Vettel’s third pole position on the trot came courtesy of a scorching time of one minute 37.202 seconds. PHOTO: AFP
Runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel grabbed pole position yesterday for the Korean Grand Prix, pipping Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was third fastest in qualifying for today’s grand prix, but a 10-place grid penalty from the previous race in Singapore relegates him to a lowly 13th.
In-form Romain Grosjean of Lotus was fourth fastest at an increasingly overcast Yeongam circuit, ahead of Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Alonso, who is the closest challenger to Vettel in the title race, but still a hefty 60 points behind with six races left, was sixth fastest.
His teammate Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, both of Sauber, and the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10.
Vettel’s third pole position on the trot came courtesy of a scorching time of one minute 37.202 seconds, edging out Hamilton with one minute 37.420 seconds.
Victory today for Vettel, 26, would see him put one hand on the drivers’ crown — for what would be his fourth world title on the trot. The German clenched his fist and held up a single finger to signal his status as number one as he returned from his lightning lap.
“I think as expected Mercedes was pretty strong,” said Vettel. “I think they feel pretty comfortable in the middle sector so it’s a tight battle.
“We have got the balance [of the car] right this weekend. I wasn’t entirely happy with the car yesterday after practice. But all in all we can be very happy with what we achieved so that’s why I was pretty satisfied after qualifying.”
Raikkonen holds up hands after ‘mistake’
Raikkonen admitted he made a mistake during qualifying, leaving him only 10th fastest and outgunned by teammate Romain Grosjean.
The former world champion Raikkonen locked up at a turn, then repeated the error soon afterwards.
“I made a mistake on my only set of new tyres in the final qualifying session,” said the Finn.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2013.
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