South Korea – Qualifications: New pole for Vettel in South Korea

It’s 7 a.m. in France, and it required an early wake-up to attend the 2013 South Korean Grand Prix qualifying session under mild conditions.

Esteban Gutierrez is the first to set a time of 1 minute 41. Jenson Button immediately follows suit by gaining a second.

There are 12 minutes left in this Q1 and it’s Nico Rosberg who sets the fastest time with 1 minute 39. Button is still second at this moment but 10 drivers have already clocked a time. Hamilton on his first timed lap slots in between the Mercedes and the McLaren, then it’s Alonso’s turn to be second by 89 thousandths.

It should be noted that Kimi Räikkönen had a major scare on his first warm-up lap by going too wide.

9 minutes remain in this Q1 and 19 drivers have gone out to complete their timed lap. Only Grosjean and the two Red Bulls have not gone out.

The eliminated at that moment are Pic, Bianchi, and Räikkönen, who hasn’t done another timed lap since his off-track excursion but is in sector 1. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton continues to rack up laps at the top of the table. He improves his own time by more than 8 tenths and Kimi Räikkönen completes his second flying lap at the

4th place.

There are 7 minutes left and Esteban Gutierrez is the first driver to venture out on soft tires in this session. He sets a time 151 milliseconds behind Hamilton. He is provisionally in second place while Vettel, Webber, and Grosjean have left their pit.

The German driver, who currently leads the championship, sets a first timed lap 6 tenths slower than Lewis Hamilton. He still holds the provisional 3rd place.

Mark Webber, 5 minutes before the end of Q1, takes the 3rd fastest time by a few hundredths over his teammate.

Romain Grosjean, for his part, will not have the luxury of making mistakes as he starts his first timed lap with 4 minutes remaining. If he fails, he will have at most one more attempt. He then sets the 4th fastest time on hard tires, and with 2 minutes and 40 seconds on the clock, he will need to act quickly if he wants to switch to soft tires. Indeed, during this time, most drivers have already switched to soft tires to avoid being eliminated in Q1. After a few seconds, Romain Grosjean is already in 8th place.

The drivers eliminated 90 seconds before the red flag are Bottas, Vergne, Chilton, Van der Gard, Pic, Bianchi.

Kimi Räikkönen is the first of the leading men to switch to the soft tires. He is ahead by just 77 thousandths, which highlights Rosberg’s performance on soft tires.

It’s over for this Q1 and Grosjean narrowly makes it through on hard tires while several drivers, including di Resta and Maldonado, got stuck in traffic. Mark Webber can also continue his qualifying despite a last-minute improvement for the Australian, who has a 10-place grid penalty this weekend.

The Q1 eliminated drivers are: Bottas, Maldonado, Pic, Van der Garde, Bianchi, Chilton

The Q2 has already been underway for 3 minutes, but it is Daniel Ricciardo who is leading the track, followed a few hundred meters behind by Kimi Räikkönen.

There are 10 minutes remaining and 8 cars are on the track. The FIA then provides us with the top speed chart. We can notice that there is a 10 km/h difference between the fastest cars in a straight line (the Ferraris) and the slowest cars (the Lotus).

During the first round, it is Hamilton who is the fastest ahead of Rosberg, Alonso, Gutierrez, Massa, Button, Hülkenberg, Di Resta, Perez, and Räikkönen. Vergne, the two Red Bulls, and Grosjean still have not set a time with 5 minutes left in this session.

In qualifying, Webber does not manage to take the first position from Hamilton. He ends up in second place. His teammate, on the other hand, puts his Red Bull in first position by 255 milliseconds. Romain Grosjean sets his first time with 3 minutes remaining in Q2 and temporarily takes 5th place. The other drivers have already gone out to complete another flying lap.

The provisional eliminations at the end of this first round are di Resta, Perez, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Sutil, and Vergne. The French driver made a mistake on his timed lap by sliding slightly. He therefore returned to the pits early to prepare for his second timed lap.

1 minute remaining and 12 drivers have gone out again in this Q2 to set a second time. All except the two Mercedes, Grosjean, and Webber. These 4 drivers will therefore have extra sets of tires for Q3, if they make it. Indeed, Vettel, who is currently the leader, has also gone out.

At the end of this second round, Alonso improves and sets the 4th fastest time, but Hülkenberg takes it soon after in the Sauber. Esteban Gutierrez also finishes his Q2 in the top 10, but ultimately few drivers improve, yet Räikkönen makes it into the top 10 by a few tenths.

The eliminated from Q2 are: Perez, Button, Ricciardo, Sutil, di Resta, and Vergne.

The light turns green for Q3. The drivers therefore have 10 minutes to get the best out of their car after three practice sessions. Mark Webber is the first to head out, followed by Rosberg, Hamilton, Grosjean, and Vettel.

The other drivers in this Q3 preferred to stay in their pit. They will therefore set their qualifying time in a single attempt.

After 4 minutes, it is Vettel who sets the fastest time. He is 262 milliseconds ahead of his teammate. Hamilton is 3rd, Grosjean 4th, and Rosberg 5th while waiting for the second attempt.

The session is over and the 10 drivers are on the track in their timed lap. Alonso sets the record in sector 1 with a 34.4, then Hülkenberg in the Sauber sets a 34.3. Meanwhile, Gutierrez records his time 1.2 seconds off Vettel’s best time. He is provisionally 6th before Alonso takes over that position.

It’s over for Rosberg and Webber. The two drivers do not improve. Hamilton, on the other hand, improves and holds the second-best time. Massa and Hülkenberg finish their lap in 7th and 8th position.

Romain Grosjean doesn’t improve either. He remains 4th. The last driver on track who can improve is Vettel. The German, already leading the standings, therefore eases off. New pole position for the Red Bull driver.

Kimi Räikkönen is the last to set a time, he is 10th but will start 9th thanks to the 10-place penalty given to Mark Webber.

Results of the 2013 South Korean Grand Prix Qualifying: