Vettel on Indian GP pole ahead of Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel wins his 7th pole of the season, the 43rd of his career, by winning for the 3rd time in a row qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix where he has never been defeated in two editions. The pilot Red Bull set the best time of the weekend with a time of 1’24”119. The leader of the Championship, who will certainly win his 4th title at the end of the race, will set off in front of the Mercedes by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who fail more than 7 tenths behind the triple world champion. The Red Bull of Mark Webber completes the second row, but the Australian opted for a different strategy by choosing to qualify with the hardest tires of the weekend. Felipe Massa will start from 5th place ahead of the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg. The Ferrari de Fernando Alonso and McLaren of Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button complete the top ten of the grid having also chosen to qualify with the medium tires.

Daniel Ricciardo was the first driver to fail at the gates of Q3. The future replacement for Mark Webber at Red Bull is ahead of the Force India of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil, as well as his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne who will start from 14th position after failing 2 tenths behind the Australian. The Frenchman is ahead of Williams de Valtteri Bottas and the Sauber of Esteban Gutiérrez.

Big disappointment for Romain Grosjean who failed in Q1 in 17th position. By wanting to make the most of the Frenchman's potential, Lotus F1 Team failed in its strategy by leaving its driver on the track with medium tires. The French driver did not have time to improve his time after missing his last flying lap. The former GP2 Series champion will start alongside the Williams of Pastor Maldonado. On the other hand, Jules Bianchi achieved a very good performance by taking 19th place ahead of the Caterhams of Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic. The Marussia of Max Chilton completes the grid.

Click on this link to see photos of the Indian Grand Prix practice sessions.