Rosberg grabs pole, Hamilton unlucky as Kvyat crashes!

Nico Rosberg claimed a fortuitous pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday as Mercedes returned to its dominant form. 

Rosberg, who trails Hamilton by 41 points in the championship, took pole in unusual circumstances, as all drivers were denied a last flying lap due to a red flag following a serious crash by Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat.

That meant Rosberg's initial time — just eight hundredths of a second better than Hamilton — stood for pole. Hamilton's initial lap included a lock-up mistake at the hairpin which cost him significant time, so likely he would have surpassed Rosberg on their last run.

The result was a relief for Mercedes which suffered a rare setback at last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. Hamilton was forced to retire for the first time this season because of an engine-clamp failure while Rosberg finished fourth on a weekend when the team struggled for pace.

'It's a good comeback for the team after a difficult weekend in Singapore,' Rosberg said. 'To be back to our usual strength today is fantastic. It was a strong performance by the team and we had a great car.'  

Hamilton rued the missed opportunity on the last lap. 

'The second lap was looking good,' Hamilton said. 'On the first lap I lost a bit of time on Turn 11 and the last corner. Nico is driving pretty well this weekend but I definitely felt pretty good on that last lap.'

Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat met with a horrific crash at the end of qualifying. 

Hamilton was going great guns on his final lap but was stopped in his tracks by Kvyat's violent smash into the barriers, which gave Rosberg the opportunity to grab pole.

'That final lap had started so well - I was already a tenth and a half up by turn seven and getting excited,' Hamilton was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. 

'When the red flag came out I was like 'nooo! The start will be key tomorrow because you can't follow here and it is going to be very, very hard to pass.'

Williams' Valtteri Bottas was third ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who won last weekend in Singapore.  

The next row followed that pattern, with Williams' Felipe Massa ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo qualified seventh and Kvyat 10th, separated by Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Force India's Sergio Perez.