Formula 1: Korean Grand Prix 2013
The 3rd free practice session had already shown that the Red Bulls are again good for the pole. So it's no surprise to see Sebastian Vettel on pole, his 42nd in his career so far. Lewis Hamilton is quite happy with his 2nd place: "I'm really happy with my 2nd place, I got everything out of the car that I could. The guys did a great job. We came here knowing that Red Bull had an advantage, but we were able to narrow the gap. A lot is possible in the race. A few years ago I was on pole and "Seb" was behind and overtook me at the start, now it would be time for revenge in tomorrow's race." Mercedes will also benefit from Mark Webber being demoted 10 places to 13th after the Stuarts cautioned him for the third time this season. For the Swiss Sauber team, the race weekend has been very successful with grid positions 7 and 8. For the first time this season, both drivers made it into Q3. Now world championship points are the goal for tomorrow's race. On the other hand, there are rumors that Kimi Räikkönen lacks sufficient motivation after the switch to Ferrari for 2014 has been known for some time. But a 10th place is certainly disappointing for him as well, after his team-mate finished 4th and will start tomorrow's race from 3rd place on the grid. Kimi said of his race, "I made a mistake with my only set of new tires in Q3, so my lap wasn't fast enough and I ended up 10th. I also struggled with some understeer during the weekend, but looking at our pace on the long runs, we should be faster in the race tomorrow. But obviously we have to see what the weather will do, we hope it will be better." Alonso, who starts the race from 5th place, is not really happy either, as could be noticed during the season when he had several "slip-ups". He misses winning very much, he said in an interview, but they are just half a second to a full second behind the pole for years, but he does not give up the world championship fight, he will continue to fight. Tomorrow's race is sure to be a close one, with possible freak weather conditions and corresponding racing luck or misfortune also deciding whether Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes will lift the winner's trophy in the end.
Ranking Qualifying
1st Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing 1:37.202
2nd Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1:37.420
3rd Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing 1:37.464
4th Romain Grosjean, Lotus 1:37.531
5th Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1:37.679
6th Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 1:38.038
7th Felipe Massa, Ferrari 1:38.223
8th Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber 1:38.237
9th Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:38.405
10th Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus 1:38.822
11th Sergio Pérez, McLaren 1:38.362
12th Jenson Button, McLaren 1:38.365
13th Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso 1:38.417
14th Adrian Sutil, Force India 1:38.431
15th Paul di Resta, Force India 1:38.718
16th Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso 1:38.781
17th Valtteri Bottas, Williams 1:39.470
18th Pastor Maldonado, Williams 1:39.987
19th Charles Pic Caterham, 1:40.864
20th Giedo van der Garde, Caterham 1:40.871
21st Jules Bianchi, Marussia 1:41.169
22nd Max Chilton, Marussia 1:41.322
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