Mark Webber took pole position for the first time in more than a year after team mate Sebastian Vettel suffered more KERS problems in qualifying.
Vettel’s KERS was only working intermittently during the session and failed during the all-important deciding laps in Q3.
Lewis Hamilton will line up third on the grid alongside Romain Grosjean.
Q1
Grosjean headed a disrupted Q1 which was interrupted after Jean-Eric Vergne pulled up at the hairpin with both his rear brakes blazing. The session was red-flagged while marshals tended to his smouldering car.
Remarkably that wasn’t the only fire seen during the first 20 minutes of qualifying. A flash of flame from Esteban Gutierrez’s car forced him to jump out of the car while parked in the garage. Fortunately he was able to continue and made it into Q2.
In the frenzy of the final laps Max Chilton produced his best effort of the season so far to out-qualify both his team mate and the two Caterhams.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’32.890 |
18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’33.357 |
19 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’34.320 |
20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’34.556 |
21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’34.879 |
22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’34.958 |
Q2
The cut for Q3 has usually been very tight this year and it was no different this time – eight drivers were separated by two-tenths of a second but there was only room for the first three in the final ten.
Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg all made it through on 1’32.8s. But Sergio Perez was the first to miss out, eliminated when for the second session in a row Felipe Massa made a last-gasp improvement to get into Q3.
Paul di Resta was also among those eliminated after doing his final medium tyre run earlier than others.
Q2 was the only session headed by Vettel, whose KERS was briefly working again, leaving him two-tenths of a second ahead of Webber at the top of the times sheets with Romain Grosjean close behind in third.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
11 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’31.989 |
12 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’31.992 |
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’32.013 |
14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’32.063 |
15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’32.093 |
16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’32.485 |
Q3
Vettel’s first lap in Q3 might not have been good enough for pole position even if his KERS had been working. He had to gather up a slide in Spoon Curve – a corner which caught several drivers out in final practice – and ended up four tenths of a second off Webber.
Red Bull sent Vettel out for another lap trying everything to get their hybrid boost system working again. Race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin told him to “untoggle then retoggle KERS” if it failed again on his flying lap. It was to no avail – Vettel gained some time but ended up more than a tenth of a second down on his team mate.
Webber produced a clean lap to dip under the 1’31 barrier and clinch his first pole position since last year’s Korean Grand Prix.
Vettel’s problems weren’t sufficient to let any of his other rivals have a look-in. Hamilton took third place while Massa bounced back from his near-misses in Q1 and Q2 to out-qualify Alonso.
Hulkenberg also out-qualified Alonso as well as Kimi Raikkonen. Jenson Button, tenth, set three 1’31.8s during qualifying and reckoned there was nothing more to be had from the McLaren.
Top ten in Q3
1 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’30.915 |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’31.089 |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’31.253 |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’31.365 |
5 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’31.378 |
6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’31.397 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’31.644 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’31.665 |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’31.684 |
10 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’31.827 |
2013 Japanese Grand Prix
- Grosjean voted Driver of the Weekend for first time
- Webber still has doubts over Japanese GP strategy
- Japanese Grand Prix gets average rating for 2013
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image © Red Bull/Getty
NickF12013 (@nickf12013)
12th October 2013, 7:43
”In the frenzy of the final laps Max Chilton produced his best effort of the season so far to out-qualify both his team mate and the two Marussias.”
You mean Caterhams, right?
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
12th October 2013, 7:49
Also:
@keithcollantine
kcarrey (@kcarrey)
12th October 2013, 8:37
@keithcollantine can sometimes type faster than processing his thoughts.
pH (@ph)
12th October 2013, 9:51
Most people have it the other way, but with similar results :-) [I could tell…]. Given how quickly these articles appear, I think Keith is doing a superb job.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
12th October 2013, 7:46
Well done Mark. Great effort from Sebastian despite the KERS issues. Happy for Massa and Hulkenberg. And what on earth was Alonso doing in Q3? And who could forget Max Chilton, who had been struggling to beat his teammate in qualifying and all of a sudden he beats both the Caterhams along!
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
12th October 2013, 7:49
Btw, @keithcollantine I guess in the last paragraph in Q2 section you mean to ‘KERS’ instead of ‘Q2’
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 7:57
Commentators said sebs kers was working on his second q3 lap
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
12th October 2013, 8:00
May be an on board view of his final couple of laps could clarify that, @fangio85?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th October 2013, 8:04
@fangio85 it was confirmed by the team that his KERS wasn’t functioning in Q3.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 8:51
Ah ok, I was just going off what the commentators said, and the fact his second q3 lap was a good improvement on his first.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th October 2013, 9:08
@fangio85 that’s mostly accounted for by him running wide at the exit of Spoon on his first run ;)
Guilherme (@guilherme)
12th October 2013, 16:49
@vettel1 and that his first lap was set on scrubbed tyres.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th October 2013, 16:52
@guilherme good point actually: does that mean Vettel has a new set which the others don’t have?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th October 2013, 8:05
Felipe Massa was the other star of the session – I do hope he can maintain that position over Alonso, however unlikely I think it is!
Patrick (@paeschli)
12th October 2013, 9:30
Great job from Lewis and the Hulk too :)
Dave (@)
12th October 2013, 10:52
For once, I think we can safely rule out the possibility of team orders :-)
Melchior (@)
12th October 2013, 8:31
Good quali for Webber.Hope he can go on with it for the race.
Nick (@nick-uk)
12th October 2013, 11:18
Yeah me too! It’s typical really. First time I’ve ever decided I wasn’t going to bother watching and would just check the results… Seb doesn’t get P1. Then again, arguably, there was a reason.
Hope the race is good. I’ll actually watch that.
MahavirShah (@mahavirshah)
12th October 2013, 8:36
If this does not guarantee Nico Hulkenberg a top team drive next year I don’t know what will. Oh Force India, why you let him go?
David not Coulthard (@)
12th October 2013, 8:52
Because the Sauber is better for Nico at the moment and Force India somehow foresaw it and didn’t want to compromise such a great driver’s career?
Patrick (@paeschli)
12th October 2013, 9:32
Yeah, when I saw Saubers pace at the beginning of the season. I was like “what have you done Nico!?” but now he’s got a car with good pace at the most important moment of the season, where the contracts for next year are signed ^^
David not Coulthard (@)
12th October 2013, 9:46
@paeschli
Same here, but then Silverstone came, and the next thing we knew Hungary happened.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 8:55
Watched this quali and then the bathurst top ten shootout right afterward. F1 should adopt the same top ten shootout format as v8 supercars. It was incredibly exciting, and made f1 quali look boring as watching paint dry.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 9:05
For those who don’t know how it works;
The top ten drivers from qualifying go to a shootout round, they go out on track in reverse order (10th goes first, 9th second etc.). The first guy goes out, does an out lap and one flying lap, once he’s completed 2/3 sectors in his flyer, the next guy goes out onto his outlap. This way, each driver gets one chance only to decide their spot in top ten, and the camera can follow each one for their entire lap, instead of missing most of the action. The reverse order means qualifying first would be important in q2 if f1 adopted this, as first gets the last lap, the advantage of knowing everyone’s times, and the most rubbered in quali lap. This works great for v8sc, and bathurst was just so tense and exciting watching each lap. F1 quali would be infinitely better like this
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 9:09
It also means everyone in the top ten qualifies in clean air, so no one holding others up, and no traffic problems when everyone decides to go out at the same time
Patrick (@paeschli)
12th October 2013, 9:33
It sounds great :D
TheBass (@)
12th October 2013, 9:39
It does sound much better than what we have now.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th October 2013, 9:09
The only problem I can see with that is adverse weather: how does it work in those cases? Is it simply a “tough luck princess” case?
Glenn (@glennb)
12th October 2013, 10:29
Yep! It really is exciting. You get 1 lap, 1 chance and yes it does sometimes rain halfway through the shootout. Swings and merry go rounds.
David not Coulthard (@)
12th October 2013, 9:49
It sounds like the time when the front runners started in the midfield and the ones in the midfield, much of it instead of a certain Jaguar, took the front row in F1.
David not Coulthard (@)
12th October 2013, 9:51
Front rows, not just the top 2.
But if a non-championship race is held in Istanbul, or perhaps Bahrain, or perhaps Willowsprings, or anywhere else where it doesn’t really rain, I’m all for it.
David not Coulthard (@)
12th October 2013, 9:53
which means I’m all for
itthe format used by Bathurst.Red Andy (@red-andy)
12th October 2013, 10:11
@fangio85 We had single lap qualifying in F1 from 2003 to 2005. It was like watching paint dry for an hour every Saturday, and has no relevance to racing. Finding space for a clear lap is part of the challenge of qualifying.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
12th October 2013, 10:41
@red-andy Agreed. They spent years tinkering with the qualifying format to get to where we are now and made all sorts of mistakes trying to get a single lap qualy that worked. It may not be perfect every time but it’s the best system they’ve found and does often produce exciting qualifying, I don’t see any reason to start tinkering again now.
LoudHoward
12th October 2013, 11:38
Theres an important difference between a “top x shootout”, and “single lap qualifying”. The problem with single lap qualifying is we get 30-40 mins of boring laps that aren’t that quick, and the crowd see 22 laps, and if there is weather the top guys can get shafted for no reason. The problem with the current format is when it gets down to the important few mins at the end of Q3 we don’t see anything, we get to watch one persons lap, then we have a shot of the front straight with the remaining 5-6 guys crossing the line. It’s “exciting” but we don’t see why one person is a few tenths up or down. Did Webber do a good lap today or did everyone else just make a few little mistakes? From the coverage I have nfi.
A top 6 (or whatever) shootout would be good. We get the excitement of Q1 and Q2, with lots of cars circulating for the fans there and the TV. Then with the shootout we get to see the top guys laps, and if it rains or they stuff up, then at worse they’re 6th rather than 22nd. Additionally it would add some interest to Q2, not only on who gets knocked out, but on who goes quickest to get the best track conditions on the shootout.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 12:35
@loudhoward +1 it just seems way better. And, try could always, y’know, do something about the stupid reliability on wing downforce so cars can ACTUALLY overtake each other. Then even if it rains in the shootout, the cream will rise to the top in the race naturally. As it is, we rarely get overtakes that aren’t actuated by a button, and even with strange ideas like drs, slower cars still hold up faster cars, because of the masive gap created by not being able to follow close enough in turbulent air. Sorry im ranting now. F1 needs a management overhaul or I feel it’ll only get more stale and boring.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 12:25
How does it have no relevance? It’s a pure test of one lap pace. Getting caught in turbulent air at crucial moments ruin quali all the time, often turning it into an anti climax. Because they all go out to do one last run at the same time. The current format is stupid, you get to watch two laps if you’re lucky. After that its just a camera showing the last corner, and start/finish straight, and basically its all about watching the timer…
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th October 2013, 21:24
@red-andy, Is right, we suffered through years of Bernie fiddling with the format to make qualifying worth watching, the current format works well and as far as I am concerned is the only improvement to come from Bernie, don’t get him started again.
TMF (@)
12th October 2013, 10:53
they tried the single lap qualifying already and it was awful – there are many things I’d change in today’s F1 but qualifying format doesn’t even make the list.
fangio85 (@fangio85)
12th October 2013, 12:18
All i can say is v8sc quali makes f1 quali look boring as hell. And, ill add, I’m a bigger fan of f1 than any touring car category. As I said, it isn’t “single lap qualifying”. You run a normal quali schedule to determine positions 11 – last. In f1 this would obviously be q1 and q2 sessions. Then you run the top ten in reverse order one at a time. Go watch this years bathurst shootout if you want to see how well it works, and imagine how good q3 in f1 would be if it worked the same way. I’m sure the footage would be on youtube by now lol.
Hamish
12th October 2013, 14:27
Yes, that is what used to be like in F1, even with your Q1 and Q2 sessions.
Do some research!
Eggry (@eggry)
12th October 2013, 9:07
Possibly last chance for Webber to win. I hope his clutch would work well tomorrow.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
12th October 2013, 9:17
@eggry Forget the clutch, I hope Mark Webber himself works tomorow ;-)
OmarR-Pepper (@)
12th October 2013, 16:30
@eggry He has to check:
-The way he starts.
-The wheel nut correctly adjusted
– The extinguisher.
– mULTI 21 or 12 orders (to be ignored by both of them)
– Turkey’s memories
Ripudaman (@ripudaman07z)
12th October 2013, 9:23
whats with kimi’s pace in qualifying!!?? Since he announced his departure to Ferrari, his qualifying has been miserable!! Hope this bad run of P9s ends soon!!
TheBass (@)
12th October 2013, 9:31
He has been weak in quali this whole season. He also says that since the tyre change he can’t get the 100% of the car on a single lap.
phildick (@phildick)
12th October 2013, 13:13
Really? Check out his form guide.
TheBass (@)
12th October 2013, 9:32
Also great, Hulkenberg on 7. Hope he can win a position or two tomorrow :D
Chris (@tophercheese21)
12th October 2013, 10:27
Well if the Sauber is as slippery through the air as it was in Korea then he should be difficult to overtake in an already difficult to overtake on track.
Jono (@me262)
12th October 2013, 10:30
If I was webber I’d be sleeping in my car tonight
LuvinF1 (@luvinf1)
12th October 2013, 12:50
… got a really good chuckle out of your post!
F1Rocket
12th October 2013, 14:24
Hahaha… XD
kcarrey (@kcarrey)
12th October 2013, 10:47
one ends pole drought, the other ends pole flood.
Nick (@nick-uk)
12th October 2013, 11:38
Most importantly it ruins Vettel’s chance of a triple grandslam.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
12th October 2013, 12:26
very good webbo ! , Now just get a good start .
MarkM (@mpmark)
12th October 2013, 14:46
so here is whats going to happen, because of high presentage of poor starts webber always has, vettel will lead to the first corner, vettel will race off into the sunset…
it should be a great race, I’m really hoping what I predict wont happen cause then the fight for vettel to get by mark will bring Malaysia back all over again and that was awesome!
Stretch
12th October 2013, 15:56
Any word on Webber block on Perez? Was it just a slow down lap?
JCost (@jcost)
12th October 2013, 16:57
C’mon Webber, where’s you 2013 swagger? Look at Seb and Lewis with cool facial hair, vests open. Lewis is even sporting a baseball cap!