Japanese GP: Mark Webber will not aid Sebastian Vettel's title bid

Mark Webber says he will race to win in Japan despite team-mate Sebastian Vettel being on the brink of the title.

Webber starts on pole ahead of Vettel, who will seal a fourth title if he wins with Fernando Alonso below eighth.

Webber said: "We'll have a standard race. It's everyone for themselves to get the maximum result they can.

"That means me winning and the rest is whatever. If Seb can get more points than Fernando, it's good for him and the team."

The issue of team orders is a sensitive one at Red Bull after Vettel ignored a command not to pass Webber to win the Malaysian Grand Prix in March this year.

Vettel's actions infuriated Webber and although the German initially apologised, two weeks later he said he would do the same again and that Webber did not "deserve" the victory.

Vettel also indicated that he felt he had lacked support from Webber in the past, a suggestion Webber has said he finds laughable.

The Australian was 0.174 seconds quicker than Vettel in qualifying, the German having suffered a power-boost system failure that cost him in the region of 0.3secs a lap.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner left all options open when asked after qualifying whether the drivers would be free to race.

"They race for the team," Horner said. "They're free to race and the goal is to do the best they can for the team."

Vettel added: "It's unfortunate these things come up when it is the end of the season but these sorts of questions come up because one car is in a strong position.

"We will try our best. I'm sure we'll try hard and race hard like we did in the past."

Vettel has won eight of this season's 14 grands prix, including the last four races in South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Belgium - a dominance Britain's Lewis Hamilton has said risks driving fans away.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso - who qualified in sixth and eighth respectively in Japan - have two wins apiece, while Webber has none to his name in 2013.

Hamilton, one of the other two drivers to manage a race win this year, will start third on the grid on Sunday in his Mercedes, with fellow Briton Jenson Button of McLaren 10th.