Sebastian Vettel will start the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position for the fourth consecutive year following a dominant performance in his Red Bull RB8.
Mark Webber starts alongside his team-mate giving Red Bull a front-row lockout for the first time this season.
Jenson Button qualified third fastest but will drop five places to eighth after a gearbox penalty, the same drop handed to Nico Hulkenberg who will start 15th.
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi is promoted to third as a result, whilst Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez rounded off the top six.
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were caught out by a yellow flag caused by Kimi Raikkonen’s spin into the Spoon gravel – which also halted Vettel’s charge as he looked likely to improve on his 1:30.839.
Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg both disappointed for Mercedes, only managing 13th and 15th respectively – though a post-race penalty in Singapore of ten places for the retiring German will see him start 23rd ahead of Narain Karthikeyan.
(*Button and Hulkenberg to drop five places for gearbox penalties, Schumacher to drop ten places for Singapore penalty and Vergne to drop three for impeding Senna during Q1).
Qualifying Results for the 2012 Japanese GP:
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:32.608 | 1:31.501 | 1:30.839 | 11 |
| 02 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:32.951 | 1:31.950 | 1:31.090 | 15 |
| 03 | J. Button* | McLaren | 1:33.077 | 1:31.772 | 1:31.290 | 14 |
| 04 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:32.042 | 1:31.886 | 1:31.700 | 16 |
| 05 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:32.029 | 1:31.988 | 1:31.898 | 20 |
| 06 | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:32.147 | 1:32.169 | 1:32.022 | 20 |
| 07 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:32.459 | 1:31.833 | 1:32.114 | 17 |
| 08 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:32.221 | 1:31.826 | 1:32.208 | 18 |
| 09 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:33.061 | 1:32.121 | 1:32.327 | 17 |
| 10 | N. Hulkenberg* | Force India | 1:32.828 | 1:32.272 | 12 | |
| 11 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:32.946 | 1:32.293 | 12 | |
| 12 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:32.898 | 1:32.327 | 14 | |
| 13 | M. Schumacher* | Mercedes | 1:33.349 | 1:32.469 | 10 | |
| 14 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:32.834 | 1:32.512 | 11 | |
| 15 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.015 | 1:32.625 | 16 | |
| 16 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:33.059 | 1:32.954 | 14 | |
| 17 | J. Vergne* | Toro Rosso | 1:33.370 | 1:33.368 | 14 | |
| 18 | B. Senna | Williams | 1:33.405 | 8 | ||
| 19 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:34.657 | 6 | ||
| 20 | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:35.213 | 8 | ||
| 21 | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:35.385 | 6 | ||
| 22 | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:35.429 | 8 | ||
| 23 | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:35.432 | 8 | ||
| 24 | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:36.734 | 6 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:38.471 | |||||
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