The fate of the constructors' world championship is currently in the hands of the Suzuka stewards, after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won dominantly in Japan and the two Brawns managed just three points between them.
As it stands, Brawn GP missed out on wrapping up the title on Sunday by a mere half-point, but it has emerged that Williams' Nico Rosberg will be investigated by the stewards for driving too fast in safety car conditions.
The German finished the race in fifth place, but if he is demoted, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button may move up the order and collect the point they need to push Red Bull out of mathematical contention for the teams' title.
"I have got one point, maybe two so we will see," said Button on BBC radio. "But either way I have only lost one point to Rubens so that is good and I can't imagine us not picking up another point each."
The British championship leader now leads Barrichello with two races to go by 14 points, while the gap to Vettel diminished by 9 points on Sunday to 16.
"He's (Vettel) got nothing to lose," said boss Christian Horner. "He just has to win the next two races."
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 53 | 1:28:20.443 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 53 | +4.8 secs | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | +6.4 secs | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 53 | +7.9 secs | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 53 | +8.7 secs | 7 | 4 |
| 6 | 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 53 | +9.5 secs | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 23 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 53 | +10.6 secs | 6 | 2 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 53 | +11.4 secs | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | 5 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 53 | +11.7 secs | 9 | |
| 10 | 7 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 53 | +13.0 secs | 16 | |
| 11 | 2 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | +13.7 secs | 11 | |
| 12 | 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 53 | +14.5 secs | 14 | |
| 13 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 53 | +14.9 secs | 8 | |
| 14 | 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 53 | +15.7 secs | 18 | |
| 15 | 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 53 | +17.9 secs | 15 | |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 52 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| 17 | 14 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 51 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
| Ret | 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 43 | Accident | 12 | |
| Ret | 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 11 | Clutch | 13 |
