Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has sent a warning to championship leader Fernando Alonso by insisting that his car "feels fantastic".

Vettel's declaration came after he dominated qualifying to earn pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, and he hailed the performance of his car as "almost perfect".

Vettel said: "I'm very, very happy with today's result. We had a very good qualifying session and it was very smooth, almost perfect.

"The car feels fantastic, so all in all, it all came together nicely and we hope for a good race tomorrow."

Vettel is currently 29 points behind Alonso, who starts tomorrow's race in sixth place, in the driver's standings.