F1: Vettel Happy To Take Fourth Suzuka Pole

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Happy To Take Fourth Suzuka Pole

Sebastian Vettel's run of qualifying dominance in Japan continued Saturday...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted October 06, 2012 Suzuka (JPN)

Sebastian Vettel pumps his fist after qualifying first in Japan. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

It was just like 2011, as Red Bull put in its best qualifying performance of the season in Suzuka.

But given that Sebastian Vettel has now been on pole for the past four years, it probably wasn’t much of a surprise. The German also survived an investigation into a blocking incident with Fernando Alonso with just a reprimand.

“I’m very, very happy with today’s result,” Vettel said. “I think we had a very, very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect, so we couldn’t really ask for more.

“The car felt fantastic from the start. We didn’t really have the best start to the weekend; yesterday morning I wasn’t very happy, but then we seemed to get it better every time we go out, so very pleased with the result, very happy. The car feels fantastic around here, and I was able to pick up a little bit overnight and it came together nicely, and now obviously we hope for a very good race tomorrow.”

Vettel said he didn’t have any problems with traffic.

“I was very lucky,” said the German. “I saw a couple of incidents on the screen but I think we found a good gap, and I needed only one lap, which obviously helps. So that was good – it doesn’t always go that way. So, it was helping to save tires. I’m not sure if we’re going to use that one again – but still it’s good to get through without any trouble.

He saved a little tire life by aborting his final run.

“Obviously, we didn’t finish the run in Q3, so saved a little bit there, saved a lap, didn’t push to the end,” the reigning World Champion said. “Before that, we had a very smooth session in qualifying in general. We saved as many tires as we can, and I think we have a pretty good car, the balance felt very good in qualifying, so I was very happy with the laps I had every time. And, yeah, all in all I think we should have a good race car as well tomorrow.

“I think we were able to improve the car from yesterday to today which also helps us on the long run and with tire consumption. But you never know until you find out.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of races this year where probably we expected something, and people expected something, other teams had expectations but the last 10 laps everything turned around. We have to stay focused and see what we get from start to finish.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.