Japanese GP, Vettel in pole position

Sebastian Vettel took pole position in qualifying for the Japanese GP at Suzuka. The German lapped in 1.30.839 ahead of teammate Mark Webber. All Red Bull front row, therefore, third time for Jenson Button with McLaren but the Englishman will start eighth due to the five-place grid penalty for replacing the gearbox.

Fourth was Kamui Kobayashi with the Sauber ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus and the other Sauber of Sergio Perez.

Fernando Alonso with Ferrari was only seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen with the other Lotus. Lewis Hamilton is also back, ninth with McLaren, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.

At the end Raikkonen ended up spinning causing the display of yellow flags which prevented most of the drivers from improving.

Felipe Massa is out in Q2 with the other Ferrari and will start 11th ahead of Paul di Resta (Force India). Also outside the top 10 was Michael Schumacher with Mercedes.

The German will start on the back row due to the 10 place grid penalty imposed on him for the accident in Singapore with Jean-Eric Vergne. The German still beat his teammate, Nico Rosberg, in qualifying, only 15th. Among them, Pastor Maldonado's Williams. 16th and 17th position for the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Vergne.

F1 GP Japan 2012 Qualifying Results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.839s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.090s 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.294s 4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.700s 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m31.989s 6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.022s 7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.114s 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.208s 9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.327s 10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes no time 11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.293s + 0.792 12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m32.327s + 0.826 13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.469s + 0.968 14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m32.512s + 1.011 15. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.625s + 1.124 16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m32.954s + 1.453 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.368s + 1.867 18. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m33.405s + 1.376 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m34.657s + 2.628 20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.213s + 3.184 21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m35.385s + 3.356 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m35.429 s + 3.400 23. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.432s + 3.403 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m36.734s + 4.705