Sebastian Vettel will start on the pole for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix in a dramatic qualifying session that featured three red flag for accidents, including one for a serious crash involving Timo Glock.

Vettel was fastest in all three qualifying sessions. The Red Bull Racing driver topped Toyota's Jarno Trulli in the final segment with a time of one minute, 32.160 seconds for his fourth pole of the season and the fifth of his Formula One career.

"I did my best not to get distracted today," Vettel said. "It was a strange session with a lot of incidents. The most important thing is that all the drivers are okay."

Vettel trails leader Jenson Button by 25 points. Button, who qualified seventh, can clinch the F1 title in Japan if he gains five points or more on Brawn GP teammate and closest competitor Rubens Barrichello, who qualified ahead of him in fifth.

"It wasn't the easiest of qualifying sessions with so little practice yesterday and all of the interruptions," Button said. "Three red flags during qualifying is very unusual."

Trulli from Toyota will start second, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton rolls off third and Adrian Sutil from Force India begins fourth.

The second session in qualifying was halted twice. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari went off course and hit the tire barrier head-on, causing an eight-minute delay. The Spaniard was not injured.

Shortly after the session resumed, Glock overshot the final turn and slammed hard into the barrier. He was extracted from the car, but transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Reports from the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said his condition was good, but he was complaining of back and leg pains. The Toyota driver did not practice earlier in the day due to flu-like symptoms.

During the final segment, Heikki Kovalainen caused the third delay in qualifying when the McLaren driver went off course and damaged his car heavily in turn two.

Mark Webber did not take part in the session after damaging his Red Bull car during practice. He will subsequently start from the pit lane on Sunday.

Button and Barrichello, as well as Force India's Adrian Sutil and Renault's Fernando Alonso, the defending race winner, were all handed five-place grid penalties for failing to slow adequately under yellow flags. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi received an identical penalty for impeding other cars and causing a potential hazard to other drivers.

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