Hill is full of admiration for the German, saying that he deserves incredible credit for still competing at the highest level of Formula 1.

He said: “It’s unbelievable he’s still going, whilst I’ve been retired for 12 years.”

“He’s an extraordinary performer who clearly loves his driving and doesn’t want to stop. I can understand that.”

“But Formula One cannot carry people along if they are not doing their bit.”

“He’s going to have to fight with everything he’s got to keep going for another year, or beyond this one.”

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And so far he hasn’t quite reached the heights that saw him win the world title five years in a row. But this season has seen a different Michael Schumacher to the one we saw at the start of 2010.

There is less pressure and media focus on Schumacher this year, another German, slightly younger than Michael, has been the centre of attention pretty much all year.

He was never going to come back and start winning straight away; he had after all, been out of the cockpit for four years. But the second half of this season has seen a more consistent, a more dangerous Michael Schumacher.

The German, who’ll be 43 at the start of next season, was joined in August by Jock Clear who became Schumacher’s performance engineer after leaving Mercedes factory headquarters.

He teamed up with Michael’s new race engineer Peter Bonnington and since the trio came together, minus a couple of retirements, Michael hasn’t finished lower than his 7^th place in Abu Dhabi.

It is no coincidence that Schumacher has managed his tyres a lot better in the second half of the season, managing to still put in fast laps on older tyres allowing him to go longer and pit at the optimum time.

Michael currently sits eighth in the driver’s championship, seven points behind team-mate Nico Rosberg and whilst Schumacher might not be able to win in Brazil next Sunday, finishing ahead of Rosberg would send a very big message to not only Nico but the rest of the field ahead of next year.

Can Schumacher win again? Yes he can and 2012 presents undoubtedly the best opportunity yet for Schumacher, as well as Mercedes, to do it. Continuing work with his engineers and an ever-better car, his first aim will be to get back on the podium and then it’ll be to stand on the top step once more that becomes the next target.

The giant of years gone by isn’t back yet, but it’s starting to stir.

By Matthew Roulstone

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The length of the German driver’s new contract is yet to be clarified but in a statement issued on Thursday, the team said it would ‘include the 2013 season and beyond.’

It ends the speculation in recent weeks that Rosberg would be joining Ferrari next season to replace the poor-performing Felipe Massa.

The German driver’s name was one of a host supposedly in contention if the Italian side decided to drop their number two at the end of the season.

The 26 year-old joined Mercedes, along with fellow countrymen Michael Schumacher, at the start of last season when the team returned to Formula 1.

He has scored 3 podiums and 217 points for the German side since he signed and said he hopes next season to be able to reach the top step of the podium:

“I am very excited to have extended my contract with the Mercedes GP team. To win in a Silver Arrow will be one of the highlights of my life so far, and I greatly enjoy helping to lead our team in our quest to become the best in Formula 1.

“I have every confidence that the team will provide me with a winning car, and that we will be able to contribute to the fantastic racing heritage of the Silver Arrows. I look forward to great times in the years ahead with the Mercedes-Benz family.”

Team principal Ross Brawn said he was delighted that Rosberg had chosen to stay with Mercedes team: “Nico has performed exceptionally well for our Silver Arrows team over the past two seasons, achieving results at the very limit of the technical capabilities of our current car.

“He has an excellent work ethic and, together with Michael, this gives us a driver pairing who consistently push the team to improve and progress.”

With Schumacher contracted to race with Mercedes next year, it gives the team an unchanged driver line-up for the third successive year. Neither driver has managed to secure a podium finish so far this season but will hope to change that this weekend in Sunday’s penultimate race in Abu Dhabi.

By Matthew Roulstone

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The German says that he is looking forward to the penultimate race of the 2011 Formula 1 season.

Looking ahead to the weekend, he said: “The twilight race here certainly delivers a very unique atmosphere and challenge, and I truly enjoyed driving in those conditions last year when I was doing so for the first time.”

“The season’s ending is coming up with some quite spectacular races; after the debut in India last weekend.”

“I hope that we can carry on our good team performance next weekend, at the home race for Aabar, and I look forward to scoring more points.”

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Start: And the lights out on the first ever Indian Grand Prix and Fernando Alonso is flying! But the Spaniard’s mad dash for the first corner ends in frustration as he runs wide to allow Button up to third! Hamilton falls behind Massa – watch out for that one later – and Schumacher moves up the grid. And there is contact at the back! Maldonado, Barrichello, and Glock in the thick of things while Trulli spins a corner later. Chaos. And now Button is past Webber! Great stuff from the McLaren man.  

Lap 2 – The Yellow Flags are still out for the start line incident, Barrichello comes into the pits as does Glock and Trulli, Button is already 1.7 seconds behind Vettel after he managed to get past Webber.

Lap 4 – DRS enabled as they yellow flags stop,  Webber is looking to get back past Button.

Lap 5 – Jenson a bit brutal there! He holds off a DRS assisted charge as Webber tries to get past, with the Australian forced to go wide as contact loomed

Lap 6 - McLaren appear to have great traction and straight line speed out of the corners, making life difficult for Webber.

Lap 7 – Vettel goes purple as he sets a fastest lap of the race, so far a very familiar pattern. Further back Jamie Alguersuari complains to his engineer about losing time behind Bruno Senna, while Felipe Massa continues to hold an advantage over Hamilton in 5^th.

Lap 8 – The charge from Webber has abated slightly, the McLaren mechanics are confident Button can shake him off as the Red Bull man’s tyres start to go near the edge of the cliff.

Lap 9 – Torro Rosso demonstrate their raw straight line speed as Alguersuari goes past Senna. What a revival Red Bull’s little sister is currently going through.

Lap 10 – Stewards announce no action for incidents at the start, Kobayshi will be breathing a sigh of relief from the pit lane. Di Resta has pitted already to swap his hard tyres (he was the only man in top 12 to start on the prime) and is forced to fight his way back up the field. Button sets a new fastest lap of the race.

Lap 12 – Another new fastest lap for Button, he is flying up towards Vettel while leaving Webber for dead, can he close the gap before the first round of stops? And is this a hint of tyre troubles again for Red Bull?

Lap 12 - Button goes quickest AGAIN, he is flying, can he upset the patter of most races this season by catching Vettel early rather than late?

Lap 14 – Maldonado is off the track from 13^th, Williams have had an utterly horrendous weekend. And that’s a big move in the midfield battle , Alguersuari does Sutil for 9^th. Buemi closing on on the Force India man.

Lap 15 – Button is demonstrating amazing consistently, and the gap to Vettel is under four seconds as Buemi goes past Sutil now while Sauber’s Sergio Perez is all over di Resta in the battle for 14^th.

Lap 17 – Alonso and Webber in the pits with the Australian ahead still while Hamilton also comes in for a stop, quiet race for him so far. Schumacher the big winner there as he gets ahead of Alonso who emerges from the pit lane behind the German, although he’s not pitted he will certainly hold the Spaniard up.

Lap 18 - Alonso still struggling to get past Schumacher but he eventually gets passed, Massa who almost collided with his team-mate when he came out from the pits has fitted in behind those two.

Lap 19 – Button in the pits and he comes safely out ahead of Webber as both Mercedes boys come in for a stop.

Lap 20 – Vettel gets in and out comfortably from the pit lane ahead of Button who is around five seconds back, while Webber sets a fastest lap which is quickly beaten by Massa. Schumacher snatches 8^th off Senna.

Lap 21 – di Resta in for his second stop, can he salvage anything from this race?

Lap 22- Vettel goes purple with a monster quickest lap as Hamilton begins to line up the two Ferrari’s ahead of him, can we expect fireworks?

Lap 23 – Hamilton has come to life on his new tyres and is all over the back of Massa, replays show that Massa ran well wide to help Hamilton close in right behind him.

La 24 – it was almost inevitable wasn’t it? Hamilton comes up the inside of Massa at turn 5 who closes the gap a little too aggressively, the Brazilian spins and Hamilton’s front wing is damaged, and Rowan Atkinson in the McLaren garage makes a very Mr Bean like face. Massa may have some internal damage as he runs wide, while Hamilton is back out in 9^th. Buemi out of the race with engine failure.

Lap 29 – Alonso goes quickest as Hamilton tries to get past Algesuari, 10 seconds covers the top three. Intresting stat pops u, Buemi is the fastest in terms of sheer speed. Massa gets a drive through as Hamilton lets out a sigh of relief. Tough one to call.

Lap 31 – Hamilton told about the Massa penalty as Massa serves his punishment, thankfully Massa feed out nowhere near Hamilton, who passes Alguersuari.

Lap 32 – where has Alonso’s pace come from? He goes purple again. Salt in Massa’s wounds as he comes in the pits for a stop and a new nose cone.

Lap 33 – Vettel goes under 1.30 to set a new quickest lap, replays show the Ferrari front wing wobbling again badly. Explains the wing change for Massa earlier.

Lap 34 – Massa rolls to a stop with broken suspension again, curse of the kerb again for the Brazilian again.

Lap 36 – Vettel quickest once again, the gap to Button is approaching 6 seconds, Petrov goes off-piste for the one hundredth time this afternoon.

Lap 37 – Guess what happened? Yep Vettel down to 1.28, he really is stamping his authority on this race.

Lap 38 – Alonso is heeding the warning of his team-mate by avoiding the kerb, but he is catching Webber who has come in for the pits, he’s on the hard tyre now that is generally about 1.5 seconds slower, going to be difficult for him now.

Lap 40 – good game of cat and mouse this, Alonso in the pits and comes out ahead of Webber but the hard tyres aren’t as slow as anticipated so we should be in for some good wheel to wheel stuff between these two.

Lap 42 - Webber has lost more places off the start line than any other driver this year and it looks like another frustrating afternoon for him as he is unable to catch Alonso cold and re-pass him, instead showing his frustrations and locking up. Button reels off a couple of quickest lap to bring the gap to Vettel down below six seconds.

Lap 43 – Vettel is seemingly struggling a little bit as Button closes in little by little, doesn’t look like enough at the moment though. Schumacher and Rosberg closing up down in 5^th and 6th, could be a bit tasty later on.

Lap 45 – Lovely expressive hand gesture from Perez as he passes a backmarker, the Mexican didn’t seem pleased there at all.

Lap 46 – Rosberg in for tyres along with Hamilton, both on the harder rubber, Can the McLaren man salvage anything and can Rosberg hold off his team-mate?

Lap 47 - Button in as well, surely Vettel will respond to negate the undercut? Senna moves up to 9^th. Yep the German is in, this is crucial for the race… he’s out ahead of him but the gap is down under four seconds.

Lap 48 – Schumacher is now ahead of Rosberg and running much quicker, still has to stop though.

Lap 49 – Vettel Button gap now 2.7 seconds, is there a twist in this race?

Lap 50 – replays show Webber running wide and over the kerb, it’s been another frustrating afternoon for the Red Bull man again. Another fierce midfield battle again for the final point spots.

Lap 51 – Webber is frustrated by a backmarker in his pursuit of Alonso while Schumacher has a rough entry into the pit lane. Vettel has eased the gap above three seconds again. Schumacher easily out in front of his team-mate for 5^th, this is turning into a good race for the seven time champion.

Lap 54 – a bit of a lull in action before Vettel livens things up with a quickest lap, Button has no chance of catching him now.

Lap 55 – Utterly relentless from Vettel, another fastest lap, doesn’t look like there will be much change in the grid order now with Webber back from Alonso.

Lap 59 – Webber goes purple as he has one last charge on the hard tyres, Senna is forced to stop meaning he is out of the points and Sutil and Perez move up into 9^th and 10^th.

Lap 60 – Webber’s efforts prove to be in vain as Alonso stays tantalisingly out of reach, and Vettel wins the first ever Indian Grand Prix! Utterly emphatic win for him, and not a bad drive for Button either who gets a brilliant second. Alonso 3^rd, Webber 4^th, Schumacher 5^th, great drive from him. Hamilton a lowly 7^th, looking forward to the post-race interviews already. click here to read the race report and for all the drivers reactions.

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Vettel led from start to finish in the inaugural Indian race and rarely looked threatened from Jenson Button behind him, and when the McLaren man did muster a charge the German responded emphatically with a series of lap records to canter to victory in New Delhi.

•  The Indian Grand Prix – As it happened

Having set a new record for most amount of laps led in a season the youngest ever double world champion appeared to be toying with the remainder of the pack, responding to anything closing up behind him with lap record after lap record.

Hopes of a Red Bull one-two were dashed however as Mark Webber, who has earned himself a reputation as a poor starter this season having been passed off the start line more than any other driver on the grid in 2011 got away safely enough before being passed by Button, while his race took another turn for the worse as Alonso

Rubens Barrichello, Kamui Kobayashi  and Timo Glock were all involved in an incident as the trio dived for the for the first corner, with Kobayashi’s race finished before it had even begun. A corner later and Trulli was in the wars, shooting wide and being forced into the pits.

Button was able to get past Fernando Alonso off the start as the Spaniard got off quickly but out-braked himself to sacrifice third spot to the McLaren man, and before long Button had the jump on Webber , gaining excellent traction out of the corner into the long back straight and blasting past the Australian for second, a spot who wouldn’t sacrifice for the rest of the race after holding off the Red Bull man’s initial charge.

• Indian Grand Prix – Drivers Reaction

Alonso then got the better Webber on lap 40 as both man came in for a set of the harder tyre that proved to be much quicker than most expected – in fact Vettel set the race’s quickest lap on them – and from then on the Australian cut a frustrated figure locking up repeatedly as he tried to work his way onto the podium.

Once more there was controversy as Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton came into contact, but this time it was the Brazilian who was deemed to have been at fault. Hamilton fell behind Massa from the start and into 6^th, and a mistake from the Brazilian allowed his rival to close in behind him, before Hamilton had a dart down the inside on lap 24 at turn five. Massa closed the door on an on-rushing Hamilton with the Ferrari man spinning wide while the 2008 champion limped back to the pit-lane to drop both down the grid.

The day went from bad to worse for Massa as he came in for a change of front wing as the wobbling issue that had blighted his weekend struck again, forcing him into the pits before he made the same mistake as in qualifying by charging into a raised kerb and ripping off his suspension to end his race.

Hamilton radioed back to his team amidst fears his car may have been seriously damaged by the collision, and while he got the all-clear from the pit wall his pace suggested something different as he struggled home in 7^th place, suffering from bad vibrations in right handers.

Michael Schumacher rounded off an excellent weekend as he got a lighting start to jump up from 11^th to 8^th, and the German demonstrated excellent pace to work his way up the field and past his team-mate Nico Rosberg who ended up crossing the line in 6^th place.

With the championship already decided much of the intrigue going into the race was in the fierce midfield battle, and for a long time it looked as though both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi reclaimed 9^th and 10^th place after a poor start, but the battle to get the upper hand in the constructors championship played out across the entire race with Renault, Force India and Sauber all scrapping for points.

Eventually it was Alguersuari who came out on top in claiming 8^th place ahead of Adrian Sutil, while Sergio Perez claimed the final point ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, who enjoyed a typically eventful race as he ran wide time and time again. There was no joy for Buemi however, who was forced to retire from the race along with Massa, Pastor Maldonado, Timo Glock, and Kamui Kobayashi, but there was reason to cheer for the home crowd as Narain Karthikeyan, only the second ever Indian Formula 1 driver, finished the race, ending up in 17th.

Race Results:

Pos Driver Team Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:35.002
 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     8.433
 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    24.301
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    25.529
 5.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:05.421
 6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:06.851
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:24.183
 8.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
10.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
11.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
12.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap
13.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
15.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +    2 laps
16.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
17.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
18.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
19.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    4 laps

DNF: F Massa, P Maldonado, S Buemi, K Kobayashi, T Glock

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The German looks like he will be difficult to pass come race day on Sunday, but at least Lewis Hamilton looked to have rediscovered the fire that seemed to have abandoned him earlier in the season, although his three grid place penalty will do nothing to change his mind that the race stewards are out to get him.

Elsewhere Felipe Massa’ s crash in the dying moments of Q3 left the Brazilian fuming about kerb design, while Red Bull boss Christian Horner is adamant that Mark Webber won’t be helped to his first race win of 2011 in order to help him claim 2nd place in the Championship.

Sebastian Vettel, 1st: “It was a good session for us at a new circuit, new venue. It was tricky for all of us. We’ve seen all weekend with dust on the track so in the end we ended up with one racing line clear of dirt. If you go just a little bit off that line it makes you lose time so it’s tricky. The car was fantastic since Friday and throughout qualifying. In the end there was a little bit left in the first sector. There’s a long straight after Turn Three so you want to make sure you don’t lose time. I’m extremely happy and it’s good to be here. It will be a very interesting race on a challenging circuit. It’s my first time in India and I’m excited to race.”

Michael Schumacher, 12th: “[Qualifying was] not very special. In Q1, traffic wasn’t ideal for us. We had vibrations on tyres but I don’t understand why. It doesn’t explain the difference to Nico [Rosberg]. It might be something to do with how we prepare the tyres. We need to get on top of it. If you look this morning, the long runs were normal. It’s just one-lap performance which we need to sort out.”

Fernando Alonso, 3rd: “I think it was a good qualifying for us and a good weekend so far. Felipe [Massa] was on top of the times in free practice yesterday. There were not too many problems in qualifying so it was a smooth Saturday. I’m in front of Jenson [Button] which is quite a nice surprise. With Lewis’ [Hamilton] penalty, starting third will be even better. Normally our strong point is on Sunday with race pace so I’m optimistic for Sunday.”

Christian Horner on his plans for Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel on Sunday: “The focus for us is to let the guys race. Mark doesn’t want to be gifted that second place. What he wants is to win a race before the end of the year. Our priority as a team is to win the race with whichever driver that may be.”

Mark Webber, 2nd: “It was tricky to work out the right strategy for qualifying but it’s a good challenge for all of us. The first sector was tricky to get right and I could have done better on my first lap. Then I got yellow flags with Felipe so I couldn’t do my second lap. We have got a good foundation for a very good race on Sunday.”

Lewis Hamilton, 5th: “It has been a good day for me. I’m really surprised that we were able to split the Red Bulls. It’s great to be on the front row in terms of how we qualified but of course we’ve got the penalty. It was a bit of a silly mistake [on Friday] and I paid the price. We’ve still got good pace and there are two DRS zones so overtaking should be OK compared to other places. I’m still optimistic.”

Felipe Massa, 6^th, on his crash at turn 9: “It’s a high-speed corner where you have very low kerbs, and then you have this high sausage kerb.”

“I think when you have high speed like that, the car has a lot of downforce, a lot of power to the ground, and when you hit something concrete like that, you can have a failure in the suspension and that’s what happened to me. He warned that there could be repeats in his incident in tomorrow’s race, as he does not think his error was a large one. I didn’t take the kerb too strongly, I took a little bit of kerb and then my suspension didn’t survive,” said Massa. “So it can be a problem for the race.”

Nico Rosberg, 7th: “I’m pleased that we made a step forward today but we could perhaps have finished higher. In Q1, I hit a kerb quite heavily and damaged the floor which lost some of the car’s downforce for the rest of qualifying. I was on my quickest lap at the end of Q3 but unfortunately I had to slow down for the yellow flag after Felipe’s incident so that cost me some time. I will push hard to gain places tomorrow and have a good race on this fantastic track. I’m guessing it will be an exciting race and the Indian people should be proud to have one of the best tracks in the world of motorsport now!”

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Sebastian Vettel offered no respite at the Indian Grand Prix despite already claiming the tile, securing his 13^th pole of this season for the inaugural Indian race.

Vettel looked spectacularly quick throughout practice and qualifying and swept to yet another pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, although Hamilton will drop back three positions after his penalty for speeding through a yellow flag in Friday practice.

Dust and the discrepancy between the two types of Pirelli tyre available to drivers for the Indian Grand Prix meant a wide range of different strategies were used for qualifying, but even that couldn’t alter Vettel’s dominance as he goes in search of nearing Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 pole positions in a season, while his latest effort means Red Bull’s 16 poles this season sets a new record.

McLaren’s Jenson Button had an indifferent session and was compromised by the fact he had to burn a precious set of soft tyres just to make it out of Q1, with the 2009 champion eventually winding up in 5^th place.

Both Ferrari drivers looked to have had a fairly solid day at the office as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa secured 3^th and 6^th respectively, although there was bad news for the Brazilian as he crashed out in the dying seconds of the shootout to bring out the yellow flags, an incident that stopped Webber setting a second quick time to challenge Vettel and perhaps more importantly may have far reaching consequences for Button, who could be hauled in front of the race stewards for completing his lap at full pace despite the presence of the flags.

Torro Rosso landed an important blow in the midfield battle as both Sebastien Buemi and Jamie Alguersuari made rare appearances in the top ten, and will start the race in 9^th and 10^th.

In Q1 Button and Michael Schumacher both ran wide as grip continued to be elusive to find, The McLaren man coming undone at turn nine while Schumacher going off the track on the final corner. Button later said over the team-radio: “there really is no grip out here, I’m really struggling “as if to emphasise the point.

That slip up left Button in danger of falling out at the first attempt, and things took a turn for the worst as he was forced to emerge in the dying minutes of Q1 on a precious set of the softer tyre just to ensure he made it through to the second session, although the 2009 Champion would have been sweating as he emerged from the pits in heavy traffic.

Schumacher was almost left counting the cost of being held up at turn 10 before he crossed the line with a time that put him 12^th overall in Q1.

Timo Glock’s session ended early with a gear box failure that halted his charge to make it inside 107% of the top time, while Bruno Senna who was blocked by Jamie Alguersuari emerging from the pits, recovered to make it through safely into the second session.

Vitaly Petrov looked keen as he attempted to make amends for his five place penalty carried over from the Korean Grand Prix as he topped the timesheets in the first qualifying session, with Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton behind the Russian.

Kamui Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Daniel Ricciardo, Narain Karthikeyan, Jerome D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock all went out in Q1, although there was reason to cheer for both HRT drivers as they got ahead of the Virgin pairing of Glock and D’Ambrosio for the first time.

Vettel got Q2 off with a bang as he clocked a lighting quick lap to move him to the top of the pile 1.24.657, and although Hamilton went off in hot pursuit of the German he could only get within 4/10ths of his time.

Schumacher’s indifferent day continued as he failed to convert his pace in practice into a decent spot on the grid as he failed to reach Q3, mustering only 12^th place and leaving at Q2 with Petrov, di Resta, Maldonado, Senna, Barrichello, and Perez, although Petrov will drop down five places for his accident with Schumacher in Korea.

There was some good news for Torro Rosso as Sebastien Buemi made it into the top ten shootout for the first time in his career. Adrian Sutil also made a point to his Force India bosses amidst speculation he may be let go at the end of the season as he made it into the final shootout along with Nico Rosberg, with the two Germans starting tomorrow’s race in 8^th and 7^th.

Button was left to count the cost of burning an extra set of soft tyres in Q1 as he limited himself to one run in the final shootout which ultimately left him down in 5^th, and that was compounded by a real lack of rear grip that hampered his progress and a potential penalty for speeding under a yellow flag.

Webber and Hamilton were unable to match the pace of Vettel in the first run but the top four drivers were separated by only 1/10^th of a second to set up a tantalisingly close second quick run.

In truth the second run for pole failed to materialise thanks Massa’s accident which saw the Brazilian’s front right suspension ripped off as he bounced over a kerb as Hamilton bailed out of his final lap after an ordinary first two sectors leaving Vettel to reign supreme once more. Webber will at least be happy to have grabbed second place and complete an all-Red Bull front row.

Qualifying Results:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m24.178s
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.474s  + 0.296
 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m24.508s  + 0.330
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m24.519s  + 0.341
 5.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.950s  + 0.772
 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m25.122s  + 0.944
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m25.451s  + 1.273
 8.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes
 9.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari
10.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Q2 cut-off time: 1m26.319s Gap **
11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m26.319s   + 1.662
12.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m26.337s   + 1.680
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m26.503s   + 1.846
14.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m26.537s   + 1.880
15.  Bruno Senna           Renault              1m26.651s   + 1.994
16.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m27.247s   + 2.590
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m27.562s   + 2.905
Q1 cut-off time: 1m27.479s Gap *
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m27.876s   + 1.687
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m28.565s   + 2.376
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m28.752s   + 2.563
21.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m30.216s   + 4.027
22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         1m30.238s   + 4.049
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m30.866s   + 4.677
24.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m34.046s   + 7.857

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Check out all of the reaction to the Japanese Grand Prix right here!

The Red Bull man finished third in yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix, securing the point he needed to secure the 2011 title.

Schumacher – who is no stranger to winning back to back titles – revealed that he was very pleased for his fellow countryman.

He said: “I would like to congratulate Sebastian and his team who have been exceptional the whole year.”

“It is extremely emotional to see him win the Championship again – I am very happy for him and even a little bit proud.”

As for how the weekend in Japan went for Mercedes, Schumacher said he was very happy with the outcome of the Japanese Grand Prix.

He and team-mate Nico Rosberg both achieved top ten finishes and Schumacher said: “I’m very happy with what we achieved in Suzuka today as we maximised our potential of the car, and managed to put in a good race.”

“The team did a great job the whole weekend in finding performance and transforming it into the race.”

For all the latest reaction to the race and Sebastian Vettel’s championship win follow us on Twitter!

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Sebastian Vettel: “It’s difficult where to start. It’s such a long year and a fantastic year and the good thing is it’s not over yet. Today’s race we weren’t as quick on the soft tyres and we lost two positions. It was difficult to get past Alonso and I don’t think he’s letting me through this way twice after Monza. To win the championship here is fantastic.

There are so many things you want to say but it’s hard to remember all of them. I’m so thankful to everyone in the team, pushing hard to build those two cars. It’s great to achieve the goal we set ourselves this year already now. One person that really stands out this yaer is the person I spend most of my time with my trainer Tommi Parmakoski.

He was the one not allowing me at any stage this year to start to think about things that were not in my control. It’s great to know that it is so tight but to know that we can come so strong out of it. This year we’ve always been this one step ahead. It’s down to people like Tommi and individuals who keep us on the right track.”

Fernando Alonso: ”Congratulations to Sebastian. It was a fun race from the start, there was a lot of tyre degradation, we picked the right place to stop and we had the pace today to fight with Red bull and McLaren. It’s good for the team that we came back to a good level here. It means a lot for next year too.”

Michael Schumacher: “I would like to congratulate Sebastian and his team who have been exceptional the whole year, It is extremely emotional to see him win the championship again – I am very happy for him and even a little bit proud.”

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn: ”Congratulations to Sebastian and Red Bull Racing on his second world championship – he has driven impeccably all year, and together they have set the standards we must now aim for and exceed.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh: “I think it was a fairly testy effort really (at the start). Jenson [Button] made a good launch and had he not been driven off the road, he could have got by. I think this added to his desire to win this race.”

Lewis Hamilton: ”I had a bit of a shocking race to be honest – but Jenson [Button] did a fantastic job which is great for the team. Congratulations to Sebastian [Vettel] too – we knew it was coming but he’s had a perfect season. Personally, I just need to keep my head up and keep working hard. I think we have a better car now – Jenson has just shown that with a remarkable race – but I just didn’t have any grip, I need to find some pace from somewhere.” 

Jenson Button: “This circuit is very special to all of us so to get a victory here in front of this Japanese crowd means a lot. This gives us a lot of motivation. To see three cars in a few seconds shows how competitive F1 is right now.”

Christian Horner on Vettel’s start: “He covered the inside. He squeezed him (Button). It was about fair. He wanted to win the race. Jenson did the prudent thing and backed off. We looked at the replay a couple of times and thought it was OK. Of course Jenson was going to make a fuss of it. He wanted him to get a penalty. That’s all part of the gamesmanship.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “It was a tricky race for me. At the start when I released the clutch the car suddenly was in anti-stall mode, and that was why I lost five positions straight away. I tried to fight other cars then but overtaking wasn’t as easy as it was here last year. Then the safety car came out in what was a bad moment for our strategy. I did my second stop when the safety car was out, we changed from the soft to the medium compound and with those tyres I then had to go to the end of the race – 29 laps. In the end they were just so bad that I couldn’t defend my position anymore.

Anyway, I had a good qualifying here and the car’s performance in the race has definitely improved, so we will keep pushing at the remaining races.”

Sauber team boss Peter Sauber on Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez: “Everybody in the team hoped Kamui could score a good result in his home grand prix. He would have deserved that after his strong qualifying performance, but then things went wrong at the start. He lost a lot of positions, and his aggressive strategy didn’t work as a result of that.”

Sauber still scored in the race, thanks to Sergio Perez’s drive from 17th on the grid to eighth on a two-stop strategy. Sergio drove a brilliant race, starting from 17th and finishing eighth says it all. He was aggressive and consistent at the same time.

“His result also proves that we made a clear step forward with our car, which is important for the upcoming races.”

Nico Rosberg: “This is definitely one of the toughest tracks for overtaking, so starting from the back of the grid meant that I had a pretty tough job.Before the race, I hoped to achieve between eighth and tenth places and, whilst it would have been nice to be a bit higher, it’s still a decent result. Thanks to the team for a good strategy and great pit-stops today.

“After this complicated weekend, I hope to have a more normal weekend in Korea and fight in our usual position. And finally, Sebastian (Vettel), congratulations: you deserve the title.”

For all the latest reaction to the race and Sebastian Vettel’s championship win follow us on Twitter!

Check out our special gallery for pictures of the men Vettel has joined in being crowned champion at the Japanese Grand Prix .

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