Sixty-eight thousandths of a second after one lap of the 3.6-mile Suzuka circuit. That was all that separated Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in qualifying for last week’s Japanese Grand Prix… and it was effectively the margin by which the German won the race.
In the final reckoning, 0.068s may even decide the championship. The battle between the two has been one of the most fascinating clashes in F1 history. This is not about a hungry rising star with everything to prove taking on a multi-titled old hand – like Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost or Lewis Hamilton versus Fernando Alonso – this is a fight of unprecedented ferocity between two world championship virgins.
