Japanese GP: Bridgestone Qualifying Review

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel has qualified on pole position with Bridgestone's soft compound Potenza tyres for the Japanese Grand Prix after a scintillating lap of Suzuka.

Vettel set a 1min 30.785secs under glorious blue skies in the postponed qualifying session held on the morning of race day. Mark Webber will start alongside his team-mate for this afternoon's race.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about qualifying?
"Today I am very sad as we did not beat the course lap record in our final home Grand Prix as there was not much rubber left on track after yesterday's rain. The surface was damp but drying quickly with the wonderful weather we have here this morning. We saw a lot of improvement in the surface through the session. Sebastian completed a great lap for pole whilst Jenson has tried a different approach from the rest of the top ten by qualifying on the hard compound."

What are the tyre strategy considerations for the race?
"Assuming we have no return of rain, it is going to be interesting to watch the timing of the pit stops as we only have Friday's dry data to go on. The track surface will improve a lot as more rubber is laid through the race so Jenson's strategy could well be beneficial for him as he will make use of the soft compound when track conditions are better for this tyre later on in the race."

Stats of the Day 

Qualifying 10:00 - 11:00
Driver             Team                 Time        Tyre
Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull Racing 	1m 30.785s  S
Mark Webber 	   Red Bull Racing 	1m 30.853s  S
Lewis Hamilton 	   Vodafone McLaren	1m 31.169s  S

Compounds used: Hard (prime) / Soft (option)

Temperatures 	 Ambient     Track	 Weather
AM - Qualifying  26C 	     30C-33C 	 Sunny