All of the laps, the hours, and the dramatic twists and turns of a Formula One season are in the end meant for one thing -- a championship, and Sebastian Vettel can now claim to be a double champion in the highest form of motorsport. A foregone conclusion for several months now, it caps one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history, and is another example of a top driver making the most of a top machine. Neither can accomplish the end result without the other, but it takes nothing away from an incredible accomplishment.

The nation of Germany now has laid claim to half of the drivers' championships in the past 18 years, after having none in Formula One's first 44 seasons. The runs by Michael Schumacher and Vettel mean that the country is now second on F1's list of most championships by a nation, behind only Great Britain. Since 1994, no other nation has represented more than three drivers' championships.

The youngest two-time F1 champion was understandably overjoyed following his third-place finish in Suzuka, telling reporters, "I am very proud. But it is really difficult to put into words what I feel right now, because it's not just one key race, or some key races. It's the whole season so far: all the preliminary preparations, the tests, the time in the factory. And then getting rewarded for all that by achieving the goal that you've set yourself -- that is amazing. And that it happens four races before the end of the season, that is even more special -- the early fulfillment of your dreams. Can it get any better?"

Only Michael Schumacher in 2002 and Nigel Mansell in 1992 clinched the championship with more than four races remaining, and although interest in the final four events may wane, the on-track product may only intensify, as McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh explained to The Times of India, "I actually think you'll really see the gloves come off and we'll get to see some truly incredible racing by the greatest drivers in the world."

Not to be outdone was Jenson Button, who earned his third win of the season thanks to excellent tire conservation and race pace. He posted the quickest lap of the day for the second straight race, and his three victories since Canada are second to only Vettel's four. Dating back to his days with Brawn GP, each of his last six victories have come from a non-pole position, and since the beginning of 2009, no driver has more than his seven such wins. In Japan, he had an excellent jump off the grid, but a block by Vettel heading into the first turn negated any advantage. Instead, Button gathered himself and played to his strengths, conserving his tires while also reeling off consistently quick laps.

Formula One remains in Asia this week as Korea is immediately next on the calendar. Pirelli will be bringing soft and supersoft tire compounds, meaning fans may witness a considerable amount of stops in the race. Having hosted only one race thus far, Korea is still a relative unknown. The start was marred by rain last year, and both Mark Webber (accident) and Vettel (engine) failed to finish. The circuit is home to some very slow corners, including Turns 1, 3, 4 and 6. The second half of the track opens up a bit and features some tricky, high-speed bends. At 5.6 kilometers, it's on par with most other F1 circuits, but overall Korea is a tough place to learn in the matter of a race weekend.

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher is coming off his first laps led with Mercedes and had a strong finish here last year, benefitting from some top drivers' misfortunes. He's just three points behind teammate Nico Rosberg and has accrued 28 of his 60 points in just the past four races. After finishing 70 points behind Rosberg last year, Schumacher is no doubt motivated to best him in 2011.

Despite the twisty and treacherous Suzuka circuit looming, the perils cannot seem that great for Sebastian Vettel, who is as close as can be to capturing a second Formula One title.

When he does, his name will join a list of legends, ones who claimed their first two championships in consecutive fashion. Only six drivers in F1 history have done so prior to Vettel, the last being Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.

Both Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen claimed their first two titles back-to-back in the 1990s, while Alain Prost did so in the 1980s.

Before that, no one had accomplished the feat since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960. Ferrari's first champion, Alberto Ascari, also won his first titles consecutively.

Vettel will have his work cut out for him next season, however, as none of those six drivers went on to win a third straight title the very next season. Ascari drove only a partial season in his pursuit of a third championship, while Brabham retired from six of eight events in 1961 in his Cooper.

In more recent times, Prost and McLaren were no match for a dominant Williams team in 1987, and he finished a distant fourth in the drivers' championship.

As for Schumacher, his case was an unusual one. After winning two straight titles with Benetton, he jumped to Ferrari in 1996. He made the most of an underperforming car, but much like Prost years earlier, could not match the pace of Williams.

In 2000, Hakkinen, pursuing a third-straight championship, provided a sizeable challenge to Schumacher, but in the end Ferrari proved victorious with a race to spare.

The man who came closest to accomplishing the feat was Alonso in 2007, finishing just one point adrift of champion Kimi Raikkonen.

As for the task at hand, there's little reason to think Vettel will not earn his third straight win at Suzuka. He's won three straight races overall, and a fourth would mark a single-season career high.

This track, while normally cruel toward others, has been kind to Vettel, as the past two years indicate. In 2009, Vettel was looking to stay in the title chase when he arrived at Suzuka, and he did just that thanks to a win coupled with a poor finish from Jenson Button.

Although he did not go on to win the championship, it was certainly a favorable outcome.

A 10th win this season would also make Vettel just the second man, along with Schumacher, to notch double-digit wins in a calendar year.

If he posts victories in each of the remaining five events, he'll own the single-season record. While a tough order, it's certainly not impossible.

The circuit this weekend is a unique challenge.

"Suzuka is one of the drivers' favorite tracks on the calendar and it's easy to understand why," Virgin team principal John Booth told reporters. "It's a very challenging and technical circuit with frequent directional changes.

"Two critical points are the S-turns, a flowing combination of five corners where it is important to get the entry right; and the Spoon Curve, a double left taken as one, where it is crucial to find the perfect line and carry momentum into the following straight."

Formula One's first trip to Japan since the devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this year will be significant, especially considering Sauber pilot Kamui Kobayashi calls this land home.

Suzuka has hosted 22 grands prix, and has seen a world champion crowned in 10 of those, the most recent of which came in 2003. While it has the benefit of being late in the calendar each year, it has only been the final race on the schedule six times, so the clinching rate here over other tracks is particularly interesting.

Two full hours on the narrow streets of a demanding Singapore course means the victor is very much deserving, and Sebastian Vettel again looked nearly perfect while earning his ninth win of the season on Sunday.

Vettel cruised to the pole position in qualifying and quickly jumped to a commanding lead when the lights went out Sunday. He went unchallenged until the final few laps, but in the end Jenson Button was not able to catch the leader before time ran out.

What Button did do was delay the championship celebration. He's now the only other driver not mathematically eliminated, but it's merely a formality at this point. Vettel did all he could in Singapore and will likely get to enjoy the spoils of his season in Japan next week.

The Marina Bay circuit witnessed Vettel's 11th win from pole in the last two seasons, which is nine clear of any other driver. Even with a safety-car period, only five others finished on the lead lap, the second straight race in which Vettel lapped all but five others.

Through 76 career races, Vettel's win rate is on par with some of the greatest to ever get behind the wheel of an F1 machine. His 19 victories means he's filling the top step of the podium 25 percent of the time, which is nearly identical to the career win rates of Ayrton Senna (25.5) and Alain Prost (25.6).

That rate is also higher than legends such as Stirling Moss, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell.

Only 12 drivers have won more than Vettel over their entire careers, and with any luck, he could realistically move into the top five on the all-time wins list by late next season. At this point, there's little argument as to why he wouldn't at least be close in one year's time.

Aside from Vettel's dominance in Singapore, the largest headline was Lewis Hamilton's hectic weekend.

The 2008 world champion started fourth beside teammate Button and found himself in eighth by the conclusion of Lap 1. He had a strong launch off the grid but found himself bottled up by Mark Webber's poor start and, as a result, saw several cars overtake him heading into the first turn.

Contact with Felipe Massa in the early stages of the race led to a drive-through penalty, ultimately meaning Hamilton ended up pitting a race-high five times.

Still, Hamilton battled back and drove well to salvage a fifth-place finish, but it could have been so much better. Over the past nine races, Hamilton has more retirements (two) than podiums (one), and has lost 100 points to leader Vettel.

It's also looking bleak for Renault. The season started off promisingly with podium finishes in Australia and Malaysia, but since those first two events, the team has failed to match the points earned in either of those races again.

Since the European Grand Prix seven races ago, Renault has collected just 10 total points, seven fewer than Toro Rosso and only one more than Sauber. In that same span, Force India has collected 38.

Singapore was perhaps a season low; the squad failed to score any points for the second time in four races, with team principal Eric Boullier describing the weekend to reporters as "embarrassing."

Both Bruno Senna (15th) and Vitaly Petrov (17th) finished well down the order, split by Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus. Clearly, there is very little momentum in the Renault camp these days.

Despite making just its fourth appearance on the Formula One calendar, the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore has delivered some incredible storylines. In 2008, it became F1's first night race, as well as the 800th race in series history. That event also played witness to the infamous Renault scandal, in which Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash so that teammate Fernando Alonso would gain a significant advantage over his rivals.

The track is a complex venue with 23 turns and very narrow quarters. It's understandably one of the most difficult circuits to overtake on, as well as one of the toughest to come to grips with, as Red Bull's Mark Webber explained to reporters:

"The Singapore night race is a challenging one. The track's bumpy, and although the 1,500-odd lights do a good job at illuminating the circuit, it's not like racing in daylight and that makes it tiring. It's also the longest race of the year, running close to the two-hour time limit set by the FIA, and the intense heat and humidity makes it pretty warm in the cockpit. You have to watch your hydration during the build-up to the race."

Last year, Alonso led from start to finish, narrowly holding off Sebastian Vettel for victory. It was the first grand slam of Alonso's career (pole, win, fastest lap and led every lap), and it continued his comeback in the drivers' championship. This weekend, Alonso could very well be Vettel's biggest challenger, as he has done remarkably well at this course.

The two-time world champion has won here twice, once amidst serious controversy. Nevertheless, no driver has more points earned here than Alonso, and he's reached the podium in all three events. While many others will be trying to learn the intricacies of the course this weekend, Alonso will merely be working on perfecting his attack.

This season, Singapore will mark the sixth anniversary to the day of Alonso's first world title. It was significant in several ways: Not only did he become at the time the youngest champion in F1 history, but he also dethroned Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

Now, Vettel is on the verge of a second world title, and could clinch at Marina Bay depending on what others do in the race. Vettel must gain 13 points on Alonso, eight each on Jenson Button and Webber and lose no more than one point to Lewis Hamilton to claim the crown. It's certainly a tall order, and much of that likely is out of his control.

If Vettel does leave Singapore as this year's world champion, it would be one of F1's most dominant seasons ever for a driver. With five events still to go after the city circuit, it would be tied for the second-earliest title clinching in F1 history, behind only Schumacher's 2002 campaign, when he clinched with six races left.

Perhaps no driver will ever match Schumacher's run that year. His 11 wins were at the time a single-season F1 record, and he never finished outside the podium in 17 races.

One driver who will be soaking up as much as possible this weekend is Force India's Paul di Resta. He's got momentum behind him, having scored points in two of the last three races after collecting just two points in his first 10 F1 events. He has outscored veteran teammate Adrian Sutil in the past three races, and has just a single official retirement to his name in 2011. That's fewer than Button, Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

The streets of Singapore have not been kind to Force India, however. Vijay Mallya has seen one of his cars fail to finish in all three events, and the team has earned just two total points in three years there. All three accidents were severe enough to bring out the safety car, and it's no doubt proved to be a costly race for the team.

Monza fans were desperate to see a Ferrari driver on the top step of the podium, and after the first turn in Italy, it looked like there was certainly a possibility of that. A phenomenal start by Fernando Alonso saw him jump from fourth to first in a matter of seconds, but in the end it was nowhere near enough to hold off Sebastian Vettel, who claimed his eighth Formula One victory of the season.

The early winners were those who merely were able to avoid the carnage. Through just 10 laps, six cars already had been eliminated thanks to a first-turn pileup brought about by Vitantonio Liuzzi's trip through the grass. When the safety car left the track, Vettel made quick work of Alonso and never looked back, clearing runner-up Jenson Button by nearly 10 seconds when the race concluded. To the delight of the home fans, Alonso held off Lewis Hamilton for the final podium spot. Hamilton's race, much like Button's, was held up often by Michael Schumacher.

Like so many times this year, Vettel and Red Bull looked virtually unbeatable. He's now the sixth driver to notch at least eight victories in a season, and only Schumacher got there quicker. Including partial seasons, Vettel is in his fifth year, while the seven-time champion accomplished the feat in only his fourth.

Nevertheless, Vettel joined some elite company. Both Damon Hill (1996) and Ayrton Senna (1988) earned their first eight-win year in their fifth seasons at the top level.

Vettel also has an outside chance of catching and possibly passing Schumacher for the most wins in a single season. Schumacher set the mark of 13 in 2004, and with six races remaining, Vettel would need to win all but one to tie him. Just two more victories would make Vettel only the second driver in F1 history to reach double-digit wins in a calendar year.

The German also was busy the day prior to the race. By capturing his 10th pole of the year, he joined Mika Hakkinen, Senna and Schumacher as the only drivers to claim at least 20 poles in a two-year span. Red Bull now has captured all 13 poles this year, two shy of matching the record in a single season, shared by several teams, including Red Bull in 2010.

Vettel's postrace reactions clearly showed that Monza was a very meaningful win for him. After all, it's the track where his legacy began in 2008. Looking forward, Vettel now can clinch the title in Singapore, but it depends on where others finish. He's 112 points ahead of Fernando Alonso in second, and will need to leave the city circuit at least 125 clear of the next-closest driver to mathematically clinch.

Finishing on the podium will not necessarily guarantee that Vettel clinches. An example to illustrate this would be if Vettel finishes third and all four of his closest competitors finish behind him. If, say, Alonso finishes fourth, Vettel would gain just three points in the championship, extending his lead to 115 points. With five races to go after Singapore, a driver could theoretically gain 125 points the remainder of the season. Of course, this is merely an example, but it's a quick scenario to illustrate that a podium finish will not guarantee a mathematical clinch in Singapore.

Further back in the field, Bruno Senna had a drive he will not soon forget. In just his second race with Renault, Senna finished ninth after reaching Q3 for the second straight time. He narrowly avoided the first-turn accident and then quickly pitted to switch to the softer compound tires. Having already used the medium compound, it gave him a considerable advantage for the remainder of the event.

Senna, however, has long been at a disadvantage compared to those he's competing with. He left motorsports for 10 years and did not return until 2004, meaning his experience was far less than those around him. Just four years later, he finished runner-up in the GP2 championship, ahead of names such as Pastor Maldonado, Sebastien Buemi and Vitaly Petrov.

Heading to Monza in 2010, Lewis Hamilton held a slim three-point advantage on Mark Webber, with Sebastian Vettel 31 points adrift of the McLaren driver in third. Webber is again second this season as teams pack for Italy, but he trails Vettel by 92 points.

The competition, including McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, have admitted that any chance of beating Vettel and Red Bull for the title is ambitious at this point, but races are still crucial for the remainder of the season as they provide an excellent opportunity to continue 2012 car developments.

Ferrari is another top competitor that has turned an eye to 2012, and after a poor showing at Spa, will be looking to shine in front of its home fans.

The most successful constructor in F1 history has often struggled to match the pace of Red Bull and McLaren this season, especially at the beginning of the year.

The lone highlight thus far has come in Silverstone, when Fernando Alonso took the victory after gaining an advantage over Vettel in the pits. The good news for Ferrari is that Monza is next, a track that the marque has called home in more ways than one.

Not only is the historic track only a few hours from Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, but it's also been quite the welcoming host, as Ferrari has won at Monza 18 times over the years. That's the most victories by any constructor at any track in Formula One history.

Ferrari has also notched 19 poles, nearly double that of the next-closest competitor, and has 37 more podium finishes at Monza than any other team. While Alonso is not the favorite entering this event, he did complete the hat trick here last year (pole, win and fastest lap) and does have four podiums in his last five races overall.

Recent winners here have not had momentum entering, however. Last year, Alonso's victory in Italy came immediately after a retirement in Spa.

In 2009, Rubens Barrichello was coming off a seventh-place result in Belgium, a race where a near stall on the starting grid cost him numerous positions. He spent the rest of the day fighting to make up ground.

Monza has not been much of a fortune teller recently either, as the race winner has failed to win the championship at the end of the season in each of the past seven events.

The last driver to claim both the Italian Grand Prix and the eventual championship was Michael Schumacher in 2003. In fact, he's the only driver in the last 20 years to win both Monza and the eventual world title, having done so twice.

While the high-banked turns have not been used for decades, Monza is still one of the fastest circuits in existence, as Mercedes-Benz Motorsport vice president Norbert Haug detailed to reporters recently.

"Monza features the highest straightline speeds of the year at around 350 kph, the highest average lap speed and, at 83 percent, the highest percentage of the lap spent at full throttle -- not for nothing is it known as a 'temple of speed.' " Haug said. "The engine and KERS system will play an important role at this circuit, but it is equally important to develop an effective low-drag aerodynamic package and to make sure the car feels stable on the brakes."

With two DRS zones and detection points in play at the Italian Grand Prix, it's going to be very difficult for drivers to keep others in their rear view mirror, if not close to impossible at times.

While the track is fairly narrow, there are several great passing opportunities, including after the start/finish line as well as prior to Turns 8 and 11.

With seven Formula One races still to go on the year, Sebastian Vettel already has amassed a season greater than his championship run in 2010. Last year's numbers were extremely impressive: five wins and 10 podiums while pacing the field for more than a third of the total laps. Those, however, are merely a shadow of his 2011 statistics.

Through 12 events, Vettel has won seven times and finished outside the podium just once (fourth in Germany). He already has collected more points than all of last season and has been out in front after nearly two-thirds of the laps run.

After his title run last season, the prime fear among the competition was that he would only get better. That's clearly been the case this year, and it's no doubt a scary proposition for opponents, considering he is just 24 years old.

The prospects of a championship for any other driver at this point are extremely bleak, as Vettel is 92 points clear of second-place driver Mark Webber. The Australian did ensure a 1-2 Red Bull finish Sunday, the second such result for the team this year, but had yet another poor start off the grid, dropping from third to eighth on the opening lap at the Belgian Grand Prix. It's the eighth time this season that Webber has lost position after the first lap, the most among the top five drivers in the championship standings.

Constantly trying to make up ground can prove exceedingly difficult in this sport, and it helps to explain why Webber has led fewer laps than each of his top four competitors this year. All things considered, it's a testament to his keen ability to fight back that he sits runner-up in the championship race.

A tip of the hat also goes out to Pastor Maldonado, who had quite the eventful weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. After being docked five places on the grid for causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, Maldonado fought back from 21st and wound up with a 10th-place finish, collecting the first point of his career. No driver had earned his first career points at Spa since Christian Klien in 2004. Before that, the last driver to do so was Mark Blundell way back in 1991, which happened to be Michael Schumacher's first F1 race.

Twenty years later, the seven-time series champion demonstrated supreme fight Sunday by finishing fifth after starting last on the grid because of an accident mere minutes into qualifying. By the end of the first lap, the six-time Spa winner already had jumped to 14th. He described his run to reporters postrace, "A wonderful ending to a wonderful weekend here in Spa. I think more than fifth place would not have been possible today, but making up 19 places was a good feeling. With all my family, friends and fans here, it was an extra motivation. At the beginning, I was a bit afraid that some of the flying parts might hit and damage my car, but I was lucky that nothing happened. After that, I had big fun hunting and making my way forward."

Schumacher capped off his run by overtaking teammate Nico Rosberg in the final few laps, a move that no doubt sweetened his race weekend. Nearly 300 grand prix starts in, Schumacher is still experiencing career firsts; never before had he made up as many as 19 positions in a single race.

Fans also had a chance to see Bruno Senna in a competitive F1 car for the first time in his career. After riding with HRT last season, Senna replaced Nick Heidfeld at Spa and beyond, and he did not disappoint in qualifying. The nephew of Ayrton Senna started the race seventh, just one spot worse than the best starting position by a Renault driver all season. But an error entering the first turn meant he made contact with Jaime Alguersuari, effectively ending any chance at a strong finish.

Regardless, Senna flashed his true potential with a brilliant performance in qualifying, and the prospect of seeing him compete with a fairly strong team is an exciting one.

Much like the weather, fortunes at Spa can change in a heartbeat, as many of the top Formula One drivers can attest. Sebastian Vettel collided into Jenson Button there just last year, while Fernando Alonso suffered his only retirement of the 2010 season, proving even the best of drivers can be tamed by its 19 turns.

At 7 kilometers in length, the longest circuit on the schedule is one of the fastest and most dangerous tracks on the planet, and only the most attentive of drivers are rewarded.

Red Bull, which leads the constructors' title by a commanding 103 points, enters Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix certainly looking to regain momentum after having seen Ferrari and McLaren combine to win the past three races. The team's sheer speed may make it the early favorite in Belgium, but recent results say otherwise. Not since 1998 -- a race that featured a spectacular pileup in the early moments -- has a manufacturer aside from Ferrari or McLaren been victorious there.

The Circuit of Spa Francorchamps is a 2011 destination where Red Bull has struggled, relatively speaking. The Austrian outfit has never won at Spa, one of five tracks on the calendar this season that has not yet yielded a victory for the team (not including India). Last year was a step in the right direction, as Mark Webber finished a close second behind Lewis Hamilton.

Still, for a team that is renowned for sheer speed, it's downright puzzling to think that Spa as well as Monza, two of the fastest tracks in Formula One, are two of Red Bull's least successful venues.

While the future of Spa is still very much undecided, its history is rivaled by only a handful of tracks. Originally twice as long as the current version, the old track was so dangerous that F1 ceased travel to it following the 1970 edition. The race returned 13 years later, but the circuit looked much more like it does today. Speed still ruled, but quickness in qualifying did not translate into race victories.

Alas, in the past 17 races at Spa, only three pole-sitters have won (Mika Hakkinen, 2000; Michael Schumacher, 2002; and Kimi Raikkonen, 2007). In each of the past two years, the man on pole has wound up runner-up and just a combined 2.4 seconds behind the race winner.

Aside from the typical front-runners, a constructor to keep an eye on this weekend is Force India, as the team has had considerable success at Spa recently. In each of the past two seasons, Vijay Mallya's squad has left Spa earning a season-high points total, and the 19 points earned by the team at Spa is its most of any track. Just two seasons ago, Giancarlo Fisichella took pole there, and with Paul di Resta fresh off a career-best finish at Hungary, a solid day is not out of the question.

But di Resta is not the only rookie to watch Sunday. Sauber's Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado of Williams won here in GP2 last year, and Perez will need a good finish there if he has any hope of catching up to teammate Kamui Kobayashi in the championship standings (trails 27-8). It's very possible that at least one rookie will score a solid finish, as six drivers making their Spa debuts in F1 since 2005 have finished eighth or better.

One rookie who did not fare well in his first start at Spa was Michael Schumacher. Twenty years ago this weekend, Schumacher made his F1 debut with Jordan. He was quick in qualifying but never completed the first lap of the event with clutch issues. Nevertheless, Spa was the site of his first F1 victory just a year later, his first of 91 wins in the sport.

When rule changes such as the adjustable rear wing and KERS were brought back into the mix this season, many in Formula One thought that they could be a deciding factor in races. While they have made an impact, a much stronger outside force is drastically influencing race outcomes.

Wet weather has dominated the headlines recently, and rain at the Hungaroring shattered team strategy up and down the grid. A master in wet weather, Lewis Hamilton had the rest of the field chasing him for much of the day, but like so many other drivers this year, he was felled by poor pit strategy. With fewer than 20 laps remaining, Hamilton switched to intermediate tires as an answer to the increasing rain, but returned to the pits only laps later to switch back to a harder compound.

Combined with a drive-through penalty, it spelled the end of any hope of victory, and it paved the way for Jenson Button to take the win in his 200th grand prix. He's now the only driver to win in his 200th start, and just the third to reach the podium, along with David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli. Remarkably, six of the previous 10 drivers failed to finish in their 200th F1 grand prix.

Button's steady hands were once again a huge asset on a constantly changing track surface, and his composure and pace throughout proved critical in his win. While competitors such as Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Hamilton made mistakes, Button again shined on a damp track, much like he did in the closing stages in Canada.

His victory was eerily similar to his first-ever F1 win, which also came at Hungary, in 2006. That race was also marred by rain, and just like in 2011, Button led the final 19 laps before seeing the checkered flag.

Hamilton, meanwhile, put a positive spin on the team's efforts, telling reporters, "I felt sorry for the team that we didn't get a one-two, but at least one of us got the victory. The car felt very good to drive today. I think the cooler conditions helped us, but the team has done a fantastic job to get us where we are. We've now won two races in the space of a week, which is a great way to enter the summer break."

Still, it must feel like a letdown to some degree, as Hamilton led 39 of the 70 laps Sunday before finishing fourth. In 2011, that's the second most by a driver who did not go on to win the race, behind only Vettel's 68 in Canada.

As for Vettel, he quietly increased his championship lead with a second-place result. While Red Bull's dominant start has tapered off, the defending world champion is doing everything he needs to ensure a second F1 title. Of the 10 events since Australia, Vettel has increased his lead over the second-place driver after all but two races.

Alonso rounded out the podium after starting fifth, a positive result considering he was a touch slower than teammate Felipe Massa in the final round of qualifying. After failing to reach the podium in each of his first three races this year, the Ferrari ace now has finished among the top three in six of the past eight events. Much like last year, he should be primed for a strong second half to the season.

Force India's Paul di Resta also had an impressive day. The first-year driver scored his best F1 result (seventh) and made a nice move to avoid a spinning Hamilton late in the race. He's now tied with Sergio Perez for the most points earned among rookies this season.

Hungary delivered another suspenseful race in this F1 season, and fans were left guessing as to the outcome until the final laps. The battles for the lead were extremely entertaining yet again, especially between teammates Hamilton and Button, and so far the on-the-track action has lived up to even the loftiest of expectations. The front-runners have created significant drama in the majority of events, and although the championship race is far from close, 2011 has picked up where 2010 left off in many ways.

The German Grand Prix showcased the ultimate mind game, with weather playing a considerable role throughout. Lap after lap, the leaders waited for the showers to come, hoping to avoid having to use the harder compound tires. But the rain stayed away, and victory would be decided by final pit stops late in the event.

The three strongest teams in Formula One each had a horse in the race, but it was McLaren's Lewis Hamilton who crossed the line first after a brilliant effort. The win was perhaps a bit unexpected, as Hamilton expressed postrace to reporters, "The last couple of months have been quite challenging. Constantly up and down. Sometimes we are close and sometimes we are miles away, so believe me with this win things feel much, much better. And we definitely want to continue this way. But to be honest it puzzles me why we have been so quick this weekend. I feel now that the car is getting better and better, even though the two small upgrades couldn't have possibly closed the gap to anyone else."

It took a flawless drive from the former world champion to notch his 16th career F1 victory, and it now means that there have been four winners in the past four races. But this race was far from decided early on, as Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber both gave Hamilton everything they had. Along with Hamilton, they were the only drivers to lead laps on the day, and another strong showing from Ferrari seems to indicate that it is back as a serious contender.

As for Hamilton, he's now won multiple races in each of his five seasons in F1, and since 2007 no other driver has more wins, podiums or points earned.

The three-way battle for the win was not the only compelling element at the Nurburgring, however. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel found himself starting the race from third, the first time he has not started on the front row since Monza, 15 races ago. Vettel struggled to keep pace with the lead pack throughout the afternoon, and he finished fourth after Felipe Massa suffered from a lengthy final stop.

It was the first race since Singapore a season ago that Vettel did not pace the field for at least a lap, ending a string of 13 events. By comparison, that streak was longer than any put up by Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost in their careers.

While Hamilton was enjoying victory, teammate Jenson Button was mired in his second straight retirement after being forced to the garage with a hydraulics issue. It capped a very long weekend for Button, one in which he struggled to match the pace of his teammate. Not since his Honda days in 2008 had Button failed to finish in two straight races.

This weekend in Hungary, Button will be one of two drivers to reach a notable career milestone. He'll be making his 200th F1 start while Nico Rosberg of Mercedes will compete in his 100th grand prix. Prior to Button, only 10 drivers in history have seen at least 200 F1 starts.

Hungary also will be the 850th grand prix in F1 history. In Formula One's last visit here, Webber was victorious after Vettel was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for leaving too large a gap during a safety car period. The event also featured a clash between Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. As Barrichello was attempting to overtake, Schumacher drove him within inches of the wall. Because of the maneuver, Schumacher was dropped 10 places at the start of the next race.

The Hungaroring will mark the last race before the summer recess, which will span nearly a month before drivers and teams return to Spa. It no doubt will be a welcomed escape from the furious pace of the 2011 F1 season thus far.