Lewis Hamilton on POLE for Japanese Grand Prix – Vettel starts 9th

Lewis Hamilton is on pole for the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix, with team mate Bottas alongside for a Mercedes front row. Vettel starts in ninth for Ferrari.

There’s was the faint sound of a fat lady singing in Japan this morning as Lewis Hamilton took pole position in qualifying for the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix, as closest rival Sebastian Vettel manged only ninth.

With five races left, and a deficit of 50 points to Hamilton, Vettel needs the Japanese Grand Prix to go well, but a poor decision by Ferrari in Q3 has left him stranded in ninth place on the grid.

Q2 was cut short by rain, but by the time Q3 got underway the track was dry and Hamilton and Bottas set strong times, but behind their early laps the Ferrari plan was going badly wrong.

Ferrari sent Vettel and Raikkonen out on Intermediates, and although Vettel knew it was the wrong decision before he’d even left the pits proper, he  had to do a full lap before pitting again. But by that time the rain was back.

As a result, both Vettel and Raikkonen ran wide on their laps at Spoon Curve, leaving Raikkonen in a not too bad fourth place, but Vettel starting way back in ninth.

Verstappen sits in third place between Bottas and Raikkonen, with Grosjean in fifth, the Toro Rossos of Hartley and Gasly in sixth and seventh, Ocon in eighth and Perez in 10th.

It was another woeful qualifying for McLaren, with Alonso in 18th and Vandoorne in 19th, ahead only of Marcus Ericsson, who at least had the excuse of crashing out in Q1.