Mark Webber’s pole position took Renault’s total number of poles in the FIA Formula One World Championship to 209, a new record for the most pole positions held by an engine manufacturer. The previous record of 208 had been set by Ferrari.
At the start of Q1 the frontrunners used mainly hard tyres, and with three minutes to go the session was red-flagged, becouse of overheated rear brakes of Jean-Eric Vergne car and caught little fire. When the session restarted, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean went quickest after his second run on the hard tyres, while many drivers switched to the medium compound. Adrian Sutil, is surpize drop out from first session, and he receives a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after his FP3 crash. Marussia's Max Chilton produced the best qualifying performance of his F1 career so far to beat the Caterhams and his team-mate Jules Bianchi to 19th place. Both Charles Pic and Bianchi have 10-place grid penalties for Korean GP incidents so should share the back row.
The 16 drivers who went through to Q2 adopted a variety of strategies, with Grosjean and Raikkonen starting the session on the hard tyres. The two Red Bulls went out for just one run with six minutes to go, using the medium tyres, and set first and second fastest times, with Vettel leading Webber. Grosjean claimed third after a final run on the mediums.
The top-10 shoot-out was run mostly on the medium compound, with Vettel heading out first on to the track, followed by Webber and Alonso. Jenson Button’s McLaren was the only car to complete his first Q3 run on the hard tyres. Webber set the opening benchmark on his first run and then improved further on his second run, ensuring an all Red Bull front row for the race.
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP
1. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:30.915
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:31.089 + 0.174
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:31.253 + 0.338
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:31.365 + 0.450
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.378 + 0.463
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:31.397 + 0.482
7. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:31.644 + 0.729
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:31.665 + 0.750
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:31.684 + 0.769
10. Jenson Button McLaren 1:31.827 + 0.912
Q2 fastest time: Sebastian Vettel 1:31.290 Gap
11. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:31.989 + 0.699
12. Paul di Resta Force Indi 1:31.992 + 0.702
13. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:32.013 + 0.723
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:32.063 + 0.773
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:32.093 + 0.803
16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:32.485 + 1.195
Q1 fastest time: Romain Grosjean 1:31.824 Gap
17. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:32.890 + 1.066
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:33.357 + 1.533
19. Max Chilton Marussia 1:34.320 + 2.496
20. Charles Pic Caterham 1:34.556 + 2.732
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:34.879 + 3.055
22. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:34.958 + 3.134
107% Time: 1:38.251
