Qualifying report:
Nico Rosberg took his eighth pole of the year at Suzuka with a commanding performance that swept team-mate Lewis Hamilton aside by almost two tenths of a second. Rosberg set provisional pole on their first runs with a 1:32.629 and then shaved more than a tenth off that time with a pole lap of 1.32:506.
Hamilton therefore had to settle for the other front row slot, ahead of the super impressive Williams’ of Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa in third and fourth, again with a couple of tenths separating the team-mates.
Fernando Alonso again out-performed his car by a country mile in taking fifth on the day it became apparent he might be headed for greener pastures with the soon to be Honda-powered McLaren. And on the day Daniel Ricciardo was announced as Red Bull’s team leader for 2015, he beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the ninth time this year, this time by four tenths, to line up sixth.
Kevin Magnussen out-qualified team-mate Jenson Button, with the McLarens lining up seventh and eighth in what could become a shootout for the seat next to Alonso for 2015.
With his move to Ferrari all but sorted, Vettel took a lacklustre ninth, somehow still ahead of the even more lacklustre Kimi Raikkonen in tenth, his potential new team-mate at Maranello.
Rosberg topped Q2 with a 1:32.950 in an unremarkable session where everyone fell two by two. Jean-Eric Vergne got closest to progressing in 11th, just ahead of Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter knocked out in Q2 for the fourth race in a row. The Saubers were a long way off the pace, Adrian Sutil shading his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez in 15th and 16th.
Hamilton managed to top Q1 with a comparatively slow lap of 1:33.611. Late improvements by both Saubers relegated the Lotuses into the drop zone, with Romain Grosjean heard complaining of “no traction, no grip”. The Frenchman was out-qualified by team-mate Pastor Maldonado, with the Lotuses setting the 17th and 18th quickest times. However, Maldonado will suffer a ten place grid penalty for using his sixth engine of the season at Suzuka and, given that he can only be penalized five place from his qualifying spot, the Venezuelan is likely to be penalized a further five place next week in Sochi.
Marcus Ericsson used his Japanese Formula 3 experience to great effect, out-qualifying team-mate Kamui Kobayashi for only the third time all year with the 19th quickest time. Jules Bianchi started his final flying lap too late to make it count but was still 20th fastest, ahead of Japanese hero Kobayashi and the hapless Max Chilton.
Starting grid:
| Row 1 | 1. Nico Rosberg 1’32.506 Mercedes |
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| 2. Lewis Hamilton 1’32.703 Mercedes |
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| Row 2 | 3. Valtteri Bottas 1’33.128 Williams |
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| 4. Felipe Massa 1’33.527 Williams |
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| Row 3 | 5. Fernando Alonso 1’33.740 Ferrari |
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| 6. Daniel Ricciardo 1’34.050 Red Bull |
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| Row 4 | 7. Kevin Magnussen 1’34.242 McLaren |
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| 8. Jenson Button 1’34.317 McLaren |
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| Row 5 | 9. Sebastian Vettel 1’34.432 Red Bull |
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| 10. Kimi Raikkonen 1’34.548 Ferrari |
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| Row 6 | 11. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’34.984 Toro Rosso |
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| 12. Sergio Perez 1’35.089 Force India |
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| Row 7 | 13. Daniil Kvyat 1’35.092 Toro Rosso |
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| 14. Nico Hulkenberg 1’35.099 Force India |
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| Row 8 | 15. Adrian Sutil 1’35.364 Sauber |
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| 16. Esteban Gutierrez 1’35.681 Sauber |
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| Row 9 | 17. Romain Grosjean 1’35.984 Lotus |
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| 18. Marcus Ericsson 1’36.813 Caterham |
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| Row 10 | 19. Jules Bianchi 1’36.943 Marussia |
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| 20. Kamui Kobayashi 1’37.015 Caterham |
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| Row 11 | 21. Max Chilton 1’37.481 Marussia |
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| 22. Pastor Maldonado* 1’35.917 Lotus |
*Ten-place penalty
