Nico Rosberg said his clean sweep of practice sessions in Suzuka helped him beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix by just 0.013s.
Rosberg has been the quickest Mercedes all weekend and topped Hamilton in Q1 and Q2, only for the reigning world champion to edge ahead in the initial Q3 laps. On the final runs Rosberg just did enough to get ahead on a 1:30.647 which Hamilton was unable to match.
Reflecting on the lap, Rosberg said: "Of course, happy with the result in the end. It was going well the whole weekend and I had a good balance in the car, feeling good, feeling comfortable, and that's what allows me to put in a lap like that in the end."
"It was just a good lap, just got it all done properly, that's it. I knew I could do it, I knew I could do a good lap. The first one in Q3 wasn't perfect so I just had to get my head down and nail it."
It's Rosberg's third consecutive pole position at the Suzuka circuit, though Hamilton beat him to victory from second on the grid in 2014 and 2015. Rosberg knows the start - where Hamilton barged past him last year - will be key, but the German is also wary about the role tyres will play over the course of the race.
"It's just putting everything together. For sure the start is going to be an important one tomorrow, and we've seen this weekend it's not been too easy because it's downhill and the grip somehow has been a bit lower than usual - so it's going to be an interesting challenge.
"From then on just need to get the tyre life to get to do long enough stints and everything to get the strategy to work, it's just putting everything together."