Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel secured his fourth pole position of the season, and his fourth consecutive in Suzuka ahead of the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. Vettel clocked a 1m30.839s, with teammate Mark Webber not far-off, just 0.2 seconds behind in second place.
Jenson Button was fastest of the McLarens, he went third quickest but will be dropping five places before tomorrow’s race due to a gearbox change penalty, thus will be starting from eighth just ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who struggled for pace throughout the session.
Kamui Kobayashi put on an excellent performance to qualify in fourth place in front of his home crowd, followed by Lotus driver Romain Grosjean and his Sauber teammate Sergio Perez.
Fernando Alonso never looked like a pole contender and had to settle for seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who spun his Lotus into the Spoon curve which resulted in a yellow flag in the middle sector while others were trying to improve their laptimes.
Despite qualifying 10th, Nico Hulkenberg will be starting Sunday’s Grand Prix from 15th due to a gearbox-change penalty, this puts Felipe Massa in the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.839s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.090s + 0.251 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.294s + 0.451 4. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.700s + 0.861 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m31.989s + 1.059 6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.022s + 1.183 7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.114s + 1.275 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m32.208s + 1.369 9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.327s + 1.488 10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes no time Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.272s 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 Q1 cut-off time: 1m33.370s 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 1m35.429s + 3.400 23. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.432s + 3.403 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m36.734s + 4.705