Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel was fastest during qualifying today, setting a time of 1:24.178 in the third session and cementing his 13th pole position of the 2011 season.
The second fastest time of the day was set by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, but due to an incident during practice on Friday the young Brit earned himself a three-place grid penalty from stewards, which relegates him to the fifth grid position.
Hamilton, along with Sauber's Sergio Perez, was charged with engaging his DRS system after the yellow flag was raised when Pastor Maldonado's Williams was stranded. Hamilton’s loss is Mark Webber’s gain, however, as it means the Red Bull Racing driver will now start alongside his team-mate at second on the grid.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and fellow McLaren driver Jenson Button will occupy the second row in third and fourth positions, respectively, while next to Hamilton at sixth on the grid will be Ferrari’s other driver Felipe Massa.
Indian native Narain Karthikeyan, racing for HRT, will start from 22nd on the grid at his homeland’s inaugural F1 event.
Going in to tomorrow’s race, Sebastian Vettel sits on 349 points, followed by Jenson Button on 222 points and Fernando Alonso on 212 points.
In the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull Racing is the recently appointed title holder and sits on 558 points, followed by McLaren on 418 points and Ferrari on 310 points.
Look out for our 2011 Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix weather forecast and stay tuned for our full race recap on Monday.
