Formula 1
KOREAN GP – QUALIFYING—
Car 1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: POLE POSITION, (3rd Practice – P1, 1:37.881)—
“It was close today. I had a very good lap in Q3 on my first attempt and thought I would find it hard to do better. On my second attempt I caught Kimi on the warm up lap and didn’t have time to drop back, but fortunately the first lap was good enough. Mercedes were strong and seem to be comfortable in the middle sector. We’re good in Sector one this year which a surprise as that’s mostly straights. We improved the car from yesterday as I wasn’t entirely happy with it after the second practice. In terms of conditions, we should be okay if it’s dry or wet tomorrow; it’s not clear if we get some rain from the typhoon, but let’s see what happens.”
“It was close today. I had a very good lap in Q3 on my first attempt and thought I would find it hard to do better. On my second attempt I caught Kimi on the warm up lap and didn’t have time to drop back, but fortunately the first lap was good enough. Mercedes were strong and seem to be comfortable in the middle sector. We’re good in Sector one this year which a surprise as that’s mostly straights. We improved the car from yesterday as I wasn’t entirely happy with it after the second practice. In terms of conditions, we should be okay if it’s dry or wet tomorrow; it’s not clear if we get some rain from the typhoon, but let’s see what happens.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER: “An exciting qualifying today and a great first run in Q3 for Sebastian, which proved to be the lap that achieved the pole position. It was a very strong performance from Mark and it’s a shame that he now has to take a ten-place penalty, but we’ve set the car up with that in mind and hopefully he can make good progress tomorrow. Congratulations to Renault on achieving their 208th pole position, which matches the all-time record of Ferrari.”
(Renault) THIERRY SALVI: “The car has been working very well all weekend and in the end all it took was one great lap by Sebastian in the start of the session to secure his third consecutive pole. Mark pushed hard and this position limits the damage his ten-place penalty will inflict tomorrow. We know our rivals will try to reset the pole advantage in the race so we need to stay on top to get the maximum from the car, which is again the quickest package of the paddock. On another note the pole is a great feeling for Renault as it takes our tally of pole positions in F1 to 208, equaling Ferrari’s record. We’re very proud to have achieved this with Red Bull Racing.”
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 Gap **
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 Gap *
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