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Vettel pips Button for Japanese GP pole
Source: Agencies |
October 9, 2011, Sunday
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SEBASTIAN Vettel put himself on pole position for a second successive Formula One title yesterday after Red Bull won a race against time to get his car up to speed at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old, who needs just a point today to become the sport's youngest double champion with four races to spare, pipped McLaren's Jenson Button by just nine thousandths of a second in a knife-edge qualifying session at the Suzuka circuit.
The pole on a sunny afternoon was Vettel's 12th from 15 races this season, and fifth in succession, and Red Bull's 16th in a row dating back to the end of last year.
"We got a new front wing out just in time, it wasn't easy but fortunately we did," said the German, who crashed in Friday's opening practice and damaged the nose of the car.
Team boss Christian Horner said that there had been only two wings in Japan like the one Vettel had wrecked and the champion had run in the second and third free practice sessions with an older version. The new one arrived about 20 minutes before qualifying.
Fails to score
Button, fastest in all three practice sessions, is the only driver who can deny Vettel the title at Suzuka but he must win and hope the German fails to score to keep the championship alive for another weekend.
Vettel has won from pole for the past two years at Suzuka and has finished his last 16 races in the points.
McLaren's 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton qualified third and Brazilian Felipe Massa, with whom he controversially clashed in Singapore last month, will line up alongside for Ferrari in what promises to be a lively start.
Hamilton had been quickest after each had set a lap in the final phase of qualifying but then failed to cross the line in time to get a second run after Red Bull's Mark Webber and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher squeezed him out.
"Lewis tried to block but I kept going, he didn't want me to come past, but I got through," said Australian Webber who will start on the third row with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
The 24-year-old, who needs just a point today to become the sport's youngest double champion with four races to spare, pipped McLaren's Jenson Button by just nine thousandths of a second in a knife-edge qualifying session at the Suzuka circuit.
The pole on a sunny afternoon was Vettel's 12th from 15 races this season, and fifth in succession, and Red Bull's 16th in a row dating back to the end of last year.
"We got a new front wing out just in time, it wasn't easy but fortunately we did," said the German, who crashed in Friday's opening practice and damaged the nose of the car.
Team boss Christian Horner said that there had been only two wings in Japan like the one Vettel had wrecked and the champion had run in the second and third free practice sessions with an older version. The new one arrived about 20 minutes before qualifying.
Fails to score
Button, fastest in all three practice sessions, is the only driver who can deny Vettel the title at Suzuka but he must win and hope the German fails to score to keep the championship alive for another weekend.
Vettel has won from pole for the past two years at Suzuka and has finished his last 16 races in the points.
McLaren's 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton qualified third and Brazilian Felipe Massa, with whom he controversially clashed in Singapore last month, will line up alongside for Ferrari in what promises to be a lively start.
Hamilton had been quickest after each had set a lap in the final phase of qualifying but then failed to cross the line in time to get a second run after Red Bull's Mark Webber and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher squeezed him out.
"Lewis tried to block but I kept going, he didn't want me to come past, but I got through," said Australian Webber who will start on the third row with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
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