F1: Brawn's agony continues.

Formula One hasn't been to Suzuka for three years and so the track, one of the most challenging of the season, was new to much of the grid. When it rained for Friday practice, that meant that they were setting up the cars - which are vastly different to the last time they went there - they were doing so against the background of virtually no data - and knowing that the forecasts for Saturday and Sunday were for dry weather.

On Saturday morning, the final pre-practice was the first chance teams had for dry running. With everyone desperate to get set up right, and drivers desperate to learn the track, Mark Webber had a major accident, causing a crack to his chassis. Under current rules, teams are permitted to bring only two complete cars to each meeting. Unable, as a result, to jump in the non-existent T-Car, Webber was forced to sit out qualifying.

As qualifying got under way, teams were still using it for practice and set up. And drivers were still exploring the limits.

Those limits included new lower kerbs and the right-side kerb on the entrance to Degner One proved tempting for several drivers. But using that upset the balance and the cars were out of position for Degner Two, a hard right-hander.

That was where Webber went off in practice. In qualifying, a parade of cars brought out a series of red flags.

The most serious accident was that of Glock: he speared under the conveyor belt that straps the tyre-wall together. The on-board footage shows the belt riding up over the front of his car, dangerously close to his face. His left-front wheel ended up alongside the cockpit. Glock was eventually freed from his car and helicoptered to hospital where a gash in his left calf rendered him unable to make the race.

But it was the third qualifying session that ruined Brawn's chances of wrapping up both the driver's and constructors' championship. A series of accidents brought out the red flags - ruining the prospects of drivers on track by using up their best tyres in aborted runs. Then, in the dying minutes of the last session, only Raikkonen had posted a qualifying time. Other drivers made their runs, and as driver after driver started their last-chance to make a hot lap, Sebastian Buemi hit the wall, spreading parts of his car all over the track. But he kept going to get his car back to the pits.

Because he was still moving, the session was not stopped. But he got in the way of several drivers on a hot lap. Worse, his accident resulted in a yellow flag. Cars that were already in or just approaching that sector and could see their way through the wreckage completed their laps - the only ones they could do before the timed session ended. And then Kovalainen ran into the Degner wall, bringing out the red flag.

That led to Sutil, Button, Barrichello and Alonso being demoted five places as a penalty for setting their fastest times under yellow flag conditions. Buemi received a reprimand and a five place penalty for driving a damaged car.

The end result was that Barrichello was dropped to sixth- putting him on the dirty side of the grid, and Button behind him in 10th, putting him in a woefully compromised position as his fuel strategy was set prior to Q3 and relied on a sprint start.

With Vettel getting a fully deserved pole, and Hamilton and Raikkonen behind him, the race was set to be a jumble from the start.

Vettel was imperious. From pole to flag, he made it look easy on a track he had never seen before Friday morning. Hamilton struggled - his KERS broken and therefore adding dead weight.

But all eyes were on the championship battles. Brawn needed just four points to secure the constructors' championship. They got three. That will be some sort of bonus for Rubens who is highly likely to score that point - and more - in his home GP in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But he needs a boost for Vettel's win brought him to just two points behind Rubino in the driver's championship. It looked a forlorn hope a couple of races ago, but now Vettel is a serious challenger for the runner's up position.

But before Suzuka, he was an outside bet for the 2009 drivers' championship. Now what was a mathematical chance of victory has a realistic chance of coming good. For sure, Button needs only five points to secure his maiden championship. But if Vettel wins the next two races and Button finishes where he finished today in each of them, Vettel will take the honours. If Button gets only four more points this season and Vettel wins both races, they will be tied on points - Button will win by reason of the number of victories, saved by his early season performance.

Button struggled all race with lack of downforce at the back of his car. We have reported several times on Button's dislike of a "loose" rear and at Suzuka the handling of his car was compromised every time he came up behind another car: put simply, the dirty air from another car lifted the rear of Button's Brawn. Watching Button follow Sutil who was following Kovalainen demonstrated the problem perfectly: Sutil could tuck up behind the McLaren and his car was rock solid, allowing him to track the Finn through the corners, harassing him from right, left and by zooming up behind him. Button, on the other hand, had to fight his car as it slithered every time he got close to Sutil. Had it not been for Sutil and Kovalainen taking each other out and leaving him with a clear track, Button would almost certainly have been out of the points. Yet, once in clear air, Button was amongst the fastest cars on the track.

Ross Brawn says "The next two races at Interlagos and Abu Dhabi should suit the characteristics of our car much better."

But Interlagos has much in common with some of the tracks where Button has struggled: long fast straights and sweeping corners. If the team can't sort out his aero problems before then, he will again be in difficulty.

Even so, as the Japanese race wound down, Button was significantly quicker than Rubens, until holding station after a safety car session after a massive crash by Alguersuari which took so long to sort out that there was little racing after the green flag.

For the Brawn team, the dream result in Brazil would be Rubens first, Jenson second. That puts both Championships beyond doubt, and puts Rubens in the best possible shape to fend of a challenge from Vettel in the Abu Dhabi race where heat, dust and an unfamiliar track will conspire to make life difficult for everyone - except, seemingly, Vettel who appears to revel in the kind of challenges that a new, unpredictable track brings.