'Nutcase' ruins Webber's chase

MARK Webber last night slammed French rival Romain Grosjean as "a first-lap nutcase" after his nudge ruined the Australian's Japanese Grand Prix.

Webber forced out

MARK Webber last night slammed French rival Romain Grosjean as "a first-lap nutcase" after his early nudge ruined the Australian's Japanese Grand Prix.

Webber, who started second on the grid, was shunted on the first turn by Grosjean and dropped back to 22nd after being forced to make a pit stop for running repairs.

While he recovered to finish ninth, the 36-year-old's already faint hopes of vying for this year's championship were effectively extinguished at Suzuka.

Webber's Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, slashed the F1 title race to just four points when he stormed to victory after championship leader Fernando Alonso also span out on the first turn.

Double defending world champion Vettel escaped a chaotic start and sped away to win by more than 20 seconds from Ferrari's Felipe Massa and home favourite Kamui Kobayashi.

Grosjean, who was slapped with a one-race ban over a first-corner crash in Belgium, was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty in the pits after last night's incident.

But Webber suggested the Lotus driver should reconsider his race strategy.

"I haven't obviously seen what happened at the start, but the guys confirmed that it was the first-lap nutcase again - Grosjean," Webber said. "The rest of us are trying to fight for some decent results each weekend, but he is trying to get to the third corner as fast as he can at every race.

"It makes it frustrating because a few big guys probably suffered from that and maybe he needs another holiday.

"He needs to have a look at himself. It was completely his fault. How many mistakes can you make? How many times can you make the same error? First-lap incidents ... yeah ... it's quite embarrassing at this level for him."

Red Bull team chief Christian Horner said Lotus might have to consider how to deal with Grosjean's recurring problems.

"I think the most concerning thing is when it is repeat incidents," he said. "If you make mistakes, that's fine. But the key thing is to learn from them."

Grosjean, 26, admitted the incident was a "stupid crash".

"I was trying to avoid making any contact, but it didn't work," said the Frenchman, adding: "We ticked all of the worst boxes again - and maybe I need to have a few whiskies and get some luck that way."

Vettel, the 25-year-old German, who won in Singapore only two weeks ago, became the first man this year to score back-to-back wins.

Alonso, of Ferrari, was eliminated when he was hit by rival Finn Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus at the first corner and punctured. The fuming Spaniard refused to speak to media afterwards.

Vettel was left out in front, on his own, and raced to an easy victory, the 24th of his career, a feat that drew him level with the Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio.

"Woo-hoo! Yes baby, yes baby ... unbelievable!" screamed Vettel over his team radio on his slowing-down lap.

He came home comfortably clear of Alonso's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa with local hero Kobayashi third for Sauber, a result that made him only the third Japanese driver to score a podium finish.

Massa's podium finish was his first in 35 races since the 2010 South Korean Grand Prix but he was overshadowed by the huge roar from the capacity crowd that greeted Kobayashi's finish.

Jenson Button finished fourth for McLaren from his Mercedes-bound teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Raikkonen sixth behind the two Britons.

AFP