Formula One:A last-gasp mercy dash by Red Bull deprived Jenson Button of what would have been his first pole position for 45 races by a mere 68 centimetres.
Just nine thousandths of a second separated Sebastian Vettel from Button come the conclusion to an agonising qualifying session for the Briton ahead of tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
McLaren’s boffins then worked out what that slender amount of time equated to in terms of distance when travelling across the start-finish line at 175mph.
With Button’s last pole in Monaco during his championship-winning year of 2009, you can appreciate the 31-year-old felt aggrieved.
“You have always got to be a little disappointed when it is that close,” said Button as Vettel made it five poles in a row.
“I got everything out of the car, so to be nine thousandths off is disappointing, but also a front-row start is not such a bad thing.”
Button was also potentially 20 minutes away from ending his pole drought, as that was how close Vettel came to running with an old-spec front wing in qualifying.
A rare error from the 24-year-old German, who is now in the ideal place to gain the point he requires to become a back-to-back world champion, saw him crash into a barrier yesterday in first practice.
It was significant as it meant Vettel had damaged one of two new special noses for this race, with the other on that of team-mate Mark Webber’s car.
But unlike last year at Silverstone, when Red Bull took a new front wing off Webber and handed it to Vettel ahead of qualifying after a failure on the latter’s car in final practice, this time the team resorted to drastic measures.
Instead, Red Bull flew out a replacement overnight, the package travelling 10,000km and arriving at the circuit in time - by just those precious 20 minutes - for the team to bolt it onto Vettel’s car.
“When I went off in free practice and damaged the wing it wasn’t ideal in the afternoon to prepare the car for today,” said Vettel. “But today we were able to get everything, every single bit out of the car, which was crucial, so special thanks to the team for getting the new front wing out just in time.
“Many regards also to the factory because without them I would not be sitting on pole position, so I am very happy and very proud.”
Vettel was also fortunate Lewis Hamilton became embroiled in yet another incident to try his patience in a season he has already described as the most testing of his career.
On provisional pole from the first timed run, ahead of the second Hamilton backed up too much to give himself a gap to Button.
Approaching the final chicane Hamilton slowed but as he did so, and with the clock ticking, Mark Webber flashed by one side in his Red Bull and Michael Schumacher the other in his Mercedes.
The result was that a seemingly all-at-sea Hamilton did not cross the line in time to set a second fast lap.
Initially, Hamilton accused Webber and Schumacher of creating a situation he claimed was “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced in qualifying”.
He added: “Just as I was coming into the chicane I looked in my mirror and I saw Mark diving up the inside of me.
“Out of nowhere, he just shot up the inside and nearly crashed with me, so I had to avoid him.
“And then I saw...I didn’t even see Michael as I gave Mark room, but he nearly crashed into me on the left, so it was quite dangerous. I don’t know what the hell he was doing, but he went off onto the grass.”
Later, though, Hamilton blamed himself as he said: “It was my mistake because I should have got out sooner, but I made a wing setting change which meant I went out later.”
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh felt Hamilton, who will start from third, was being “too harsh on himself”.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa starts fourth, interestingly so in light of the fall-out he and Hamilton were involved in in Singapore, with team-mate Fernando Alonso fifth and Webber sixth.
Controversy surrounded the four drivers who did not set a time in Q3, with the FIA later determining the order to be Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber seventh, followed by Schumacher, and then the Renault duo of Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov.