Qualifying
Mark Webber grabbed a great pole position ahead of teammate Vettel to lockout the front row of the grid, his 12th career pole position and first of 2013 in a windy session that saw a very tight grid. Vettel had a KERS issue as he took second ahead of the rest of the pack, but both drivers were very pleased with the car. Hamilton took third place, feeling that the car was fantastic and the change of conditions really helped them. Rosberg brought the sister car in for sixth, frustrated by his position with the grid so close together on time, but also said he had a better race setup and looked forward to the race. Grosjean was in great shape for Lotus, fast and controlled throughout qualifying on his way to fourth place, comfortable with the car. Raikkonen's iffy qualifying form continued, as a small mistake saw him paid back on the tight grid, dropping him to ninth. Felipe Massa out-qualified Alonso again, taking fifth place and feeling he got the perfect lap with a great car, but that they simply didn't have the car to challenge Lotus or Mercedes. Alonso felt his eighth place was the best they could do after having average pace over practice, but that their race pace was stronger and would help them in their constructors fight with Mercedes. Nico Hulkenberg again delivered for Sauber, flying into the top ten convincingly and taking seventh place in Q3 with a strong lap and feeling everything had come together. Gutierrez couldn't do the same, taking P14 in Q2, edged out in the tight times on his Japanese debut. McLaren just about made the top ten with Jenson Button, taking tenth place, with Perez just outside with P11. Jenson really enjoyed himself and felt both tyres worked, while Perez was frustrated to miss out on Q3 by a tiny margin. Force India found more speed for qualifying and a more stable car, allowing Di Resta to take P12 after a poor start to the weekend. Sutil continued to struggle however and wasn't comfortable at all, only managing P17 in Q1 and with a grid penalty will start P20. Williams found some more pace as Bottas took P13 and Maldonado P15, feeling they'd got the best from the car and the tight grid helped them, with the windy conditions aiding their aerodynamic grip. Torro Rosso failed to deliver as Ricciardo only managed P16, feeling the car unsettled by the windy conditions. He felt they should have been higher, whilst Vergne finished P18 (P17 after penalties) in a short-lived Q1 as his rear brakes jammed on for his second run, setting fire to them, causing a red flag and taking him out of qualifying, much as they took him out of the race in Korea. For the first time since China Marussia out-qualified Caterham, with Chilton beating the nearest green car by two-tenths of a second on a great last-gasp lap for P19 (P18 after penalties). He was very happy with it on his Suzuka debut, though Bianchi struggled with P22 after a difficult weekend so far. He also has a ten-place grid penalty from Korea, so will remain last on the grid. Caterham found themselves hampered by traffic, especially with the red flag towards the end of Q1, and couldn't get a perfect lap in on their new tyres. Pic was P20 (P21 after penalties) and also has a penalty like Bianchi's for Korea's reprimand, while Van der Garde was P21 (P19 after penalties). On top of that, Pic was also given a drive-through penalty for the race for driving through a red light in the pit lane, which he had to serve in the first five laps of the race.