Lee Jin-man/Associated PressLewis Hamilton covers his ears as his engine revs at the Korean Grand Prix on Saturday. Hamilton scored pole position during the qualifying session.
YEONGAM, South Korea – Lewis Hamilton scored pole position for the Korean Grand Prix during an exciting qualifying session on Saturday. He broke up the streaks of Red Bull team drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who had secured all 15 pole positions this year.
It was also the McLaren Mercedes driver’s first pole position in more than a year. Hamilton has faced criticism for careless driving after being involved in crashes in several races this year.
“I’m happy to be here and happy about what the team has been able to achieve over the past few races,” said Hamilton, whose teammate, Jenson Button, won the previous race in Japan last Sunday.
“To be back on pole is a great feeling, but tomorrow is the most important day and I have had some difficult races, and I hope to redeem myself tomorrow,” said Hamilton.
Button was third fastest, and Sebastian Vettel, the world champion who has scored 12 pole positions this year, qualified second.
“It’s a long race and a lot of things can happen,” said Red Bull’s Vettell.
It was an exciting qualifying session with a showdown in the last three minutes as all the top drivers returned to the track to duel for pole position, where in many recent races some of the top drivers have been so far ahead that they have not fought out the qualifying to the end.
With three minutes left, Hamilton led, Vettel was second and Mark Webber in the other Red Bull was third. Button was fourth, and Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were fifth and sixth. Three minutes later, Hamilton reduced his lap time and for a moment Button was second, but Vettel managed to pull himself back into second. Massa leapt over Alonso to move into fifth, while Alonso dropped to sixth.