Sebastian, a crucial pole at a crucial time. You have a great chance now of becoming the youngest ever World Champion.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, we start from pole, couldn't be better. I think it was a tough qualifying session. We knew that the conditions would be tricky. At night the temperatures drop a little bit. Yesterday in the afternoon, or the late evening, in the practice we didn't look too good and we were not 100 per cent happy but I think we made a big step today which allowed us to fight for the pole. I think it was very close with Lewis especially. In the end I think if we would have done two runs it would probably have been the better choice. I was surprised how much the circuit ramped up for us in the end but nonetheless we went out last and we did it. A very good job today by everyone, the whole team. It was a tight session, so now looking forward to tomorrow and see what happens.

That is 10 poles for you this season. It has been an amazing year.
SV: Yeah, definitely. I had some kind of statistic the other day in front of me, how many poles per season some drivers have done. Guys like Senna, Prost, Michael (Schumacher). They are all up there and with 10 poles I am not at the top, so maybe we can work on that next year. But still it has been a phenomenal qualifying, no problems and always the car was very competitive. Very pleased. And 10 poles in qualifying in one season is a great effort and shows how good our car is.

Lewis, you had a few tricky moments in Q2, particularly with Felipe Massa. Then in Q3 you came close but not quite close enough?
Lewis Hamilton: Today was a much better weekend, or start of a weekend for us. The team have done some great things improving certain parts of the car and it's enabled us to be a lot more competitive this weekend. A good feeling again for us. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We are quite chilled and we are quite happy. Great job also by Jenson (Button). A good step to hopefully score more points than the Ferraris tomorrow. I cannot really complain where I am.

In a situation like today how much does having the pressure off help you?
LH: Massively. In 2007 and 2008 being at the last races with an incredible amount of pressure on, but this weekend is a huge difference for me. I am just here enjoying myself and enjoying driving the car and looking forward to tomorrow.

Fernando, you had the pressure on as you were outside the top three until the very last seconds. Tell us about the pressure you had to soak up there?
Fernando Alonso: Well, obviously tough qualifying for everyone. Changing position constantly in Q2 and then Q3 as well. You never know how competitive you are until the Q3 finish. I think the first attempt was not great. I had some traffic in the first sector, so I knew that in the second set of tyres there is some potential to come, so I pushed to the limit and third place is great. I think yesterday we did a good job on the set-up, race pace and qualifying pace. Today I think it was a good qualifying for us. We just need only one more day and perfection.

From a championship point of view how strong a position are you feeling in right now?
FA: I think we are more or less in the same situation as we were two days ago before first practice. We know the situation. We know four contenders. I think everything is down to tomorrow's race. Anything can happen in the race. We saw in the last two or three events some changes. In Korea, the Red Bulls were very strong and then they lost the race with some mechanical issues. In Brazil we saw some problems with some pit stops for Mercedes, for Felipe (Massa) as well, so in a race situation anything can happen. We need to complete the 55 laps without any problem. I think it will be a tough, long race for everyone but we are in a position at the moment that is very strong.

Sebastian, it is the title decider tomorrow. What are your thoughts going into this huge day?
SV: Well, looking forward to the race. I like this track. Last year I had a very good experience here and the car was fantastic and I think in the race the car is even stronger, so we will see. As Fernando and Lewis said it is a long race and anything can happen, so we have to go step by step. Today we did the best job we can. We are in front of everyone else. If we make sure we stay there tomorrow I think we do our maximum and then see what happens.

Press Conference

Sebastian, given the championship position and given the situation you are on pole position, there are another three guys who would love that pole, how does it feel?
SV: Good.