Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull lockout of the front row after qualifying at the inaugural Korean Grand Prix at the new Yeongam circuit yesterday.

The 23-year-old recorded his ninth pole of the 2010 season with a lap of 1 minute 35.585 seconds, edging team-mate and world championship leader Mark Webber by 0.074secs in a thrilling hour-long session.

Vettel’s pole is the 14th of his career, and the front-row one-two is Red Bull’s eighth of the season.

The German said it has taken some time to become accustomed to the 5.621-kilometre circuit this weekend.

“Some corners here are quite tricky to understand the way they work, especially Turn 9, 10 and 11,” Vettel said.

“It wasn’t easy, but as usual when it comes to corners, we know our car is very good. In a straight line, we’re doing our best, but there’s not much we can do, so we have to fight back in the corners.”

Webber, who qualified on the front row for the 12th time in 17 races this season, edged Vettel in the second knockout part of qualifying by three one-hundredths of a second.

The 34-year-old lost out to his team-mate in the final session after electing to run consecutive flying laps on the softer Bridgestone tyre.

“I wasn’t that happy on the first timed lap, to be honest,” Webber said.

“It was more comfortable for me to do two timed (laps), and it worked out OK. It was very close with Seb, and I got second on the grid, which is a lot better off than many other positions.

“It would have been nice to get pole, but it’s still a very good position to start the race and we can do very well from there. It was pretty close to perfect, but not quite.”

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton was fourth for McLaren, half a second adrift of Vettel’s pole time. The third row will be shared by Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Felipe Massa, of Ferrari.

Defending world champion Jenson Button struggled to get on the pace of his title rivals, qualifying seventh for McLaren, 1.2 seconds off the pace.

Poland’s Robert Kubica, who topped morning practice for Renault, finished eighth, while Germany’s nine-time world champion Michael Schumacher, of Mercedes, and Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello (Williams) rounded out the top 10.

One of the seven drivers eliminated in the second 15-minute session was Russian Vitaly Petrov, who qualified 15th for Renault.

The rookie driver will start today’s race from 20th place owing to a five-place grid penalty after he caused a collision with Nico Hulkenberg, of Williams, at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago.

The grid

1. Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:35.585
2. Webber (Red Bull) - 1:35.659
3. Alonso (Ferrari) - 1:35.766
4. Hamilton (McLaren) - 1:36.062
5. Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1:36.535
6. Massa (Ferrari) - 1:36.571
7. Button (McLaren) - 1:36.731
8. Kubica (Renault) - 1:36.824
9. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1:36.950
10. Barrichello (Williams) - 1:36.998

Eliminated in Q2
11. Hulkenberg (Williams)
12. Kobayashi (Sauber)
13. Heidfeld (Sauber)
14. Sutil (Force India)
15. Petrov (Renault)
16. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso)
17. Buemi (Toro Rosso)

Eliminated in Q1
18. Liuzzi (Force India)
19. Trulli (Lotus)
20. Glock (Virgin)
21. Kovalainen (Lotus)
22. Di Grassi (Virgin)
23. Yamamoto (Hispania)
24. Senna (Hispania)

Standings

Drivers (top 10)
1. Webber - 220 points
2. Alonso - 206
3. Vettel - 206
4. Hamilton - 192
5. Button - 189
6. Massa - 128
7. Rosberg - 122
8. Kubica - 114
9. Schumacher - 54
10. Sutil - 47

Constructors
1. Red Bull - 426 points
2. McLaren-  381
3. Ferrari - 334
4. Mercedes GP - 176
5. Renault - 133
6. Force India - 60
7. Williams - 58
8. Sauber - 37
9. Toro Rosso - 11

Remaining Grands Prix
Brazil – November 7.
Abu Dhabi – November 14.

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