Vettel dominates Suzuka qualifying

No one was close to Vettel

Sebastian Vettel is in good position to cut Fernando Alonso’s lead at the top of the World Championship after taking pole at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The German claimed his fourth consecutive top spot at Suzuka with a 1minute 30.839second-lap that was set early in qualifying three after Kimi Raikkonen spun his Lotus into the Spoon gravel at the end of the session.

That brought the yellow flags out and all but ended any chance of the other drivers denying Vettel his 34th career pole position.

His Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, took second place to confirm the team’s dominance for their first front row lock out of 2012.

Alonso, who leads the championship by 29 points from Vettel, could only manage seventh place but will move up one spot after third placed qualifier Jenson Button takes his five-place grid penalty.

In his first race since announcing his departure from McLaren, Lewis Hamilton struggled and will start a lowly ninth, managing to beat only Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the session was the performance of the Saubers as home-crowd favourite Kamui Kobayashi took an initial fourth place – third after Button’s penalty – and Sergio Perez qualifying in a solid sixth.

However, Kobayashi could face the wrath of the stewards after setting a personal best time under yellow flags when Raikkonen spun off.

Raikkonen himself will start in eighth place with his Lotus teammate, Romain Grosjean ahead of him in fifth.

In his last Grand Prix at Suzuka, Michael Schumacher will starting 23rd once his 10-place grid penalty kicks, whilst his teammate Nico Rosberg will line up in a disappointing 15th.

Final qualifying positions

2012 Formula One page

Philip Wicinski 

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