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Webber on pole in Korea

Mark Webber qualifies on pole for the Korean GP, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton

Mark Webber has claimed a surprise pole position for the Korean Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel had looked certain for pole thanks to a dominant performance in final practice, while Webber spent most of the session in his garage with an engine software problem.

But when it mattered, the Australian driver pulled off a stunning final flyer, which allowed him to snatch pole from his teammate by just 0.074 seconds, for the second Red Bull front row lock-out in as many weeks.

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Webber said: "Most qualifying sessions have been very tight and I'm very happy to get the job done today. It was a reasonable lap and we did it when it counted. Tomorrow is the main day and I'm in a good position to get a good result."

Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso and Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and fifth respectively.

Felipe Massa will start from sixth place, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher complete the top 10.

Jenson Button will start from 11th on the grid. The McLaren driver failed to make it into the final qualifying session after making a mistake on his first run of Q2. He locked his front wheel and failed to improve on his time when the yellow flags were brought out for Daniel Ricciardo.

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The Toro Rosso driver was forced to stop on track with a gearbox problem, and will start 16th just ahead of his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Marussia's Charles Pic managed to out-qualify his more experienced teammate, Timo Glock, but will start the race last following a 10-place penalty for an engine change.

Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a time after a dramatic spin at the very start of qualifying. He was able to get back to the pits but a broken brake disc put an end to his session.

This means that Karthikeyan is the only driver not to meet the 107 per cent requirements, and will only race at the stewards' discretion.

2012 Korean Grand Prix grid

PositionDriverTeamTime
1Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1'37.242
2Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1'37.316
3Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1'37.469
4Fernando AlonsoFerrari1'37.534
5Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1'37.625
6Felipe MassaFerrari1'37.884
7Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1'37.934
8Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1'38.266
9Nico RosbergMercedes1'38.361
10Michael SchumacherMercedes1'38.513
11Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1'38.441
12Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1'38.460
13Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1'38.594
14Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1'38.643
15Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1'38.725
16Daniel RicciardoSTR-Ferrari1'39.084
17Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Ferrari1'39.340
18Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1'39.443
19Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1'40.207
20Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1'40.333
21Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1'41.371
22Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1'42.881
23Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth*No time
24Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth**1'41.317

107 per cent time: 1'45.082

* Didn't set a time** 10-place grid penalty for an engine change

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