In a totally topsy-turvy race in Japan,  the top three lines of the final driver-board read thus:
Fernando Alonso
Robert Kubica
Kimi Raikkonen

The race saw much drama, as early as the first lap, with David Coulthard veering off with a mechanical problem and crashing heavily into the wall, safely away from the track and the other cars.  Race over for DC, but the real drama was shaping up ahead in the order as Lewis Hamilton closed the door a tad too late on a charging Kimi Raikkonen, an offense which brought about a drive-through penalty for the championship leader, but more was to come.  Lewis ran too wide, lost positions and got into a tussle with Felipe Massa.  Massa committed a braking error to give Lewis an easy overtaking, but was too impatient and decided to take the position right back.  Massa drove aggressively but Lewis was in no mood to give up his racing position resulting in Massa touching Lewis and causing him to spin, the incident bringing up Massa’s own drive through penalty.  Lewis lost out as the spin caused him to wait for the remaining cars to pass him, and that, combined with the drive-through penalty that he had earned earlier and had yet to serve meant that he did not finish on points. 

Massa, after taking on a lot of fuel in his routine first stop and serving his own penalty came up in P13, just one position ahead of Lewis and produced some stunning overtaking moves and a string of fastest laps to come up to P8 and was set to finish higher when another disaster struck.  Sebastien Bourdais, after his final stop exited the pits and tried to hold off Massa who had got almost half a car ahead, touching Massa in the process and sending him into a mini spin, the only consolation being that Bourdais did not take Massa out of the race  The incident is still under investigation and the eventual verdict will decide whether he trails Hamilton by 5 points or 6, but it appears to be Bourdais’ error and may earn him a penalty which may or may not benefit Massa.  Massa took his final pit stop rejoining in P10, brought about another fastest lap made one more on track overtaking, crushing Mark Webber clinically,  and clinched the final points position to stay in a position from where he can put pressure on Lewis in the remaining races two races.  The biggest gainer was Robert Kubica, ever the dark horse, as he collected 8 points, finishing behind Fernando Alonso and as a result now trails Lewis Hamilton by just 12 points, meaning that at least technically, he is still a contender for the title while having a more realistic chance of finishing in second position.

The current championship standing:-

<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="" class="raceResults"><tbody><tr><th>Pos</th> <th>Driver</th> <th>Nationality</th> <th>Team</th> <th>Points</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td> Lewis Hamilton</td> <td>British</td> <td> McLaren-Mercedes</td> <td>84</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td> Felipe Massa</td> <td>Brazilian</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>78</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td> Robert Kubica</td> <td>Polish</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>72</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td> Kimi Räikkönen</td> <td>Finnish</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>63</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td> Nick Heidfeld</td> <td>German</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>56</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td> Heikki Kovalainen</td> <td>Finnish</td> <td> McLaren-Mercedes</td> <td>51</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7</td> <td> Fernando Alonso</td> <td>Spanish</td> <td> Renault</td> <td>48</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td> Jarno Trulli</td> <td>Italian</td> <td> Toyota</td> <td>30</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td> Sebastian Vettel</td> <td>German</td> <td> STR-Ferrari</td> <td>29</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td> Timo Glock</td> <td>German</td> <td> Toyota</td> <td>20</td></tr></tbody></table>