Sebastian Vettel pips Jenson Button to secure 12th season pole at Suzuka

After McLaren and Button had topped all three practice sessions, and Lewis Hamilton led Q2 and the initial Q3 laps, it looked like Red Bull might finally be beaten to a pole for the first time in 2011.

But Hamilton got out slightly too late to complete his final Q3 run - losing time when caught up with Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher at the chicane - and found his 1m30.617s beaten by Vettel's 1m30.466s.

That left it up to Button to try and interrupt Red Bull's pole run, but the Friday pacesetter fell agonisingly short. Vettel can claim the world championship tomorrow by just scoring a single point, or if Button fails to win.

Hamilton ended up third, while the Ferraris were fourth and fifth, with Felipe Massa ahead of Fernando Alonso by 0.062 seconds. Alonso had to abandon his first Q3 shot after going off the road at Spoon.

Webber could only manage sixth in the other Red Bull, despite setting the fastest sector one time.

Schumacher was one of several drivers not to set a Q3 time as he saved tyres. His team-mate Nico Rosberg was not able to run at all on qualifying. A hydraulic issue kept his Mercedes in the garage and he will start 23rd.

Kamui Kobayashi delighted his home crowd by using soft tyres to set the outright pace in Q1, then made it through to Q3, where he chose to save tyres and did not set a flying lap.

Renault took the same strategy, having got over its Singapore dip and got both cars into Q3 again, with Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov starting eighth and ninth.

The Force Indias did not quite make Q3 and will share row six, ahead of the Williams.

Having shown some top 10 potential in practice, Toro Rosso looked like it might reach Q3 after the initial Q2 runs. But the team chose not to run again and the end of the session, so Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari found themselves pushed down to the eighth row.

Sergio Perez will start 17th, a hydraulic problem striking his Sauber before he could set a Q2 time.

At the back, Lotus kept a one-second cushion over Virgin, were Jerome D'Ambrosio outqualified Timo Glock. Tonio Liuzzi's gremlin-strewn weekend continued as his HRT developed further problems early in Q1 and stopped him setting a time.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m30.466s           
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m30.475s  + 0.009  
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m30.617s  + 0.151  
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m30.804s  + 0.338  
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m30.886s  + 0.420  
 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m31.156s  + 0.690  
 7.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time                
 8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              no time                
 9.  Bruno Senna           Renault              no time                
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       no time                

Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.380s                                   Gap **
11.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m32.463s  + 1.997
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m32.746s  + 2.280
13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m33.079s  + 2.613
14.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m33.224s  + 2.758
15.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.227s  + 2.761
16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.427s  + 2.961
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       no time           
Q1 cut-off time: 1m35.111s                                   Gap *
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m35.454s   + 4.988     
19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m35.514s   + 5.048     
20.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.439s   + 5.973     
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.507s   + 6.041     
22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         1m37.846s   + 7.380     
23.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             no time                 
24.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         no time