Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel scorched his way to the pole position for tomorrow’s Formula One Indian Grand Prix while Force India can hope to score points in the first ever home race with Adrian Sutil qualifying for the eighth position on the grid in Noida on Saturday.
Vettel, running on soft tyres, clocked 1:24.178 to secure 13th pole position of the 2011 season, pipping McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by 0.296 secs. Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber (1:24.508) was third.
Hamilton will actually start from fifth position due a three-place grid penalty for ignoring a flag warning.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fourth, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button. Up next was Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who crashed in the final seconds after hitting the raised part of a kerb. Fortunately, the Brazilian was not injured.
Force India’s second driver Paul di Resta did better than the final practice session in the morning but could not make the Q3 and settled for 13th position after clocking 1:26.503, just behind Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher.
India’s Narain Karthikeyan did well to finish in 22nd position, just behind Hispania teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
