Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel snatched pole for the Japanese Grand Prix in thrilling fashion as he closed in on a historic second consecutive world title.
The German scorched round the challenging lay-out to take his 12th pole of the season with a qualifying time of one minute and 30.466 seconds, edging Briton Jenson Button of McLaren by just 0.009 seconds. The 24-year-old, who crashed on Friday and trailed Button in all three practice sessions, needs to finish 10th or better in Japan to become the youngest Formula One driver to win back-to-back world titles.
The German was ecstatic to bounce back from a difficult start to the weekend.
“I went off in practice and damaged the car,” he said. “We sat down after the practice session this morning and tried to put everything together, and we were able to get every single thing out of the car, which is crucial. It was a hard qualifying but I enjoyed it a lot. All in all, it’s fantastic.”
Button satisfied
Meanwhile, Button insisted that he delivered the best lap he could at the end of qualifying.
“I’m satisfied, because I feel like I got everything I could from the car,” he said. “I don’t feel like I made any mistakes out there. I don’t feel it was a missed opportunity because I didn’t leave anything out there. I’m disappointed to be so close and not get the pole, but it’s been a good weekend for us, and I hope that it continues.”
Hamilton blasts Schumacher
McLaren’s Lewise Hamilton finished third after failing to complete the final flying lap after an incident with Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher and Australian Mark Webber.
Hamilton blasted the way Schumacher conducted himself on the track.
“I was entering the last corner and Mark shot up on the inside and nearly crashed with me,” he said. “Michael was on the outside trying to do something – I don’t know he was doing – and went off onto the grass. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2011.
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