Vettel claims pole

In an incident-packed session that saw three red flags and two drivers taken to hospital, Vettel held his nerve to post a time of one minute 32.160 seconds and keep his slim title hopes alive.

Jarno Trulli was second in his Toyota and Lewis Hamilton will start an impressive third for McLaren but championship leader Jenson Button could only manage seventh on the grid, while main challenger and Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello will start fifth.

Vettel trails Button by 25 points with a maximum of 30 left on offer, but the German enhanced his chances of making the title a three-way battle as the season draws to a close after leading all three qualifying sessions.

Timo Glock and Jamie Alguersuari had already brought out two red flags due to heavy accidents in the previous two runs and, when Heikki Kovalainen induced a third stoppage after sliding off at the troublesome Degner curves early in Q3, the stage was set for a dramatic shootout.

Kimi Raikkonen set the first time - a lap of 1min 33:010secs - with just over three minutes remaining before Vettel smashed that by nearly a second.

Trulli then posted a 1:32.220 to just miss out on pipping the Red Bull to pole and after Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil and Hamilton also failed to usurp the German, all eyes were on the Brawn duo of Button and Barrichello.

Button, however, could only manage a time of 1:32.962 and will start seventh, although he will be cheered by the fact Barrichello is only two places in front of him after edging his team-mate by three tenths. Button needs to beat the Brazilian by five points to claim his maiden drivers' crown.

Hamilton trailed Vettel by 0.225secs and will start his first race at Suzuka in third, ahead of Force India's Adrian Sutil. Heidfeld claimed sixth and Raikkonen eighth. Kovalainen will start ninth and Sebastien Buemi a creditable 10th in the Toro Rosso, although neither set a time in Q3.