Vettel grabs pole for Japanese GP

SUZUKA, Mie Pref. — Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix by qualifying ahead of teammate Mark Webber on Saturday.

Speed on by: Sebastian Vettel celebrates taking the pole for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday in Suzuka, Mie, Prefecture. AP

Vettel, a two-time winner in Japan, secured his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka and will be in a good position in Sunday's race to further erode the championship lead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

"We had a very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect," Vettel said. "The car felt perfect from the start. We didn't have a great result yesterday so I'm very happy with today's session."

Vettel won the previous race in Singapore and is just 29 points behind Alonso in the standings with six races left. The German has always performed well at Suzuka, winning here in 2009 and 2010 and taking third place last year to wrap up his second consecutive drivers' championship.

Alonso qualified seventh, and all of Red Bull's championship rivals will start the race several places back after a yellow caution flag in the final moments of qualifying prevented them getting in a last flying lap.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, third in the standings, caused the yellow flag when he spun at the edge of the track, and qualified eighth, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton obeyed the flags and slowed, qualifying ninth.

"I spun. I was on a good lap and I was pushing — maybe a little too hard — and lost the rear," Raikkonen said. "It's a shame as the car feels the best it has all weekend. If the car's good tomorrow we should be able to move forward. Let's see what happens."

Hamilton's McLaren teammate Jenson Button qualified third but will start eighth due to a penalty for replacing the gearbox in his car.

"It's going to be tough tomorrow," Button said. "Never say never, and we will have a good car for the race tomorrow."

Hamilton, who is fourth in the standings and needs a good result in Sunday's race to avoid losing ground, said he was unhappy with Saturday's qualifying.

"Today's qualifying session was one of the most disappointing of my year," Hamilton said.

"To be honest, I went the wrong way with the setup and ended up with too much understeer. Until qualifying, the car had felt great all weekend, but I just couldn't make it turn this afternoon, and as a result I just couldn't extract the best from it."

Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher — who announced Thursday he will retire at the end of the season — qualified 13th but has a 10-place penalty for causing a crash in the Singapore Grand Prix so will start on the back row.

Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi gave the local fans a thrill by qualifying fourth, ahead of Lotus' Romain Grosjean.

"From where I am starting I should have a chance to fight for a podium finish," Kobayashi said. "It would be a dream come true if I could achieve my first podium in Formula One in front of my home crowd."

Sauber's Sergio Perez, who will switch to McLaren next season to replace the Mercedes-bound Hamilton, was sixth.

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Vettel impresses in Singapore practice

SINGAPORE — Red Bull signaled it was ready to resume its fight for the Formula One title with a strong performance in Friday's practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets in both sessions, while teammate Mark Webber was fourth in the second practice. Neither driver had finished their previous race, the Italian Grand Prix, on Sept. 9.

"Overall we can be happy with today, but let's see what we do tomorrow, it's still Friday and today's results are not so conclusive as some drivers got stuck in traffic," Vettel said. "Most important is that the car seemed to work on either tire, so we go from there."

McLaren's Jenson Button was second fastest ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, with the presence of three different teams in the top three places indicating a close fight in Sunday's race.

"I would say today was positive, even if the first impression is that we are not as competitive as we were in Monza, two weeks ago," Alonso said. "We still lack a bit of performance on tracks like this one, where you need maximum aerodynamic downforce."

Button's teammate Lewis Hamilton was fifth, seven-tenths of a second off Vettel's time.

The other title contender, Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, was down in 12th — a full two seconds behind Vettel — after missing the closing stages of the second session with hydraulic problems.

"Usually we improve on Saturday time-wise but we are not suddenly going to catch up two seconds to the front," Raikkonen said. "I am sure they will improve also, and it shows that we are not as fast as we should be."

Michael Schumacher of Mercedes also sat out the final minutes due to brake problems.

While there were no major incidents on Friday, plenty of drivers ran wide and flirted with the tight concrete walls as they tested the limits of the street circuit and came to grips with a slippery, dusty surface.

Williams driver Bruno Senna clipped the wall heavily and stalled his car, bringing out the red flags midway through session two, and ending his night.

Vettel won this race last season, but his dominance of 2011 is now a distant memory, having won only one race in this campaign. Friday's performance should provide a timely boost for him and the team — particularly as there were no signs of the alternator failure which had plagued Red Bull in Italy.

Most teams were running very different settings in Singapore than in Italy, switching from the high speeds of Monza to the twists and turns of Marina Bay.

The biggest change was made by Mercedes, which had a new exhaust system that directed air to the rear wing and rear diffuser to improve traction. Friday's performance, with Schumacher 11th and Nico Rosberg in eighth, showed the team had more work to do to integrate it to the chassis.

SINGAPORE — The contract negotiations between Formula One team McLaren and Lewis Hamilton won't dampen the English driver's quest to win the title, according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

There's been speculation that Hamilton may switch to Mercedes next season, and his future remains in limbo while he pushes for a more lucrative McLaren offer.

"I am sure he will want more money and I am sure we will want to pay less — that is how the business normally works," Whitmarsh said Friday.

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Vettel holds off Hamilton in Spain

BARCELONA, Spain — Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel held off Lewis Hamilton to win the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, edging his closest championship contender to capture his fourth victory in five races this season.

The Red Bull driver took the lead for good after the second round of pit stops to beat Hamilton by 0.6 seconds and widen his advantage atop the standings to 41 points over his McLaren rival.

The German lost use of his KERS power boost and Hamilton tucked in behind him, but Vettel clung to the lead over the final dozen laps, becoming only the fifth winner in 21 races at the Catalunya Circuit who didn't start on the pole and the first in the last 11 races.

"A lot of people said today wouldn't be a race—that's why I'm even more happy we made it," Vettel said. "The last 10 laps I felt tires going away and I was praying. On top of that sometimes KERS on, sometimes KERS off. It wasn't an easy race."

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Vettel makes Turkish GP look easy

Istanbul — Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory in the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, clinching his third win of the season ahead of teammate Mark Webber to extend his lead in the standings.

The Formula One champion was never in trouble at Istanbul Park after starting from the pole for the fourth consecutive race and winning by a comfortable 8.8 seconds.

"Throughout this race we had this cushion and were able to act, rather than react," Vettel said. "We never really had anybody close behind, which would have been a different situation."

The 23-year-old Vettel became F1's youngest champion last year and is an odds-on favorite to repeat as he already leads McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by 34 points and Webber by 38.

"I think the day you start to think you are unbeatable is the day you get beaten, for sure," Vettel said. "There is always someone, at some point, who teaches you a lesson, who gives you a hard time and beats you."

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