F1: Leader getting twitchy as rivals play catch-up

The Australian has won four times this year, the last of those coming at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the start of August.

He has nevertheless maintained his place at the top of the drivers' standings, his advantage now 14 points after coming second to team-mate Sebastian Vettel in yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix. With three rounds remaining, that is a position he could well defend with a run of strong points-scoring finishes, but he is only too aware of the value of a fifth victory.

"I need to win again in the future," said Webber, who has 220 points after yesterday's race at Suzuka.

"I'm very confident I can do that, and that would be beneficial, of course, but also reliability can still yet play a role .?.?. many things, circumstances, lots of different things."

Vettel's win from pole yesterday - his second successive Japanese Grand Prix triumph - has pulled him level on 206 points with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was third."World champion Jenson Button, meanwhile, felt he achieved the best finish possible even though the result did major harm to his hopes of retaining his title.

The Briton finished fourth to win 12 points but lost ground in the drivers' standings, with Webber now 31 points ahead of him. McLaren came to the race with a raft of upgrades which they hoped would move them closer to their rivals.

Button said: "We weren't quick enough to beat the Red Bulls and possibly the Ferrari. And I don't think we'd have finished any further up."

Lewis Hamilton, Button's team-mate, came home in fifth place, and he now has 192 points, 28 fewer than Webber.

The former World Champion suffered a catalogue of misfortune, involving an accident in practice on Friday and being penalised with a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox overnight. He was also the subject of a stewards' investigation after Williams' Nico Hulkenberg accused him of blocking in qualifying.

A gearbox problem late in the race cost him a place to Button.