Sebastian Vettel stands on the brink of one of the most significant achievements in recent Formula One history after securing his seventh pole start of the season for today's Indian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver needs to finish only fifth or better to become the fourth man to amass four world titles, and just the third to rattle off four consecutively after Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio.
Certainly the German could not have picked a more fitting venue to try to get the job done, having dominated this race since it first appeared on the F1 calendar two years ago, starting first on the grid on all three occasions and leading for all 120 laps on his way to winning in both 2011 and 2012.
His latest pole position at the challenging Buddh International Circuit came courtesy of a lap of one minute 24.119 seconds, seven-tenths quicker than nearest challenger Nico Rosberg, who finished just a shade ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
While a place among the sport's greatest names beckons, Vettel insists he is trying to keep his focus from extending beyond the immediate task. "I'm trying not to think about it," he said. "Obviously it's difficult when every second person in the paddock asks you the same question. But we've done pretty well in the past focusing on every single step and I see no reason to change.
"I don't think I did anything special the last three times [ahead of clinching the drivers' title]. I wasn't looking forward to the race and going, 'yeah tomorrow is the day'. I was basically trying to focus on the race and trying to ignore the fact that it could be the decisive race."
The only possible chink in Vettel's armour could come from Pirelli's tyres. There have been huge variables in performance and endurance between the two compounds the manufacturer brought to this race.
Vettel will start the 60-lap race on the soft tyre, as will the two Mercedes drivers, but Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber managed to claim fourth on the grid on a medium tyre that is significantly slower than the soft.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who trails Vettel by 90 points in the standings and is the only man who can catch him, is also on the medium tyre, although he starts from eighth.
Hamilton admitted he feared Mercedes would be battling only to be best of the rest behind Red Bull. "It's been a tough weekend," the Englishman said. "We'll try to push these guys as hard as we can, obviously. They're in another world but we'll try to stay ahead of the rest."
Paul Di Resta, starting 12th on the grid after failing to make it into Q3 by less than three-tenths of a second, was optimistic his disappointing run of form would come to an end at Force India's home race.
The Scot, who has gone seven races without claiming a point, said: "I think we can be satisfied with the job we've done today. My lap in Q2 was very good, although I made a small mistake in the second-to- last corner, so I was maybe a couple of tenths away from the perfect lap.
"It definitely feels like we've made some progress and my confidence is growing with the way the car is working at the moment.
"We are only a couple of places away from points, so we're in the mix and if we can deliver the right strategy we should be able to come away with something."
Grid positions after qualifying: 1 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 24.119secs, 2 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:24.871, 3 L Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:24.941, 4 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:25.047, 5 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:25.201, 6 K Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:25.248, 7 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.334, 8 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:25.826, 9 S Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:26.153, 10 J Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:26.487, 11 D Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.519, 12 P di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:25.711, 13 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:25.740, 14 J-E Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.798, 15 V Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:26.134, 16 E Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.336, 17 R Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:26.577, 18 P Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:26.842, 19 J Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:26.970, 20 G van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:27.105, 21 C Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:27.487, 22 M Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:28.138.
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