Sebastian Vettel takes 44th pole after last-lap Texas drama
18 Nov 2013 5:56 AM IST
In a tense qualifying session run in windy conditions on Saturday, the 26-year-old German clocked a best lap of one minute and 36.338 seconds to outpace nearest rival and team-mate Mark Webber by 0.103 seconds.
It was the eighth pole of the season for the newly crowned four-times world champion and the 44th of his career as he seeks to deliver a record eighth consecutive victory in Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas.
It was the fifth time this year that Red Bull had locked out the front row and a perfect 40th birthday present for team boss Christian Horner. ‘Happy birthday to Christian. It’s a good result to have both cars on the front row,’ said Vettel.
‘It was a tricky session as the wind picked up quite a lot from this morning. It’s not that easy round the high-speed corners. I was not happy with my first run, but I think I had a solid run at he end which was enough to put the car on pole.’
Romain Grosjean was third fastest for the Lotus team ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and last year’s winner, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Fernando Alonso was sixth for Ferrari.
Perez not about to go quietly from McLaren
AUSTIN: Sergio Perez gave McLaren food for thought on Saturday after comfortably outqualifying team mate Jenson Button at the US Grand Prix only days after being told he was being dropped at the end of the season.
‘It’s no secret I am going through a tough time,’ conceded Perez. ‘I’m leaving the team, it came as a shock to me, I didn’t expect it at all.’
It was the eighth pole of the season for the newly crowned four-times world champion and the 44th of his career as he seeks to deliver a record eighth consecutive victory in Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas.
It was the fifth time this year that Red Bull had locked out the front row and a perfect 40th birthday present for team boss Christian Horner. ‘Happy birthday to Christian. It’s a good result to have both cars on the front row,’ said Vettel.
‘It was a tricky session as the wind picked up quite a lot from this morning. It’s not that easy round the high-speed corners. I was not happy with my first run, but I think I had a solid run at he end which was enough to put the car on pole.’
Romain Grosjean was third fastest for the Lotus team ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and last year’s winner, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Fernando Alonso was sixth for Ferrari.
Perez not about to go quietly from McLaren
AUSTIN: Sergio Perez gave McLaren food for thought on Saturday after comfortably outqualifying team mate Jenson Button at the US Grand Prix only days after being told he was being dropped at the end of the season.
‘It’s no secret I am going through a tough time,’ conceded Perez. ‘I’m leaving the team, it came as a shock to me, I didn’t expect it at all.’
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