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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel - Source: Reuters -
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Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull on pole position for the Japanese
Grand Prix in a crash-hit qualifying session on Saturday with
championship leader Jenson Button starting in seventh
place.
The German will share the front row with Italian Jarno Trulli in a
Toyota with Britain's outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton third
for McLaren alongside Adrian Sutil in a Force India.
Button can win the Formula One title on Sunday if he scores five
points more than his Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello. The
veteran Brazilian, a winner at Suzuka with Ferrari in 2003,
qualified fifth.
"It was a tough session. No one got any practice yesterday, very
little this morning," Button, who is 25 points clear of Vettel with
three races remaining, told the BBC.
"Three red flags is very unusual so I hope everyone is OK. I think
we've got a reasonable amount of fuel on board ... I'm not looking
at Sebastian really."
All of the top three drivers had team mates who crashed, with the
three-part qualifying halted on three separate
occasions.
Toyota's Timo Glock had the most serious accident, plunging into
the barriers at the final corner only hours after he had been
passed fit to race.
The German, who missed Friday's rain-hit practice because he had a
heavy cold and fever, waved and gave a thumbs-up sign as he was
extracted from the car but was then flown on to hospital for
further checks. (ID:nL3380471Ý
A spokeswoman for the governing International Automobile Federation
(FIA) said Glock was complaining of back pains and had a wound in
his left leg.
Webber last
Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber did not take part in
qualifying and will start from the pit lane in last place after
damaging his car in a crash in the morning's final
practice.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen went into the tyre wall at the Degner
corner in the final phase of qualifying.
Toro Rosso's Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari brought out the first
of two red flags in the space of 11 minutes when he ploughed into
the tyre wall in the second phase. He was unhurt.
Apart from the Brawn drivers, only Vettel remains in championship
contention and he needs to take his third win of the season after
his fourth pole of the year.
Red Bull must also score seven points more than Brawn on Sunday to
prevent that team from taking the constructors' championship.
For the full qualifying result CLICK HERE.
