Sebastian, your 15th consecutive front-row start of 2011 and continuing your 100 per cent pole record here. What a lap!
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, what a qualifying! To be honest, yesterday I went off in the free practice and damaged the wing, so it wasn't ideal in the afternoon to prepare the car for today. I think we suffered a little bit from that this morning. In particular, where we were kind of coming back regarding the car balance but we were too slow. We sat down after the practice session this morning and fortunately got everything together and we were able to get everything, every single bit out of the car, which was crucial. There isn't much between Jenson and myself. It was a tough qualifying but I enjoyed it a lot. It's a long lap. You start off with this mega first sector. We come here, not for the first time, but still, every time is a challenge, especially in qualifying to really get it as good as you can. I had a bit of a wobble in sector one but then I made up for it in the second sector and we have been strong in the third sector, so, all in all, fantastic. Special thanks to the team, who just in time brought the front wing. Many regards also to the factory. I think without them I would not be sitting on pole position today, so I am very happy and very proud. We were able to extract everything we had today, which was just enough, so very happy.

Jenson, second today and your first front-row start since Monaco. Championship contenders in P1 and P2. Well done.
Jenson Button: Thank you. It has been a pretty good weekend. As always, we all love driving around here. Suzuka is a phenomenal circuit. When you have got a car working around here it is a great feeling. Basically, I was just building up until Q3 and thought the last lap would have been enough but it was nine thousandths not good enough. There you go. I felt like I got everything out of the car. I got a little bit of oversteer on that last run but I think it was just because I was pushing that little bit more. Fair play to the whole team. To really fight the Red Bulls around here, on a circuit they have dominated at for the past couple of years is, I think, a great job by everyone. It is not P1, it is not perfect, but second is still pretty good and I think we can race well from there.

Lewis, P3 today and it looked so good for pole all the way through that session but you just missed the cut on the chequered flag. How disappointed are you to have missed that cut? Do you think pole was in there for you?
Lewis Hamilton: I have to second what Jenson just said. The team have done a fantastic job to get us here and to be able to compete with the Red Bulls on this kind of circuit is pretty impressive. The car was feeling great. I felt I had a couple of tenths at least left. I had time. There were a couple of corners where I lost a bit of time on my first runs. I felt I was in a position to at least fight with these guys but it was a bit dangerous at the last corner where I had Mark (Webber) attacking me and I had Michael (Schumacher) down the outside. It was very, very strange and that's really where we lost the lap.

Sebastian, only Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost have more poles than you in a season now. Just one point left in it for you this season, how much are you looking forward to the race tomorrow?
SV: Well, regarding the point or no point, I am not really focusing on that. I had a lesson yesterday where I didn't do a big mistake but for maybe just a little moment I wasn't a 100 per cent focused and lost the car. It is a long race. It is a very challenging track around here, so I am looking forward to the race. We really love to come here. It is a special atmosphere. The Japanese fans are so passionate and so crazy and when we leave the hotel in the morning it is full of people and they are all screaming. It is generally a nice feeling to be part of that. As Jenson said, it is a long race. There are a lot of things that can happen. DRS this year can open chances to the whole grid so we will see where we are. But I am definitely looking forward to it. I think we had a good race car yesterday in the preparation so far, so it should be alright, but I am looking forward to the race and not for the point.

Press Conference

Sebastian, fantastic. How much satisfaction do you get from that after the weekend you have had so far?
SV: A lot. It was a great qualifying for us, no doubt, especially as these guys looked so quick right from yesterday morning onwards. We were struggling a bit yesterday to set-up the car. I did a mistake in P1, which did not help. Lost the front wing, but the team did everything to bring it back and just in time it arrived and we got it for qualifying. It is the best way to say thank you in a way. Everyone did a very good job and without the team I would not be able to extract that today. Once you are in the car, you have got a new set of tyres on, you think you have got everything set up and you find yourself in Q3 - then you know it is between you, the car and the track. To be honest I enjoyed it a lot. I knew that after the first run of Q3 it was possible. The time Lewis set straight away was very strong and I knew that I should be able to be around 30.5, to do a lap around 30.5, if everything goes well. The start of the lap wasn't that fantastic as in the first sector I lost a little bit, tried a bit too much. But then I was quite confident in sector two that I could make up for it. But first you have to do it. Then when I crossed the line it was very close. I saw on the screens around the track Lewis crossing the line and Mark crossing the line. Then you know, and then I got the radio call that we had just done it by nine thousandths-of-a-second, so I am very happy. It has been a great pleasure this afternoon, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.