Red Bull front-row lock-out at Suzuka
Sebastien Vettel at Suzuka
Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber have secured both front-row starting positions for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
The Red Bull Racing pair continued their strong form the practice sessions, with Vettel taking his fourth pole in-a-row at the circuit. He set his fastest time early in the final session, and was set to improve, until a localised yellow flag for Kimi Riakkonen’s stranded Lotus saw him back off.
It is the first front-row clean sweep for Red Bull Racing this year.
Local driver Kamui Kobayashi will start third, despite qualifying fourth. The Sauber driver will gain a place on the grid when third-placed McLaren star Jenson Button is given his five-place penalty for a gearbox change.
Lotus’ Romain Grosjean will start fifth, with Serjio Perez underlining the pace of Kobayashi’s Sauber with sixth place.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso struggled through to seventh, ahead of Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg, who will also cop a penalty for a gearbox change.
The Mercedes entries were the most disappointing of the session, with Michael Schumacher taking 13th and his team-mate Nico Rosberg in 15th. Schumcaher will start 10 places worse, however,
Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified in 16th place, one spot ahead of his French team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.
Qualifying, Japanese Grand Prix
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:32.608 | 1:31.501 | 1:30.839 | 11 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:32.951 | 1:31.950 | 1:31.090 | 15 |
| 3 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.077 | 1:31.772 | 1:31.290 | 14 |
| 4 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:32.042 | 1:31.886 | 1:31.700 | 16 |
| 5 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:32.029 | 1:31.988 | 1:31.898 | 20 |
| 6 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:32.147 | 1:32.169 | 1:32.022 | 20 |
| 7 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:32.459 | 1:31.833 | 1:32.114 | 17 |
| 8 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:32.221 | 1:31.826 | 1:32.208 | 18 |
| 9 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.061 | 1:32.121 | 1:32.327 | 17 |
| 10 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:32.828 | 1:32.272 | 12 | |
| 11 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:32.946 | 1:32.293 | 12 | |
| 12 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:32.898 | 1:32.327 | 14 | |
| 13 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:33.349 | 1:32.469 | 10 | |
| 14 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:32.834 | 1:32.512 | 11 | |
| 15 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.015 | 1:32.625 | 16 | |
| 16 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:33.059 | 1:32.954 | 14 | |
| 17 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:33.370 | 1:33.368 | 14 | |
| 18 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:33.405 | 8 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:34.657 | 6 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:35.213 | 8 | ||
| 21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:35.385 | 6 | ||
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:35.429 | 8 | ||
| 23 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:35.432 | 8 | ||
| 24 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:36.734 | 6 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Japanese Grand Prix Race Guide
