Vettel continues momentum with Suzuka pole

F1 News
Date: 6/October/2012

Reigning F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel maintained the momentum from his Singapore victory with pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

It also put the young German on course to bite another chunk out of Fernando Alonso’s title lead after the Ferrari driver qualified just seventh fastest, which equates to sixth place on the grid at the expense of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

Button will drop from third to eighth due to a gearbox-change penalty, putting Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber in an even stronger position to dominate the race - next best Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) having been almost one-second slower than Vettel.

Vettel said: “I’m very, very happy with today’s result, I think we had a very, very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect, so we couldn’t really ask for more. The car feels fantastic around here and now obviously we hope for a very good race.”

Team-mate Webber explained why the Red Bulls always seem so strong at Suzuka.

“Silverstone, Suzuka - you just have to look at Adrian's [Newey's] record on some of these tracks, going back to the Williamses with Mansell and McLarens with Hakkinen. Adrian’s cars have always been strong on these types of tracks… It's in the DNA of our car.”

Vettel will start Sunday’s race 29-points behind Alonso. If he can reduce that margin by at least four points then he will be within one-race win of the Spaniard - with five rounds still to go.