Vettel on pole at Suzuka
Sebastian Vettel will start the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position for the fourth year in a row
Sebastian Vettel has dominated in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, and will start on pole for the fourth consecuitve year. The reigning world champion was two-tenths of a second faster than his teammate, Mark Webber, for a Red Bull front row lock-out.
Jenson Button was third fastest but will start eighth, following a penalty for a gearbox change. This promotes Kamui Kobayashi to third on the grid at his home race, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso will start from sixth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who went off on the final flying lap at Spoon Curve. The yellow flags came out and the session was brought to an early end. The only drivers to improve their lap times on this final run were Kobayashi and Button, and whether they will be penalised remains to be seen.
Lewis Hamilton could only manage ninth, after a set-up change left him struggling. He said: “That was just one of those days. We had a bit of a problem, I think it was P2, with the set-up. We had a lot of understeer. So we changed it for P3, which was much more front-end but oversteery.
“So we opted to go back – well, I opted to go back – and unfortunately it didn’t work.”
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg managed to squeeze his way into Q3, despite an accident in final practice that left his car with a lot of damage. The team were forced to replace his gearbox, though, which means a five-place grid penalty. He will start 15th.
This promotes Felipe Massa to 10th, ahead of Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado.
Michael Schumacher - who announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday - qualified 13th fastest, but will start 23rd following a 10-place grid penalty for causing the collision with Jean-Eric Vergne at the last race in Singapore.
Vergne also has a penalty, which is for impeding Bruno Senna during the first qualifying session. He has been docked three places and will start 19th.
2012 Japanese Grand Prix grid
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'30.839 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'31.090 |
| 3 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'31.700 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1'31.898 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'32.022 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'32.114 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1'32.208 |
| 8 | Jenson Button* | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'31.290 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'32.327 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'32.293 |
| 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1'32.327 |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1'32.512 |
| 13 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'32.625 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1'32.954 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg* | Force India-Mercedes | No time |
| 16 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1'33.405 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1'34.657 |
| 18 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'35.213 |
| 19 | Jean-Eric Vergne** | STR-Ferrari | 1'33.368 |
| 20 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1'35.385 |
| 21 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'35.429 |
| 22 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1'35.432 |
| 23 | Michael Schumacher*** | Mercedes | 1'32.469 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1'36.734 |
107 per cent time: 1'38.471
*Five-place penalty for gearbox change**Three-place penalty for impeding Bruno Senna***10-place penalty for causing a collision at the last race in Singapore
