Trulli delighted by front row slot

While Trulli emphasised his free practice pace from the morning session, missing out on pole - which went to Vettel - by less than a tenth of a second, team-mate Timo Glock suffered a cut leg and back pain in a large accident that halted Q2 while he was extracted from the car.

"Obviously I feel for Timo because we could both have been starting at the front of the grid today," said Trulli. "It was good to hear quickly from the team that he is okay; just a bit upset he isn't in the top six with me."

Trulli, who along with Glock, is unlikely to play a role in Toyota's plans for 2010, added that updates to the TF109 had improved the car significantly.

"It was a crazy qualifying session in general with all the red flags and I am really happy with this result, especially in front of all our Japanese fans," said Trulli. "The whole team has done a great job this weekend with our updated package to give me this chance to qualify on the front row. They have provided me with a car to fight at the front and I want to say thanks to them.

"My priority in qualifying was to keep my concentration because I knew we had a good chance to get a strong result. I think my lap time was the maximum I could get out of the car so I am very pleased with it."