Vettel started from the pole at the 3.61-mile Suzuka circuit and led for most of the race to defend his Japanese GP title and close the gap on Webber, the points leader.
“It was an incredible day with qualifying in the morning and the win in the afternoon,” Vettel said. “It seems like this track was drawn for us. I had a good start which is obviously the key.”
Ferrari’s Felipe Alonso, who saw his two-race win streak snapped, finished third to remain in contention for the title.
With three races remaining, Webber leads the standings with 220 points, ahead of Vettel and Alonso with 206. Alonso, who won the previous two races in Singapore and Italy and has four wins this season, is in second place because he has more wins than Vettel.
McLaren’s title hopes took another blow as Jenson Button was fourth followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton, who experienced gearbox problems, despite making a change before the race.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher finished sixth for Mercedes.
Vettel finished 0.9 seconds ahead of Webber and 2.7 seconds ahead of Alonso.
Alonso said he knew it would be hard to challenge Red Bull.
“It was a tough race and I didn’t make a good start,” Alonso said. “It was impossible to catch the Red Bulls in the first part of the race. I was able to close the gap a little bit later on but we knew coming here they would be tough to beat.”
The win was Vettel’s third of the season after triumphs at Valencia and Malaysia.
It was Red Bull’s sixth win in 2010 and first since Webber claimed the Hungarian GP in August. For Webber, it marked the 19th top-three finish of his F1 career.
The race got off to a chaotic start with four drivers — Vitaly Petrov, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg and Vitantonio Liuzzi — all going out before the first turn had been completed.
Petrov swerved across the track and smashed into the retaining wall before the pack even arrived at the first turn.
Massa tried to move up the inside of the pack and gain position at Turn 1, but he lost control on the grass and went out at the opening corner, taking Liuzzi with him.
Robert Kubica, who started third, went out on the second lap when he lost a wheel while in second position. That put Red Bull back into first and second.
“It was a bit lucky for us when Robert had the wheel come off,” Webber said. “It was virtually impossible for me to overtake Sebastian after that.”
The only time Vettel and Webber were not in the lead was when Button’s pit strategy allowed him to lead from laps 25 to 38 as the defending world champion had an extended run on a hard-tire compound before switching to a softer one.
Virgin driver Lucas Di Grassi lost control of his car during the installation lap. His car was severely damaged and he didn’t start the race.
The next race is scheduled for Oct. 24 in South Korea, but there are concerns the track may not be ready. A final decision on the Korean GP venue will be made at the start of next week when FIA race director Charlie Whiting is set to complete a pre-race safety inspection.
