Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel beat Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the Korean Grand Prix. The world champion’s margin over Hamilton, who was fastest in both Friday practice sessions, was 0.218s.
The German secured his fourth pole in a row to put himself in the best possible position to extend his 60-point championship lead over Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver qualified sixth but starts fifth as a result of a 10-place penalty for Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who was third.
Lotus’s Romain Grosjean moves up to third ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Webber’s penalty also drops him back behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who qualified sixth fastest, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, the McLarens of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m37.202s 2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.420s +0.218s 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.464s +0.262s 4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.531s +0.329s 5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.679s +0.477s 6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m38.038s +0.836s 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.223s +1.021s 8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.237s +1.035s 9. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.405s +1.203s 10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m38.822s +1.620s Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.327s 11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.362s +0.793s 12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.365s +0.796s 13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.417s +0.848s 14. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m38.431s +0.862s 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.718s +1.149s 16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.781s +1.212s Q1 cut-off time: 1m39.175s 17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m39.470s +1.129s 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m39.987s +1.646s 19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m40.864s +2.523s 20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m40.871s +2.530s 21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.169s +2.828s 22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.322s +2.981s