Other former winners lining up include Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen and World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

[6]The first practice session saw Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace, with lap times rapidly falling as the track dried out.

[8] The rain increased markedly for the second session, which saw very limited running in the first hour with Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi being the only drivers to set times.

[10] Saturday's third and final practice session started with contact between championship leader Button and Alguersuari that saw the Brawn driver require a replacement front wing.

An early spin into the barriers by Sébastien Buemi looked as if that number would become three, but his team repaired the car in time for him to do a single fast lap.

The first was Jaime Alguersuari, who speared off at the Degner Curve, the same place as Webber in the earlier practice session and the scene of Buemi's off-track excursion in the first segment of qualifying.

Heikki Kovalainen joined the growing list of drivers who crashed at the Degner Curve early in the third part of qualifying, though the damage was minimal and the circuit quickly cleared.

Sebastian Vettel once again topped the timing sheets, putting him in a strong position to keep his title campaign alive, while rival championship contenders Barrichello and Button could only manage fifth and seventh respectively.

Jarno Trulli qualified the sole remaining Toyota in second in his team's home race, with reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton in third.

After qualifying, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso and Adrian Sutil were all called before the stewards on charges of speeding during the yellow-flag caused by Sébastien Buemi's off in the final moments of Q2.

[15] Sebastian Vettel led the race from the start; aside from a brief attempt by Lewis Hamilton at passing him into the first corner, the Red Bull driver would remain relatively unthreatened.

The opening lap was clean, with the only major changes in position coming from Sébastien Buemi, who nearly stalled, and Jenson Button, who fell from 10th down to 12th behind the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica and the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella.

An incident at the Casio Triangle saw Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen collide at relatively low speed, allowing championship leader Button to sneak through into a points position.

Meanwhile, the Toro Rosso drivers had not fared well, with a clutch problem spelling an early retirement for Buemi, whilst Jaime Alguersuari lost control after touching the astro turf on the outside of 130R which resulted in a spin into the tyre wall and the safety car being deployed ten laps from the end.

[18] Vettel was confident he could make up the large points difference, saying his Red Bull team had the momentum,[19] while Button admitted he would be focusing on an error-free end to the season to try to clinch his first Driver's title.