Japanese GP: Webber glad to be back on the front row

The Australian's second place behind Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in Suzuka qualifying was his first front row performance since Silverstone in July.

Webber has not finished in the top five since winning the British round.

"It has been a good weekend for us so far," said Webber. "Seb and I had a clean run in Q3 when it mattered at the start and those were two pretty big laps from both of us.

"We have had a bit of a rough run of late and it makes life much more difficult - so I am looking forward to the race.

"It is good for the championship to have our cars further up again.

"We can really race from there and have a good run tomorrow."

Red Bull has tended to be the Suzuka pacesetter in recent years, with Vettel securing four straight poles and winning in 2009 and '10.

Webber said Red Bull's performance this weekend showed how hard it had been pushing of late, and that he would have been disappointed to see its Suzuka superiority ended.

"We have had to work like hell to get the car into the window where we liked it," he said.

"It's now pretty good and we would be unhappy if we were not competitive here as it should be a track we are competitive at."