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As you can see even the drivers were happy that Kamui Kobayashi achieved a podium at his home race. To see what else the first three drivers thought-post race we suggest you check out the Japanese Grand Prix press conference transcript after the break.

For race winner Sebastian Vettel much of the talk was about his chances in the world drivers’ championship. While Felipe Massa and Kamui Kobayashi faced plenty of questions about their futures.

In his Red Bull’s official post-race statement Mark Webber a bit more circumspect in his critique of Roman Grosjean, but we suspect the Lotus driver won’t be Mark’s Christmas card list:

Mark Webber: “I haven’t seen what happened at the start, but it’s been confirmed that it was Grosjean who hit me. We’re trying to fight for results each weekend and it doesn’t help so, yeah, it’s frustrating as a few of the big guys suffered out there today. We went onto a one stop strategy from then on, but I kept pushing, I didn’t give up and got something from it. To finish eight seconds off fifth, after the fact I was in reverse at one point—and also the safety car came in before I caught the back of the field—was something. I’ll come back in Korea.”

Meanwhile, Grosjean responded via the Lotus post-race report: “Ever since I came back in Singapore my priority has been to be very cautious at the start, and I was watching Sergio [Perez] on my left to make sure there was no contact with him. There was quite a big speed difference between me and Mark [Webber] as I came into the first corner which caught me by surprise and we collided. It was a stupid mistake. Mark [Webber] came to see me after the race and was obviously not happy, but I apologised and we have to move on. We’ll sit down and look at things again before the next race to see what we can do to improve these situations. In the last few laps of the race the tyres were at the end of their life and we were out of the points, so it made sense to retire. Not a good day, but we have to look ahead to Korea and a chance to make amends.”

[Pic: Sauber Motorsport AG]

Sebastian Vettel has nicely positioned himself for a tilt at a third consecutive world championship after taking victory at today’s Japanese Grand Prix. Really, it was a walk in the park for the Red Bull driver too, taking victory by a comfortable 20 seconds.

Surprising us all was Felipe Massa who crossed the line in second place for Ferrari. It’s his first podium since late in the 2010 season. A timely boost, perhaps, for Massa who is one of the highest profile drivers under pressure to keep his seat for 2013.

Ensuring the home town crowd were in raptures Kamui Kobayashi drove a strong race for Sauber to finish in third place. It’s the team’s fourth podium this year, the first for Kobayashi. Which makes it the first time since 1990 that a local driver has stood on the podium in the Japanese Grand Prix. There were great scenes from the Japanese fans chanting Kamui’s name as he arrived on the podium.

Vettel’s seemingly easy victory was set up thanks to opening lap dramas going on behind him. Most notably, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) got involved in a bit of kerfuffle in Turn 1, which resulted in Alonso retiring from the race. The 25 points clawed back by Vettel sees him only four points behind Alonso, with the better form going into the final five races.

Unfortunately, the other notable incident on the opening lap involved Mark Webber (Red Bull) who was tagged and spun around by Romain Grosjean (Lotus). Webber was dead last and was lucky to escape the contact relatively unharmed. He then did very well to fight his way back into the top 10, claiming two championship points on offer for P9. Grosjean was given a 10 second stop-go penalty for his troubles and ultimately retired late in the race while sitting outside of the points.

Post-race comments attributed to Mark in reference to Grosjean include calling him a “first lap nutcase” and saying his driving is “embarrassing at this level.” Webber rounded out his discontent by suggesting Grosjean should “have another holiday”, that is another suspension from the stewards.

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) did a sterling job to keep a charging Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) at bay in the closing laps to finish in P10 and claim the last point up for grabs. Ricciardo’s teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, finished in some margin back in P13.

So, with five races to go we’re looking at another nail biting race for the world drivers’ championship. Alonso won’t give up his lead easily, but he’ll have a tough fight on his hands as it appears Red Bull has been able to bring some very effective updates to their car which has given them the edge over Ferrari. Vettel will have great confidence going into the final races.

Helping to boost his confidence is the fact that Vettel’s win today makes him the first driver this year to win back-to-back races. With Red Bull’s good previous form in Korea, you’d reckon the chances of Vettel making it three in a row are quite good. We’ll find out next weekend.