Vettel sweeps to US pole

Sebastian Vettel will line up for his 100th Formula One race in pole position today (start: 20.00 Malta time) after dominating yesterday’s United States Grand Prix qualifying session with a dazzling display of pace in his Red Bull car.

The 25-year-old German, who needs to out-score nearest rival Fernando Alonso, of Ferrari, by 15 points to become the youngest triple champion in F1 history, was fastest thoughout the session after topping the times in all three practice sessions.

He clocked a final best lap time of one minute and 35.657 seconds in the final seconds of a closely-fought hour of speed to leave nearest rival Lewis Hamilton adrift by a tenth of a second in his McLaren.

Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was third fastest ahead of Romain Grosjean of Lotus, but the latter will have to drop five places because his team fitted a new gearbox to his car before the session.

That meant that Alonso, who qualified ninth, will move forward one place to eighth on the grid for the penultimate race of the season at the new Circuit of the Americas, 25 kilometres out of downtown Austin.

It was Vettel’s sixth pole this season and the 36th of his remarkable career, and to mark the occasion, he added a Texan lone star to his helmet design.

“We’re very pleased with this showing here,” said Vettel.

“We started on the right foot in first practice. It was extremely slippery to start with. The circuit is brand new and it takes a while to come in, but it was quite a lot of fun to slide a couple of corners.

“In the final section, I would have loved to have gone a bit quicker. It was a bit closer than I wanted, but it is fantastic for me to start on the front.”

Despite his low grid position Alonso remained optimistic.

“I’ll try to move up the grid and I still believe I can score more points than Sebastian, I need to keep my confidence.”

Kimi Raikkonen, who won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix two weeks ago, was fifth for Lotus ahead of retirement-bound seven-time champion Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes.

Jenson Button, in the second McLaren, failed to make the cut to the top-ten shootout after losing power due to a throttle pedal problem in Q2 on a day of clear skies and rising temperatures following a cold morning.

Today’s grid in Austin

1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:35.657
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) - 1:35.766
3. Mark Webber (Red Bull) - 1:36.174
4. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) - *1:36.587
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) - 1:36.708
6. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1:36.794
7. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) - 1:36.937
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1:37.141
9. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) - 1:37.300
10. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) - 1:37.842
11. Bruno Senna (Williams) - 1:37.604
12. Jenson Button (McLaren) - 1:37.616
13. Paul di Resta (Force India) - 1:37.665
14. Jean-Eric Vergne (T. Rosso) - 1:37.879
15. Sergio Perez (Sauber) - 1:38.206
16. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) - 1:38.437
17. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1:38.501
18. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) - 1:39.114
19. Timo Glock (Marussia) - 1:40.056
20. Charles Pic (Marussia) - 1:40.664
21. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) - 1:40.809
22. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) - 1:41.166
23. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT) - 1:42.011
24. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) - 1:42.740

Note: Romain Grosjean loses five places.

Top drivers’ standings
1. Vettel (GER) 255, 2. Alonso (ESP) 245, 3. Raikkonen (FIN) 198, 4. Webber (AUS) 167, 5. Hamilton (GBR) 165, 6. Button (GBR) 153, 7. Massa (BRA) 95, 8. Rosberg (GER) 93, 9. Grosjean (FRA) 90, 10. Perez (MEX) 66.