Rosberg beats Hamilton for Japanese GP pole

Nico Rosberg is back

His inter-team discipline served and free to be fastest again, Nico Rosberg beat Formula 1 title rival and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The German who set the pace in Q2 put in a final fast lap of 1m32.506s.

Hamilton tried to beat him, but a lock-up at the hairpin cost him and he ended up two tenths slower.

Completing a 1-2-3-4 Mercedes lockout at the top, Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa locked were 3rd and 4th.

The best of the rest was Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in fifth over 1-second off the pace.

Using inferior Renault engines, Red Bull was out to lunch. Daniel Ricciardo ended up sixth and Sebastian Vettel was ninth, both drivers carrying wet set-ups in anticipation of a rain-hit race.

Kevin Magnussen won the intra-McLaren battle by beating Jenson Button to seventh place, with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in 10th.

Quotes

Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel
"I wasn't entirely happy with that qualifying, we lacked some running his morning but I wasn't able to go with the track and was on the back foot, I struggled a bit on corners that I normally love, so it's not easy, but tomorrow we still have a chance if it rains, if it doesn't then it's tougher from where we start but we will see.

"Red Bull and I have had an incredible run together. I'm leaving a very happy place and of course it's difficult but at some point you want to do something different. We had a good time and I hope we have a good final five races. I'm not leaving because I don't like the team nor because I don't like individuals nor the situation, I'm not running away from anything – it felt like the right time and the voice inside me and hunger to do something new was bigger. So, even though it's not the easiest decision to live with, you have to listen to your heart and go in your direction. I feel ready and the time is right to start something new. It's a very difficult decision after 15 years together with Red Bull, it's a tough day."

Daniel Ricciardo
"I was quite surprised by Sebastian's news, I didn't know before this morning; it's two pretty big changes for the team, Sebastian leaving and Daniil coming in, but Seb's done his work here at Red Bull and he feels it's time to move on. I'm glad I got one year to race with him and see how he works, I heard a lot about his work ethic before the season and it was good to see that this year and to go against him. Daniil's coming in and I expect him to be quick – I know him pretty well and it should be good fun working with him. I'm happy with how we bounced back in qualifying after my mistake yesterday, I thought we would be better here, but I think sixth is realistically what we could do today. If it rains tomorrow then we should be looking a bit better."

Christian Horner (Team principal)
"On face value, sixth and ninth aren't exactly stellar grid positions but, with the decision on set-up that we made for tomorrow's race due to the inevitability of rain at some point, hopefully that will pay dividends tomorrow. We will see in 24 hours. I think Daniel extracted everything he could out to the car today and it was good to have both drivers getting through to Q3."

Thierry Salvi (Renault Sport)
"It was a hard time today. Daniel managed to get the maximum from the car but Seb was less fortunate after missing some of FP3 with an ERS issue. Although it was fixed for qualifying the lack of running did not give him the time to set-up the car and maps. We need to recover some pace for the race, but conditions tomorrow will be very different in any case."

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton
"It wasn't the best of sessions today but it was a decent recovery considering the crash in FP3. I just overcooked it this morning and the team did a fantastic job to put the car back together. Our mechanics are the best, they work so hard to get everything perfect. I feel good but I just wasn't quick enough today. Nico did a great job, he looked very quick, particularly in Turn Eight, but I don't feel like I've quite had the pace all weekend. I'm still second and we've seen races where we've come back from further than that, so I'm excited for tomorrow. I've heard there's some rain coming, it's going to make it very hard but it makes it more of a lottery."

Nico Rosberg
"That was one of the best qualifying sessions we did this year. The team did an incredible job to give me a brilliant car. It was so enjoyable to drive this wonderful track with that Silver Arrow. The balance was perfect, so I was able to push a lot and go to the limits in the corners. It's always a great battle against Lewis; we push each other very much through the sessions. Sometime he finds a tenth there, then I find a tenth here. That's why I enjoy the situation so much. For tomorrow I think we are well prepared. Even in the wet our car is very quick as we have seen in Spa this year. So I definitely look forward to the race here in Japan. Again I need to thank the incredible fans here. They wait for hours to see us drivers and give us little gifts. That gives us a very special feeling."

Toto Wolff
"That was a fantastic battle between two drivers competing at the very highest level. Every day, somebody asks us whether the momentum is shifting one way or the other, but the reality is that they are both working so hard to find every little advantage, and trying to get the maximum out of every session. They were watching video replays of their laps during qualifying, analyzing telemetry overlays as well, and it's just fantastic to see this level of pure, intense competition between them. Nico did a perfect job today and improved with every single run, finishing it off with a very strong pole position. Lewis was compromised by his accident this morning and something like this will always be sitting at the back of your mind. But he still will start from the front row, so it was a good recovery from him. Looking to tomorrow, we are expecting rain coming in and that will give a very different picture to today. I guess we can expect one of those typical Japan races with lots of Safety Cars and exciting moment. We'd rather keep it quiet like today – but we don't get to choose!"

Paddy Lowe
"A fantastic result to score a fourth consecutive front-row lockout and our 14th pole of this 2014 season. After Lewis' accident in practice this morning, it was a great recovery by the team to put his car back together and get both drivers out on time at the start of Q1. We ran the exact program we had planned, progressing through the first two sessions with a single run and then two option runs in the final part. We saw a great fight between our two drivers for the front row, and it was great to see the strong pace of the car at this circuit which is very demanding for both the engine and the aerodynamics. Congratulations in particular to Nico on his pole position; he delivered a flawless session and very impressive pole laps."

Scuderia Ferrari

Fernando Alonso
"I've often ended up fifth in qualifying, but I think that today's result can be seen in a different light as I enjoyed myself a lot out on track, both in the quick parts and the slower ones. So far, this weekend has been very positive as I had a good feeling from the car right from the first lap of free practice. Unfortunately, the typhoon expected tomorrow is creating a bit of tension, because over the past two days, we haven't done any wet running and having to do the opening lap of the race itself in the rain always complicates matters. Currently, we don't know how much rain we can expect, so all we can do is prepare for a difficult race, because Suzuka is a circuit where, even in the dry, incidents can occur and it's easy to make mistakes. I think that later today, the race director might take a decision regarding this, with the possibility of bringing the race forward."

Kimi Raikkonen
"Today's performance was in line with the whole weekend so far and even if I've had a good feeling from the car, I was unable to resolve a few problems already encountered on Friday. In the morning's free practice, a technical problem meant I had to stop running earlier than planned and that prevented us from testing some new components, which would have been useful for the set-up choice. The team did a great job to get my car ready for qualifying in record time. In the first sector, I had a few balance problems and that stopped me pushing as hard as I wanted. I did my best today and tomorrow we will try and make up some places and have a good race."

Pat Fry
"Today was particularly tough, starting with the third free practice session, when we had to pit Kimi, having spotted an anomaly on his power unit. Qualifying was reasonably straightforward, especially for Fernando, who finished fifth in all three sessions. The Williams proved to have both good power and aerodynamic downforce, but that won't stop us trying to attack them. The Red Bull performance was surprising but one cannot discount them at this track. Unfortunately, the problem on Kimi's car meant we couldn't optimize the balance on his car, which is so important at this track, but the mechanics did a really amazing job. In just two hours they managed to dismantle and reassemble the car, configuring a new power unit, so that he could take part in qualifying. Tomorrow, a typhoon is forecast and so we will need to adapt to whatever conditions arise, because the result of the race is not a foregone conclusion."

Lotus F1 Team

Romain Grosjean
"We thought we were looking quite good from yesterday and this morning, enough to aim for P12 or P13 but I was less happy with the car in qualifying. The wind changed and it might be too sensitive to that, but whatever the reason, we couldn't get more pace out of the car. Tomorrow could be interesting depending on how much and when it rains, so we'll see what we can do to benefit from the conditions."

Pastor Maldonado
"For sure we were expecting a better qualifying session but we couldn't get more out of the car when we needed it most. There is potential for some excitement and some opportunities tomorrow with the weather forecast, but I have the penalty for my engine change which will give me an even bigger challenge. I'll keep focused for the race and we'll be trying for the best result possible. Anything can happen."

Alan Permane (Trackside operations director)
"It didn't go well for us. We saw good potential yesterday, however today we haven't been able to get on top of the car and neither driver was 100% happy on their qualifying laps. Pastor will start from the back of the grid after his engine penalty so we have our work cut out.

"A wet race presents a number of challenges as there's no such thing as a standard wet race. It's either raining – where the track is getting wetter and the grip levels are decreasing – or if there's no rain or very little rain, where a racing line can emerge and the grip levels improve. What is certain is that we have run numerous simulations and we will be closely monitoring the skies and the satellite information. Pirelli give us two wet tires, the intermediate and the full wet so the timing of when to use either of these tires is crucial to make up places and achieve a good result."

McLaren Mercedes

Jenson Button
"My final lap in Q3 was the best lap I'd done all day. We didn't get the timing of the previous runs right during Q1 and Q2, but the traffic was pretty much perfect for my final run. It was a good effort, but I still locked up going into the last chicane, which frustratingly gave me a small flat-spot. Still, we won't use those tires in the race, so it's not too much of a problem. I'm not even sure if I lost any time, but it was a bit messy. Everyone thinks it's going to be massively wet tomorrow. We don't have too much of a different set-up between wet and dry, so it's better to do well in qualifying. I'll just take whatever the weather brings tomorrow."

Kevin Magnussen
"I really enjoyed today, but I was slightly disappointed with P7, because I don't think I got the perfect lap from my second set of tires in Q3. I made a few mistakes on that lap, so there were probably a few tenths left on the table. In terms of the weather, and the predicted arrival of the typhoon tomorrow, I'm taking it one day at a time. I'll just look out of my hotel window in the morning and see what the weather is doing. I think it's going to be wet, but let's wait and see."

Eric Boullier (Racing director)

"Today we were able to build on the positive developmental work we did yesterday in FP1 and, in particular, FP2, and the result was a workmanlike P7 for Kevin and P8 for Jenson. Kevin was unhappy with his Q3 lap, feeling that he made a couple of errors that cost him a couple of tenths or more. Nonetheless, he has given another very good account of himself, all the more so when you consider that rookies usually struggle to get to grips with the myriad complexities of Suzuka. Jenson, too, was less than fully satisfied with his Q3 performance, posting a lap 0.075s slower than Kevin's. Having said that, from their P7 and P8 grid slots, both Kevin and Jenson are well placed to score world championship points in tomorrow's race, whether or not it's rain-affected, as in truth we expect it to be."

Sahara Force India F1 Team

Nico Hulkenberg
"Starting from P14 will be difficult and will make the race a bit more of a challenge. We lost a very good lap at the final chicane when I locked up and I have to kick myself for that. I think we would have been on target for Q3, which would probably have been the optimum result considering our performance throughout the weekend so far. Starting 14th complicates things, but Suzuka is one of the trickiest circuits, so tomorrow there will be everything to play for. With the threat of rain, a lot can happen."

Sergio Perez
"I'm feeling disappointed not to be higher up today. My first run in Q2 was good, but for my second attempt, when the track was improving, things didn't work out for me. On my out lap I came across a lot of traffic in the final chicane so I had to slow down and lost temperature in the tires and brakes. So I arrived at turn one on the next lap and didn't have the grip. It's a shame not to maximize our performance today because we managed to improve the car before qualifying and I felt more was possible. I'm hoping for better things tomorrow."

Robert Fernley (Deputy team principal)
"Going into qualifying we certainly felt that Q3 was a realistic prospect and we should have ended the session a bit higher up the grid than P12 and P14. Nico made a mistake on his final lap in Q2 going into the chicane and that cost him the chance to move up. It was a similar situation with Sergio, who did a great first lap in Q2, but didn't get his timing correct on his second lap and was compromised by traffic. So we didn't extract the maximum from the car today. How this will impact the final result in the race remains to be seen. The question mark over the weather remains at the front of our minds and will present its own challenges and opportunities tomorrow."

Sauber F1 Team

Adrian Sutil
"So far, this has been a difficult weekend for us. The car is not easy to drive, nevertheless we were able to improve consistently in qualifying. I made it into Q2, and we then made some changes to the balance of the car, which enabled us to make a significant step forward. So I was able to improve my lap time at the end of Q2, but more than P15 was not possible. However, I believe, based on the current weather forecast, we could have good opportunities tomorrow."

Esteban Gutierrez
"Q1 seemed to be quite positive and strong. But then I had some traffic on my out lap in Q2 which compromised my performance a bit. The tire temperature was not on target, so it was difficult to get the tires to work. However, tomorrow we could have some opportunities depending on the weather conditions, and we have to be prepared for that challenge."

Monisha Kaltenborn (Team principal)
"Considering that we had a difficult Friday, we were able to reduce the gap to our competitors today. Nevertheless, it's not a satisfactory result. According to the weather forecast everything is possible tomorrow, therefore it will be important to concentrate on the race and grab every opportunity that might come up."

Gianpaolo Dall'Ara (Head of track engineering)
"Yesterday it was not a good day for us, so today we can be satisfied on the operational side at least. Both drivers did a decent job in bringing back some balance into the car. Unfortunately, the starting positions 15th for Adrian and 16th for Esteban are not satisfying, but this result reflects where we currently stand. However, the weather forecast predicts rain for tomorrow, so this can add some thrills into the race. We will try to get the best out of what we have."

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne
"I'm really satisfied with my Qualifying today, especially considering how the weekend had gone so far for me. I didn't drive FP1, I had two technical issues in FP2 which shortened my running time, I could complete only 3 laps in FP3 this morning. However, the team was able to set up the car in time for Qualifying and I managed to do my job well this afternoon on a difficult track like Suzuka. It 's an extremely good job from the whole team, something to be pleased about. The race is tomorrow and anything can happen, even starting from the back of the grid."

Daniil Kvyat
"It's been a very special Saturday here in Japan today, as I was told that I would be driving for Infiniti Red Bull Racing next year. It's a fantastic feeling and a great opportunity and honor for me, so I want to thank Red Bull for trusting me. As for Qualifying today, I'm happy with our general performance, but we could have done better. Q1 was fine, but in Q2, my last flying lap was disrupted by some slower cars in front of me. When I arrived in Turn 1, my tires were not up to temperature and so the lap was compromised, as getting into a rhythm is very important here. But still, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race, whatever the weather may be!"

Ben Waterhouse (Deputy technical director):
"This morning we had a normal session for Daniil, running a typical program without any issues. We managed to get a good performance out of the car and so we were quite pleased with the job done. On Jev's side we had anticipated that we may have to replace the engine and actually we had to put the car in the garage early in order to change it. So after a great job by his car crew we managed to get the car out and ready in time for Qualifying. The session itself was slightly disappointing, as we didn't get the most out of the cars. Both drivers encountered traffic on their outlaps in the final run of Q2, otherwise they could have possibly qualified higher up the order. But it's the race that counts and with the weather forecast as it is, we have every chance of getting a good result. Unfortunately, Jev will have a slightly more difficult afternoon, as he takes a ten place grid penalty because today's engine change meant fitting his sixth of the season. The most important thing is that he managed to qualify above P12 and so he takes all his penalty here, with none of it carried over to Russia next weekend. Jev did well, considering how little running he has had this weekend.

"We had a big push from the guys in Faenza and Bicester to have a new package this weekend and I think tomorrow we can get more of the potential out of it and hopefully score some good points."

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support)
"It was a busy day for us today with the ICE change on JEV's car between FP3 and qualifying, but all went smoothly and the maps and new parts performed as planned. Both drivers did a good job but unfortunately got caught in traffic on the last run of Q2, which was a shame as we believed they had the pace for Q3. But tomorrow will bring a very different scenario with the rain so let's see what we can do – hopefully we can see some of the same overtaking from Singapore!"

Williams Martini Racing

Felipe Massa
"Luckily all the issues from yesterday were sorted today. It was a positive qualifying session for the team with both cars on the second row. I didn't quite have enough for third today, but I know we have good pace in the car and I'm happy. We must concentrate on the job we have to do tomorrow regardless of what the weather is."

Valtteri Bottas
"The goal was to be third and fourth behind the Mercedes so it's good to have accomplished that. The gap to the top two was actually closer than we had expected so it's positive to have closed that. Suzuka isn't an easy circuit, and the chance of a typhoon tomorrow makes it even harder. I think we still have a chance to get a podium position regardless of the weather."

Rob Smedley (Head of performance engineering)
"Today has been a really good day's work. The team have all worked very hard and the drivers have delivered on the track. The new aero package has worked well so that was the first step completed. We are in the positions we hoped for and we are confident going into tomorrow that we have a car to retain third and fourth. The rain could make for an interesting day tomorrow, but for that reason it is even more important that we have qualified at the front as being further behind is really difficult in the wet."

Marussia F1 Team

Jules Bianchi
"A frustrating result for us. I'm happy with the laps I did, but we did not reach our plan, which was for three runs, and so we ran out of time to try to get ahead of the Ericsson of Caterham. This is not where we want to be, but we did not have any upgrades for a while and they have obviously made a step forward which, at this track, reflects well for them. It's a shame, but, as always, we'll just focus on what we can do for tomorrow because, for sure, the race will be interesting, one way or another."

Max Chilton
"I'm very angry with myself. I was 0.4s up on that last run, with only a sector to go, and it would have been close between all three cars around me, so who knows where I could have ended up . Unfortunately, I just lost the rear into turn 13. I'd like to think we can pull it back tomorrow, but at this stage the race is difficult to predict, as we just can't be sure to what extent the threatened weather might intervene. All things being equal, I think we can get ahead. A disappointing result today, but we'll do our best tomorrow."

John Booth (Team principal)
"This morning the two cars had slightly differing balances and Max was in a slightly better position than Jules, who was suffering with quite a lot of oversteer. Through much of the morning and the lunch break, the focus was to try to improve Jules' balance and also optimize Max's set-up as much as possible. In qualifying, with the clear issue of challenging weather conditions tomorrow, we opted to complete three runs, with the first two separated by a pit stop. Unfortunately, Jules was called to the weighbridge, so we switched his plan such that his pit stop would be between the second and third runs. With the time he lost on the weighbridge, he was not able to make the line for the final lap, and on the lap he had to settle for as his best qualifying time, he had an excess of fuel. I'm sure the third run lap would have been much quicker and placed him better than where he is now. With Max, he was up in the first two sectors of his final run, but lost time in one corner, which is very frustrating for him. Overall, with both cars, we have not been able to demonstrate our full potential. For tomorrow, clearly the weather is going to be a major factor. It will be a race where the strategy calls become almost more important than the ultimate pace of the car. Race strategy is an area where we have been particularly strong for much of the year, so, regardless of our disappointment today, we approach Sunday with some confidence."

Caterham F1 Team

Kamui Kobayashi
"It's really not being the best of weekends for me, but I have to say that the team did a great job last night in order to get the car fixed and ready for me to drive today. Because of yesterday's crash, I haven't been able to complete as many laps as I would've liked and I hadn't used the Option tire before today's qualifying session, so it hasn't been the easiest of days. Considering this situation, I think my lap time was pretty good and we will see what happens tomorrow – I don't really mind if it rains, it will make it more of an interesting race."

Marcus Ericsson
"This morning's final practice session was another positive one, we definitely built on that strong performance we had yesterday so I felt really good going into qualifying. We decided to go for a bit of a different strategy compared to the others, so we only used two sets of tires while others used three – it was a bit of a gamble but I felt very comfortable in the car and I was confident it could work out, and it did. I'd say I did two decent laps and the car was working very well, so I'm happy with the result, it was a good effort from me and the team. Of course, you always want to be a bit closer to the guys ahead, but I think we've closed that gap a bit more again this weekend, so it's definitely positive progress. Now we just have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race!"

Cedrik Staudohar (Renault Sport F1 track support)
"Everything went well on the engine side in the session. Marcus continued the good job he has done all weekend to out qualifying the Marussias. Kamui suffered from his lack of mileage yesterday and this morning but we should be able to have a good battle in the race tomorrow, particularly if the rain arrives."

Pirelli

Paul Hembery
"Once more, there were no big surprises today – on the track at least. The performance gap between the two compounds has come down slightly, as we anticipated, but the medium is still expected to be the main race tire. That's assuming it doesn't rain of course, and there is still a strong element of doubt about this because of the nearby typhoon. So it could be a very different story tomorrow and it's going to be interesting to see what happens."

Lineup

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Behind
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes/Mercedes	1m32.506s	0.000s
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes/Mercedes	1m32.703s	0.197s
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m33.128s	0.622s
4	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m33.527s	1.021s
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari/Ferrari	1m33.740s	1.234s
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m34.075s	1.569s
7	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m34.242s	1.736s
8	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	1m34.317s	1.811s
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	1m34.432s	1.926s
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari/Ferrari	1m34.542s	2.036s
11	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m34.984s	Q2
12	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m35.089s	Q2
13	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m35.092s	Q2
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m35.099s	Q2
15	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	1m35.364s	Q2
16	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1m35.681s	Q2
17	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1m35.984s	Q2
18	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham/Renault	1m36.813s	Q1
19	Jules Bianchi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m36.943s	Q1
20	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham/Renault	1m37.015s	Q1
21	Max Chilton	Marussia/Ferrari	1m37.481s	Q1
22	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m35.917s	Q1