Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Formula OneJapanese Grand Prix by qualifying ahead of teammate Mark Webber on Saturday.
Vettel, atwo-time winner in Japan, secured his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka andwill be in a good position in Sunday's race to further erode the championshiplead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
"We hada very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect" Vettel said. "Thecar felt perfect from the start. We didn't have a great result yesterday so I'mvery happy with today's session."
Vettel wonthe previous race in Singapore and is just 29 points behind Alonso in thestandings with six races left.
Alonsoqualified seventh, and all of Red Bull's championship rivals will start therace several places back after a yellow caution flag in the final moments ofqualifying prevented them getting in a last flying lap.
Lotus driverKimi Raikkonen, third in the standings, caused the yellow flag when he spun atthe edge of the track, and qualified eighth, while McLaren's Lewis Hamiltonobeyed the flags and slowed, qualifying ninth.
McLarenteammate Jenson Button qualified third but will start eighth due to a gearboxreplacement penalty.
"It'sgoing to be tough tomorrow," Button said. "Never say never, and wewill have a good car for the race tomorrow."
Mercedesdriver Michael Schumacher — who announced Thursday he will retire at season'send — qualified 13th but has a 10-place penalty for causing a crash in theprevious Singapore Grand Prix so will start on the back row.
Sauberdriver Kamui Kobayashi gave the local fans a thrill by qualifying fourth, aheadof Lotus' Romain Grosjean. Sauber's Sergio Perez, who will switch to McLarennext season to replace the Mercedes-bound Hamilton, was sixth while ForceIndia's Nico Hulkenberg was 10th but will drop five places for changing agearbox in the pre-qualifying practice session.