Sebastian Vettel stormed to pole position at Suzuka ahead of McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to put him on track to win his second world championship.
Button missed out on pole position for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix by just nine thousandths of a second as the Red Bull driver continued his astonishing run.
It is also Red Bull’s 16th consecutive pole, with only McLaren on 17 and Williams with 24 ahead of them.
Needing only a point on Sunday to win back-to-back titles, only a failure and a Button victory can deny him the championship.
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Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - Race Line Up
Formula 1 Standings Ahead of Japanese Grand Prix
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in Second Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in Third Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
Behind the front row, Hamilton will start third alongside Felipe Massa in his Ferrari, and interesting duel likely to develop there in light of their feud a fortnight ago in Singapore.
Fernando Alonso, who blew his first run when he made a mistake, lines up fifth, with Mark Webber sixth in his Red Bull and the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher seventh. Daily Mail
Kamui Kobayashi delighted his home crowd by using soft tyres to set the outright pace in Q1, then made it through to Q3, where he chose to save tyres and did not set a flying lap.
Renault took the same strategy, having got over its Singapore dip and got both cars into Q3 again, with Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov starting eighth and ninth.
The Force Indias did not quite make Q3 and will share row six, ahead of the Williams.
Having shown some top 10 potential in practice, Toro Rosso looked like it might reach Q3 after the initial Q2 runs. But the team chose not to run again and the end of the session, so Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari found themselves pushed down to the eighth row.
Sergio Perez will start 17th, a hydraulic problem striking his Sauber before he could set a Q2 time.
At the back, Lotus kept a one-second cushion over Virgin, were Jerome D’Ambrosio outqualified Timo Glock. Tonio Liuzzi’s gremlin-strewn weekend continued as his HRT developed further problems early in Q1 and stopped him setting a time. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
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