Japanese Grand Prix: Qualifying Facts and Stats

Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in Japanese GP qualifying that threw up some surprising stats on a 'Super Sunday' at Suzuka – for both the pole-sitter and his Mercedes rivals.

• Vettel's first pole at Suzuka since 2012 ended team mate Charles Leclerc's run of four consecutive pole positions. Not only that, it was the first time Vettel outqualified his team mate since the Canadian GP, ending a run of nine races in which Vettel has been outqualified by Leclerc.

• This front-row lockout was the third of the season for Ferrari and it meant that the Scuderia equalled Mercedes' record 64 front-row lockouts.

• It could be a tough afternoon for the Silver Arrows, as nobody has won an F1 race at Suzuka from the second row of the grid. Furthermore, this was the first time since 2014 – the dawn of the F1 hybrid era – that Mercedes haven't had a 1-2 in qualifying at Suzuka.

• Valtteri Bottas outqualified his team mate Lewis Hamilton here, the first time that's happenesed since the summer break. As for Hamilton, he hasn't won from fourth on the grid since the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. That's over a decade ago.

• The Red Bull pair set exactly the same laptime, Alex Albon matching team mate Max Verstappen with a lap of 1m 27.851s in Q3. Verstappen starts P5 by virtue of setting his lap first.

• McLaren broke a drought, having not started in the top-eight at Suzuka since 2014. And Carlos Sainz outqualified Lando Norris for the fourth consecutive time, the Spaniard reaching Q3 at Suzuka for the first time in his career.

• Since returning to Toro Rosso after the summer break (at the Belgian GP), Pierre Gasly managed to reach Q3 for the first time. His team mate Daniil Kvyat hasn't reached Q3 for 10 races now.

• Kimi Raikkonen's challenging run continued, the Iceman having been outqualified by Alfa Romeo team mate Antonio Giovinazzi for the third consecutive race.

• A run of four Q3 appearances ended for Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, while team mate Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in Q1 for only the second time this season, and the first time at Suzuka since 2011.

• Racing Point's Sergio Perez managed to reach Q3 in Japan for four years in a row before this race – where he qualified 17th. He was outqualified by Lance Stroll for only the second time this season.