Japanese GP. Qualifying Report. Sebastian Vettel kept his chances of staying in the world championship hunt on life support for a while longer by taking pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix in a chaotic qualifying session at Suzuka, dominated by crashes and incidents. The Red Bull cars were tipped to dominate proceedings at Suzuka as soon as Friday's rain relented, and the German gleefully stormed to pole position in the closing stages of Q3 on the first day he'd managed to drive at Suzuka in the dry, keeping his faint hopes of closing the gap to championship leader Jenson Button down in the process.
Vettel starts ahead of the surprising form of Jarno Trulli, who managed to get his Toyota onto the front row of the grid with a lap that will have everyone checking the fuel load details when they are published later on to see if Trulli has enough to even make it around the first lap.
Lewis Hamilton took third for McLaren, having been expected to take the fight to Vettel, and he will start alongside his old F3 team mate Adrian Sutil, who had another scorching time of it in his Force India.
The best of the Brawns was Rubens Barrichello, who lines up fifth, two places ahead of the championship leader Jenson Button. Were the three title contenders to keep these same positions to the end of the race tomorrow, then the points standings would close up nicely. After the session, Barrichello seemed confident that he had a similar fuel load to his team mate, and was pleased to have outqualified him. The BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld split the Brawns.
Further back, Kimi Raikkonen was the only other driver to set a time in Q3, finishing 8th in his Ferrari, as the whole session became dominated by crashes and spins that would see a number of drivers simply fail to set times.
In Q3, Heikki Kovalainen had an early off, causing a red flag as he skated through the gravel at Degner and into the tyre barrier. He apologised to his team on the radio, but apologised with a resigned sigh of a man who is probably aware that this sort of result is probably why he won't be with the McLaren team for next season.
Also failing to set a time in Q3 was Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso, who ruined what had been a sensational session for the Swiss man by running off track at the end of Q2 and damaging his car. He brought the STR back to the pits, interfering with a number of flying laps. It is possible that the stewards will have a word with him for that.
Q2 also saw it's fair share of crashes. First Jamie Alguersuari caused a red flag by having a big off at Degner, and then Timo Glock followed suit in his Toyota, having a big enough crash to cause him injury. The German went to the medical centre where it was confirmed he had a "leg wound" on his left leg, as well as back pain. He is unlikely to be able to take his grid slot for the race tomorrow.
The stop-start nature of Q2, with the two lengthy stoppages, caught out a few drivers, and Nico Rosberg's Williams, Fernando Alonso's Renault and Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber all dropped out.
If their exits were slightly surprising, there was little surprising in the drivers out in Q1. Giancarlo Fisichella continued his hapless Ferrari career and will line up 16th, while Kazuki Nakajima, Romain Grosjean and Vitantonio Liuzzi all did their 2010 prospects damage with underwhelming performances. Mark Webber was also eliminated, albeit without setting a lap after his sizeable accident in morning practice meant he missed the session.
So, three of the four Red Bull-sponsored cars ended up in the wall over the course of the Saturday at Suzuka. But the one that didn't ended up going very fast indeed.
| Qualifying Times | |||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 1:32.160 |
| 2 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:32.220 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:32.295 |
| 4 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | 1:32.466 |
| 5 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:32.660 |
| 6 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:32.945 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:32.962 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:32.980 |
| 9 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | No Time |
| 10 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | No Time |
| 11* | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | 1:31.482 |
| 12* | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:31.638 |
| 13* | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:32.341 |
| 14* | Timo Glock | Toyota | No Time |
| 15* | Jamie Alguersuari | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | No Time |
| 16** | Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari | 1:31.704 |
| 17** | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | 1:31.718 |
| 18** | Romain Grosjean | Renault | 1:32.073 |
| 19** | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India - Mercedes | 1:32.087 |
| 20** | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | No Time |
* - Eliminated in second session
** - Eliminated in first session
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