Qualifying Results

Lewis Hamilton knocked Red Bull off pole position for the first time this season with a brilliant lap in Korea.

McLaren's 2008 champion edged out Red Bull's double world champion Sebastian Vettel by 0.222 seconds.

Jenson Button lines up third for McLaren alongside Mark Webber's Red Bull with the Ferraris fifth and sixth.

It is Hamilton's first pole since last year's Canadian Grand Prix but he was subdued after qualifying and did not celebrate the achievement.

McLaren told Hamilton over the pit-to-car radio: "Great news, you are on pole, great job." Hamilton did not respond.

He has said this weekend that he wants to bring his run of poor form to an end but that it would take some time to put a difficult season behind him.

Asked for his response to taking his first pole for 16 months, he said: "I'm very happy. I'm very proud of what the team has achieved over the last two races.

"It's one of the first positives I've had for a while. To be back on pole is a great feeling. I've had some difficult races in the past and we'll try and redeem ourselves (in the race) tomorrow."

Hamilton had stretched clear of his rivals from the first phase of qualifying and sealed his 19th career pole with a lap of one minute 35.820 seconds.

Hamilton added: "The team have worked incredibly hard all year to catch up the deficit we had to the Red Bulls.

"In the last few races Jenson has been massively quick and has been able to compete with them and constantly be on the podium but not finishing ahead of him [Vettel] too often.

"Fortunately after the last race and here today we've had some competitiveness and hopefully tomorrow we will continue with that performance."

He said the team had made a "big change to the set-up compared to the last race" following his struggle to fifth place in Japan, where Button won.

Vettel was the penultimate man out on track as eight cars took to the Yeongam circuit in a frantic final 90 seconds.

But the 24-year-old, who sealed a second world title last weekend, could not reel Hamilton, who has been strong in the wet and dry conditions thrown at him this weekend.

Vettel was investigated but not penalised by the stewards after he cut a corner on one of the laps on which he was coming into the pits in final qualifying.

The move appeared to come after he had been warned over the radio to do a "quick in-lap" to ensure he had enough time for a final lap, but it was decided that the German did not gain an advantage.

Button was nearly half a second slower than Hamilton despite setting the fastest time through the first section of Yeongam's challenging circuit.

"It's not perfect but congratulations to Lewis as he's been tough to hold onto all weekend," said Button, who won six days ago in Japan.

"We can race very well from here. We haven't got a clue what's going to happen with tyre degradation on high fuel but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"I don't know how the race will go but you'd think it will be between us and the Red Bulls but I don't think Ferrari are that far behind.

"As a team we're disappointed we couldn't get this performance earlier in the year."

Red Bull would have broken the record for number of pole positions won in a season had Vettel or Webber taken the honours but an unusual qualifying strategy suggested the team had already turned their attention to the race.

Both drivers took the unusual step of starting qualifying on a new set of super-soft tyres, which are usually reserved for the final phase when the top grid positions are settled.

Pirelli have provided the soft and super-soft compounds in Korea and Red Bull have chosen to save all their unused sets of soft tyres for a race where tyre wear will be key.

"We saved all our prime tyres which is the difference and will be crucial for tomorrow," said Vettel.

"We are in a good position. It's not a long way down to the first corner, tyre wear will be crucial, Jenson did a good job in the last race, so that again will be important again.

"McLaren were very competitive on Friday. I know the [wet] conditions were different but they were a fair chunk ahead of us and once again we pushed them very hard and got closer than expected."

Felipe Massa out-qualified Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso, who was running with a new front wing, to claim sixth on the grid.

Alonso later admitted that he had made a mistake at the start of his lap.

"I lost a few tenths at the first corner and after that, I could not make up the time, so I decided not to complete the lap," he said.

A solitary pole may not be enough to complete the recovery process for Hamilton but it could the catalyst for the start of a personal comeback

Massa has now out-qualified Alonso at three of the five races since F1 returned from its summer break.

Paul di Resta lines up in ninth ahead of his Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil after the team again chose not to set a fastest lap in the last stage of qualifying to save tyres for the race.

Michael Schumacher had the track to himself in the middle section of qualifying but the 42-year-old still couldn't eke out enough pace to challenge for a top-10 place and he lines up 12th for Mercedes.

Schumacher had complained on the pit-to-car radio that he was feeling vibrations in the car but carried on regardless.

Williams left it late to send their drivers out of the garage in the first phase of qualifying and Rubens Barrichello ended up being knocked out by his own team-mate Pastor Maldonado.

"The tyres gave up a little bit on me and we decided to stop," explained the 39-year-old, who is fighting to keep his place in Formula 1 in 2012.

source: bbc

Lewis was superb today, totally dominated and showed his pure speed and racing ability. However, once again tyres are going to play a significant role in who wins tomorrow. I sound like a broken record but 'tyre management' is crucial and I fear for Lewis. Korea is not an easy track on tyres and as Vettel stated, ''We saved all our prime tyres which is the difference and will be crucial for tomorrow," basically sums the situation up. I would love to see Lewis win and put to bed the criticism and constant debate regarding his driving, however Sundays are completely different from Saturdays as Alonso has proved this year. Good Luck Lewis.

I agree John, its not going to be a walk in the park. Im starting to curse the tyres to be honest.

Though Lewis has won before using the same tyres so its not necessarily as bad as you may think. It could also rain tomorrow, which wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing.

If Hamilton starts well and leads from the front, he can control the pace from the front. He needs to aim his car at Vettel and give him some of the treatment he's fond of dishing out to others

Interesting to hear Coulthard's comments during qualifying about Mclaren using a long first gear, which ultimately helped them through turn 5 but will harm them during their 'launch' phase. Did anyone else pick that up?

Yeah i heard that too. Not sure it'll be a problem as its a short distance to the first corner and Lewis is on the clean side of the track and a bit of kers will help him too.

What do you guys think of the new "improved" pitlane

Whoever decided that was better then last year's is an idiot

the new 'improved' pit lane consists of a flashing blue light to warn drivers of cars leaving the pits. I think it's ridiculous, if someone outbrakes themselves they are out of control as Rosberg proved, or if someone is defending position down the straight, no driver is going to be concentrating on a blue light. In my opinion I can't see Korea staying on the calender for too long. The atmosphere is terrible, the weather is appaling, the facilities that were promised to be built surrounding the circuit have not been built......the track is not bad at all but has no character whatsoever, reminds me of Turkey and we know what happened there.

fernando wrote:What do you guys think of the new "improved" pitlane

Whoever decided that was better then last year's is an idiot

That's an accident waiting to happen, stupid idea

What we all think about Mr Vettel being hauled up before the stewards for cutting a part of the track?

I don't get how the FIA can say he gained no advantage from it

Once again inconsistancy when it comes to Mr. Vettel. He clearly gained an advantage during Q3 for cutting turn 5. It allowed his team to perform a 'quick turnaround' and resulted in him being able to perform a second run and improving his time, therefore how is that not an advantage? He cut a corner while making an overtake in Australia, cut a series of corners in Hungary during the race, which resulted in him achieving a fastest lap out of nowhere and once again, you guessed it......NO PENALTY.

Now if that had been Hamilton....

I hope to see a McLaren 1/2. Vettel, no matter what he says, will have taken his foot off the gas now. He might catch Lewis at the start, but I think both McLaren's will beat him. I reckon Mr Alonso might want that bottom step on the podium.

Did anyone notice MB said something along the lines of the McLaren looking like "the Lewis of old" was driving it? It was during Q2...

Good result for Paul Di Resta too.

The Mclaren today under Lewis' aggressive, attacking driving style was on rails....it was truly impressive. There's not a better site, seeing a true racing driver like Lewis on the ragged edge, pushing the car to its maximum limit and seeing him throw the back-end into a corner with full confidence in the ability of the car. So, yes it was like 'the lewis of old', however I am 100% sure that the development of that car has been directed under the influence of Whitmarsh to be more stable and ultimately more suited to the 'smooth' driving and conservative style of Jenson.

In reference to the stewards. The Thing I dont understand is at the thursday driver meeting they stated, 'missing turn 5 through using the escape road will be punished this year with a penalty during the race'........well why didnt they just state the 'whole weekend' then drivers wouldnt be taking advantage of the 'free use' of it and we wouldn't be in the situation of discussing and analysing it would we.....seriously how dumb and stupid are the stewards? how difficult is it to steward f1?

looked very good today mr hamilton not sure why he was so gloomy after getting pole but oh well.

Was very impressed by Alguersuari today seems to have found some pace

fernando wrote:looked very good today mr hamilton not sure why he was so gloomy after getting pole but oh well.

Was very impressed by Alguersuari today seems to have found some pace

Winning a pole position and lacking the over-the-top reaction has some questioning his motivation and continued presence in the sport. Really? Does anyone think a pole position really sends Lewis over the moon? This is a guy who is here to win titles, not just poles. He’s not ‘jazzed’ about his pole position, maybe because the job is half done, Red Bull have three sets of prime tyres and ultimately the media have scrutinised him constantly regarding his private life, apparent dangerous driving etc, so its not a suprise he isnt 'very talkative'.

He's the 1st guy to break the rb domination of pole this season ud think he'd atleast be a bit happy about it regardless of tomorrow's situation/

fernando wrote:He's the 1st guy to break the rb domination of pole this season ud think he'd atleast be a bit happy about it regardless of tomorrow's situation/

I suspect Lewis has bigger fish to fry at the mo AND maybe he was over the moon but wasnt giving the journalist the satisafaction. Good on him i say.


SO the vettel cuttiing corner incident. Whats the results? Has he been warned, no further action or what? He would have gained an advantage in time but not much, but still........