Japan – Qualifying: Webber on pole for an all-Red Bull front row

The weather is nice in Suzuka for the start of the qualifying session, 24°C in the air and 35°C on the track. Note that following his off-track excursion during Free Practice 3, Adrian Sutil had to change his gearbox, which means he incurs a 5-place grid penalty.

Q1: Esteban Gutiérrez is the first driver to hit the track as soon as the light turns green at the start of Q1. The Mexican driver sets the first reference time at 1:33.547. This time doesn’t stay at the top of the leaderboard for long with improvements from several drivers, including Jenson Button, who takes the lead with a lap of 1:32.606 ahead of Grosjean and Räikkönen. It’s worth noting that after his stint, Gutiérrez saw the start of a fire in his Sauber once it was in the garage.

After 10 minutes out of the 20 scheduled for Q1, it was Fernando Alonso who seized the lead in his Ferrari ahead of Hamilton and Button. Shortly after, the Red Bull drivers finally take to the track while Jules Bianchi remains in his garage. The gaps are very small, with the top 15 within 1 second at this point in the session.

Lewis Hamilton takes the lead with 5 minutes remaining, while Vettel takes 3rd place. But shortly after, it’s Mark Webber who moves into the lead as Jules Bianchi hits the track for the first time, and despite the initial fire on his Sauber, Esteban Gutiérrez returns to the track.

Three minutes before the end of Q1, Jean-Eric Vergne is slowing down on the track with smoke coming from behind his Toro Rosso. The Frenchman stops near a marshal post—who intervene quickly—as his car catches fire seemingly from the rear brakes. Race control decides to bring out the red flag with smoke billowing and 2 minutes and 55 seconds remaining. The Frenchman was in 16th place at that moment.

The session resumes quickly and all the drivers line up at the end of the pit lane behind Nico Rosberg who leads the pack. Bianchi, without a time, Gutiérrez, and Sutil are eliminated at this moment and are taking big risks on this last timed lap. Rosberg takes the lead at the end of his lap, di Resta positions himself in 3rd place. It is finally Grosjean who sets the fastest time on hard tires. Sutil fails to qualify, he will start in 17th place ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne who couldn’t defend his chances. Note that Chilton in his Marussia is ahead of the Caterhams and his teammate.

Eliminated in Q1: Sutil, Vergne, Chilton, Pic, van der Garde, Bianchi

Q2: Paul di Resta is the first to leave the pits at the start of Q2. The Force India driver goes out on mediums, the softest compound this weekend. The Scottish driver completes his first timed lap with a time of 1:33.059. Kimi Räikkönen does better with 1:32.020 on hards. Grosjean, also on hards, falls short by 59 thousandths of a second from his teammate.

Hamilton takes the lead with a 1:32.8 but Alonso does slightly better by a few thousandths. In the process, Button posts a similar time but is still behind his two colleagues, leaving these three men at the top with only 61 thousandths of a second separating them.

When exiting the pits, Mark Webber impeded Sergio Pérez who was approaching – an incident that could be investigated by the stewards. On the track, Vettel takes the lead with more than half a second ahead of Alonso, Hamilton, and Button. Webber slots in between his teammate and this trio, 0.2 seconds behind Vettel.

With two minutes remaining, everyone goes back out except for Vettel and Webber who return to their pits along with Paul di Resta shortly after. Grosjean improves and ranks 3rd behind the two Red Bulls. The top three remain unchanged, followed by Hamilton, Räikkönen, Massa, Rosberg, Alonso, Button, and Hülkenberg who will make it to Q3.

**Eliminated in Q2:** Pérez, di Resta, Bottas, Gutiérrez, Maldonado, Ricciardo

Q3: As the light turns green at the end of the pit lane, it’s Sebastian Vettel who takes off first, followed by Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Hamilton, Grosjean, and Button head out afterward – the McLaren driver opting for the hard tires, unlike his rivals who are on mediums.

Vettel sets the first benchmark time of 1:31.312 despite Guillaume Rocquelin informing him of a KERS issue during his lap. While Alonso fails to do better—falling short by 0.5 seconds, Mark Webber does better and takes the lead with a 0.4-second advantage over his teammate. Hamilton records the 4th time while Grosjean and Button do not set a time in their first stint.

All the drivers come out with less than 3 minutes to go, Räikkönen is the first on track and Hamilton the last. Sebastian Vettel improves his time but does not manage to surpass his teammate, Mark Webber improves and secures his first pole position of the year.

The two Red Bulls lock out the front row with Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, and Jenson Button in 10th place just behind.

Results of the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying: