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Red Bull’s double world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to pole by 0.296 seconds but Hamilton will line up fifth after a penalty in Friday practice.
Mark Webber was third for Red Bull at the new circuit near Delhi ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.
Jenson Button will line up fourth, but faces an anxious time while he waits to discover if he receives a penalty.
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Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Cruises to Pole at India
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in First Practice at India
Formula 1 Steward Hands Out Penalty For Indian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Indian Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Felipe Massa Fastest in Second Practice at India
Formula 1: Indian Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Final Practice at India
Formula 1: Indian Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa crashed immediately in front of Button and it remains to be seen whether the stewards will punish him for not slowing down past the scene of an accident or be lenient because he had almost no time to react.
Hamilton’s hopes of starting on pole for the second race in a row ended on Friday when he was handed a three-place grid penalty for a separate incident involving flags.
Despite his penalty, Hamilton was pleased with his performance: “It’s been a good day for me. I’m surprised we could split the Red Bulls.
“The penalty was a silly mistake for myself but overtaking should be easier and I’m still optimistic regardless of where I start.” BBC Sport
Nico Rosberg was seventh for Mercedes on 1m 25.451s, as Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari took the remaining top-10 places but didn’t set times.
Renault caught a tough break when Vitaly Petrov actually lapped in 1m 26.319s, the same time as Jaime Alguersuari had done for Toro Rosso, but the Spaniard did it first which meant that the Russian did not make it through to Q3.
Behind him was Michael Schumacher, suffering vibrations on his Mercedes as he lapped in 1m 26.337s, then came a disappointed Paul di Resta who’d been ahead of Force India team mate Sutil until their final runs when he failed to improve on 1m 26.503s which left him 13th as the German took P8. Pastor Maldonado was 14th for Williams with 1m 26.537s, ahead of Renault’s Bruno Senna on 1m 26.651s, Rubens Barrichello in the other Williams on 1m 27.247s and Sauber’s Sergio Perez on 1m 27.562s. Formula 1
No Driver Team Grid 1 Sebastian VettelRBR-Renault 1 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 2 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 3 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 4 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 5 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 6 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 7 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 8 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 9 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 10 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 11 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 12 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 13 9 Bruno Senna Renault 14 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 15 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 16 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 17 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 18 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 19 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 20 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 21 23 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 22 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 24
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