before his first stop - holding up a pack of faster cars in the process. Any chance of Ricciardo scoring points nonetheless was blown out the water when he picked up a drive-through penalty for passing Di Resta by leaving the circuit.
Pastor Maldonado finished 16th, one place behind Perez, after a fairly brutal move on Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Casio Triangle on the very last lap of the race. Rounding out the finishers were Charles Pic and Max Chilton, their respective teammates Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi becoming early casualties after tangling at the very first corner of the race.
It's one thing to start a race from pole and simply sprint away into the distance, but it's quite another to have to read a race to perfection in order to come from behind and grab the upper hand over your competitors, which is precisely what Vettel did at Suzuka - if his performance doesn't make the naysayers who claim that he cannot race think otherwise, it's doubtful anything the soon-to-be quadruple champion does will.
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