Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in qualifying for Japanese GP with Vettel in eighth

Sebastian Vettel defended Ferrari’s strategic error in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday, which has dented his hopes of catching Lewis Hamilton for the drivers’ championship.

The German starts eighth at Suzuka for today’s race, which starts at 9.10am UAE time, after Hamilton claimed the 80th pole position of his career.

Ferrari sent Vettel out on intermediate tyres, along with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, for the final part of qualifying after a brief rain shower.

However, the track was not wet enough and Ferrari had to bring both drivers back in to go on dry tyres, and then Vettel went off on his one fast lap before rain did arrive to wash out the closing moments of the session. The German’s best time was more than four seconds slower then that of Hamilton, who topped the times with a lap of 1 minute, 27.760 seconds in his Mercedes-GP.

Vettel trails his fellow fourtime world champion by 50 points with five races remaining, and his chances of cutting that deficit seem slim on a track where overtaking is difficult. “When the conditions are like this, then obviously you either get it right or get it wrong, so I’m not blaming anybody,” Vettel said.

“If it started to rain five, six, seven minutes earlier, then we did a miracle because we were the only clever ones, but if it’s like that, then obviously we’re the only ones who look stupid.

“Therefore I defend the decision. It’s our decision as a team.”

Hamilton acknowledged that it had been a tough call on which tyre to go on, with he and the rest of the top 10, other then the Ferrari pair, going with the dry compound.

“It is so difficult out there to make the right call, and that is another real big difference that we as a team have made this year,” said the Briton, as he bids for a fourth win in a row.

“Every team has smart people but ultimately when it comes to being under pressure in making the right decisions and the right calls, that is why we are the best team in the world.”

Valtteri Bottas, who obeyed team orders from Mercedes in Russia last weekend to move out of the way for Hamilton to take victory, starts second on the grid.

Max Verstappen lines up third for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Raikkonen, with Romain Grosjean’s Haas fifth ahead of the two Toro Rossos of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly.

Vettel was ninth quickest in the session but will start eighth due to Esteban Ocon getting a three-place penalty for not sufficently for a red flag during final practice.