Sebastian Vettel will be confident of his chances, knowing that he is carrying more fuel than his nearest rivals on the grid, though the post-qualifying penalties handed out have brought some of the heavier runners into contention.
Vettel starts from pole position with enough fuel for an extra two laps at least over Jarno Trulli alongside him and Lewis Hamilton directly behind him. Vettel took the pole with the same amount of fuel onboard as championship leader Jenson Button, who only managed 7th place, demoted to 11th after his penalty for failing to slow down after Sebastien Buemi's accident in Q2.
Button was also slower in qualifying than his team mate Rubens Barrichello, despite the Brazilian carrying more fuel, which put the points leader very much on the back foot in the fight with both of his remaining championship rivals.
The penalties for the Buemi incident have promoted some of the heavier-fuelled cars up the grid, with Nico Rosberg now starting 6th and Robert Kubica starting 7th, but both carrying a good portion of extra fuel compared to the cars in front of them, meaning the could play themselves into contention during the first round of stops.
Elsewhere, Adrian Sutil was the lightest car in the session, and now faces a long afternoon after being demoted down the grid, while Kazuki Nakajima starts with enough fuel to last until the end of the season.
| Japanese GP Fuel | |||
| Driver | Weight | Grid Pos* | |
| 1 | Adrian Sutil | 650.0kg | 4 |
| 2 | Jarno Trulli | 655.5kg | 2 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 656.0kg | 3 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | 658.5kg | 7 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | 658.5kg | 1 |
| 6 | Nick Heidfeld | 660.0kg | 6 |
| 7 | Rubens Barrichello | 660.5kg | 5 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | 661.0kg | 8 |
| 9 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 661.5kg | 16 |
| 10 | Sebastien Buemi | 665.4kg | 10 |
| 11 | Heikki Kovalainen | 675.0kg | 9 |
| 12 | Jamie Alguersuari | 682.5kg | 15 |
| 13 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 682.5kg | 19 |
| 14 | Nico Rosberg | 684.5kg | 11 |
| 15 | Robert Kubica | 686.0kg | 13 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | 689.5kg | 12 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | 691.8kg | 18 |
| 18 | Kazuki Nakajima | 695.7kg | 17 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | n/a | 14 |
| 20 | Mark Webber | n/a | 20 |
* - Grid position prior to penalties for Sebastien Buemi's accident.
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