Sabastian Vettel wins Belgian Grand prix

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has earned pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, putting himself in the perfect place to claim the Formula One championship in Sunday’s race. Vettel extended Red Bull’s perfect streak of poles to all 15 races this season, setting a lap of 1 minute, 30.466 seconds at the Suzuka circuit, edging McLaren’s Jenson Button by just nine thousandths of a second. Button’s McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton was third fastest despite not setting a time in his final run.
 
Vettel needs only one point in Sunday’s race or Button to fail to win to become the sport’s youngest two-title winner.Felipe Massa will start from fourth after the rare feat of outqualifying his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso.

Berdych, Radwanska win in China Open finals

Beijing. Third seed Tomas Berdych ended his long title drought with a clinical, 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory over Croatian Marin Cilic on a smoggy final day at the China Open tennis today. Czech Berdych, who last won a title in Munich in May 2009, staged a second-set revival against the 25th-ranked Croatian and blazed through the decider. Cilic, facing his first seeded player in this year’s competition, set the tempo by breaking Berdych’s serve in the second game.

Berdych’s errors played a part in the first set which Cilic, who also lost the final two years ago, finished off with an ace. World number 10 Berdych, playing in his first final since his 2010 Wimbledon centre court loss to Rafael Nadal, fought back, and took the match to a third set.


Both players dripped sweat in the unseasonably humid Beijing autumn weather and the problems were compounded by a pall of smog enveloping the National Tennis Centre. The air quality monitor at the United States Embassy in Beijing recorded ”hazardous” levels throughout the final day of competition. German Andrea Petkovic was playing Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the women’s final later on Saturday. Agency

Vettel closes in on second title with tearful win

It was his rivals who should have been crying after the Italian Grand Prix, but on the podium the emotion of the moment got to Sebastian Vettel as he moved ever closer to a second consecutive world championship just three years after he had stood there savouring his first victory here.

The success brought Vettel's points advantage to 112, meaning that a podium finish in Singapore in two weeks' time will cement his title. But as somebody pointed out after a routine win, it might make the competition better if he were to take a holiday until Abu Dhabi, whereupon he could resume racing and still win the crown.