Nico Rosberg has praised Mercedes for bouncing back from its disappointing result at the Singapore Grand Prix to take pole position in Japan on Saturday.
Rosberg took pole ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix and said he was close to setting the perfect lap on Saturday afternoon. Mercedes predicted it would be back ahead of its rivals after qualifying a second off the pace in Singapore and Rosberg delivered with a time nearly half a second faster than Valtteri Bottas' Williams in third.
"First of all, of course, very happy, great day today," he said. "A good comeback from the team, fantastic after such a difficult weekend in Singapore to be back to our usual strength today. Great car so very thankful for that, really turned things around and optimised everything at this track. Pretty much nailed my laps today so really pleased with the way it went and great position to be in for tomorrow.
"At times today I had the perfect car. That's why it was very fun to drive, Suzuka is the ultimate track."
After rain on Friday, teams had to cram all of their usual set-up work into the hour-long final practice session on Saturday morning, but Rosberg is happy with his car.
"I'm confident the car is going to be good. As for everybody, we didn't have the perfect preparation so there might be a few surprises tomorrow. I'm confident I found a good balance; I did do some high-fuel running this morning and the balance was good. It should be fine."