Lewis Hamilton claimed a dramatic pole position in the wet at the Fuji Speedway on Saturday as McLaren locked out the front row of the grid.
The McLaren rookie, who spent much of the session trailing in his team-mate's wake, found the pace in the dying seconds of the session, clocking a 1:25.368. Alonso, who looked the most likely to take pole position up until his team-mate's last ditch effort, was just 0.070s off the pace.
And given recent tensions at McLaren, the 1-2 off the start-line offers the promise of an intense battle.
Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were third and fourth ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. However, the stars of qualifying were Jenson Button who finished in seventh and Sebastian Vettel, who brought his Toro Rosso home in ninth place.
Qualifying 1
After the morning practice session was cancelled because of low mist, making it impossible for the medical helicopter to fly, it looked like more of the same for qualifying. Low mist still hung over the mountains and the dreams of seeing F1 cars against the backdrop of Mount Fuji just a distant dream.
The rigid F1 rule in the time of FIA medical delegate (Silverstone) Sid Watkins had been that if the medical helicopter couldn't fly, the cars couldn't go out. Under the new regime this clearly no longer applies, as with no appreciable change in conditions at 2pm cars started rolling down the pitlane.
The argument was that there was a hospital reachable by ambulance in 15 minutes - though the kind of traffic jams generated around grands prix, don't usually facilitate fast or easy access.
With the pitlane open almost all the cars flooded out onto the wet track to test out conditions and the difference from the dry conditions of Friday practice. This would be an F1 qualifying session in the old tradition with all the cars belting round for all of the time.
Everyone was equipped with either the Bridgestone full wets or intermediate tyres and the times soon started to tumble. After ten minutes the top 8 drivers were covered by a massive two and a half seconds with Ferrari's Felipe Massa adapting best to the conditions taking provisional P1 with 1:27.586 which he then lowered to 1:27.313.
Fernando Alonso took over P1 with a 1:25.966.
Jenson Button, whose only race win came in the wet Hungarian GP of 2006, once again proved that he has taken over Michael Schumacher's crown as Der Regenmeister and slide his Honda into P3 while Honda team-mate Barrichello, normally excellent in mixed conditions, was struggling.
In the closing stages, though, Lewis Hamilton looked in trouble. He had set out to improve his lap time and been blocked in the hurly burly of cars going off the track and coming back on or trying to make themselves space. Sebastien Vettel and Ralf Schumacher had already gone off and taken advantage of Mount Fuji's generous tarmac run-off areas.
Hamilton had slipped as low as P18 in the final stages until he put a lap together that took him safely into the top 10 with less than a minute on the clock. We also saw the unusual sight of Mark Webber overtaking Takuma Sato whilst both were on their hot laps.
In the dying seconds of the session Ralf Schumacher also chose the same corner to overtake a Spyker, which duly turned in on him and took off his rear wing. The irony was that Ralf had already qualified for Q2 but would now not have a car to go out in.
Out went:
17. Barrichello
18. Wurz
19. Davidson
20. Sutil
21. Sato
22. Yamamoto
Already the two Japanese drivers were out in conditions that could have given an unusual result. With one Toyota not starting Q2 it was down to Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button to carry the Japanese interest forward.
Qualifying 2
Jarno Trulli was out first as most drivers continued to test out the track and the conditions. Although times had improved rapidly in the first half of the Q1 session, in the second half progress slowed. The gradual evolution of a dryish line meant that it was much harder to improve times now.
Trulli set a very low benchmark of 1:27.891 which the remarkable Sebastien Vettel beat with a 1:27.027 barely seconds later. Mark Webber showed that he is also a class act when it gets wet and stuck in a 1:26.110 which was thumped by Alonso's 1:24.978. Lewis Hamilton could get close to Alonso's time but not beat it and the Spaniard subsequently edged it down to 1:24.806.
Jenson Button was showing that he still meant business by taking the P5 time, behind the two McLarens and Ferraris, but ahead of the BMWs. Though Hamilton looked safe he went out again to show Fernando who was king and took the P1 time off him with a 1:24.753.
With Ralf not going out again, in the closing stages it was Coulthard, Fisichella, Kovalainen, Trulli and Liuzzi who had to escape the drop - and though they shuffled the ultimate grid order, none could break into the top 10. It finished:
11. Fisichella
12. Kovalainen
13. Coulthard
14. Trulli
15. Liuzzi
16. Schumacher
Star of the session was Sebastian Vettel who got to Q3 for the first time in his Toro Rosso career, plus the continuingly brilliant Jenson Button.
Qualifying 3
Lewis Hamilton won the race to the end of the pitlane yet again, followed by Webber and Alonso. As the pitlane exit light turned to green the Ferraris were late out of their garage.
In the early stages it was Alonso who was circulating fastest and his 1:25.596 put in during the fuel burn-off stage stood as the P1 time for almost all of the session. Lewis Hamilton was in constant radio contact with his engineers working out which corner he could improve on and trying to assemble his ideal lap. When the Brit came in for a new set of tyres though, his 'hot' lap was a disappointing 1:25.762.
In response Alonso upped the pole time to 1:25.539 and then reduced it to 1:25.438 while Raikkonen proved that the Ferrari threat was a very real and present danger by banging in a 1:25.516. His team-mate Felipe Massa had a good lap ruined when he came across a less-than-swift BMW of Nick Heidfeld.
With three minutes left the top six were: Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa, Heidfeld and Button. It looked like Hamilton had no answer for Alonso and the steady drizzle was not creating quicker times despite fuel loads going down.
Hamilton went for one more flying lap, but unlike at Spa, he had a clear track and could go for it. He produced one of the best qualifying laps of the season and his career, on a wet surface with an immense amount of pressure he stole the pole with no time left on the clock.
His modus operandi this weekend has been to gleefully undermine a po-faced Alonso with what he says in interviews and this stellar qualifying lap was the final trick. The intense celebrations afterwards might even suggest that he has more fuel on board.
Raikkonen and Massa will take comfort from the fact that they weren't as far adrift as they had been in Friday practice and that similar damp misty conditions are expected for tomorrow. Whether the GPDA will be as happy to start a race with no medical helicopter is a different matter.
Though Nico Rosberg qualified in sixth place his engine change will demote him 10 places down the grid, elevating Button to P6 and Vettel to P8. They will certainly be keeping their fingers crossed for a gloomy weather forecast.
FH
Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:25.489
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:25.438
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:25.516
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:25.765
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:26.505
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:26.728
07 J. Button Honda 1:26.913
08 M. Webber Red Bull 1:26.914
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.973
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:27.225
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:26.033
12 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:26.247
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:26.247
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:26.253
15 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.948
16 R. Schumacher Toyota no time
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:27.323
18 A. Wurz Williams 1:27.454
19 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:27.564
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:28.628
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.792
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:29.668
