Vettel Takes Pole in Indian Grand Prix Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel scored his seventh pole position of the year at the Indian Grand Prix today. He was in rare form and put in just 12 laps during the entire qualifying sessions, nearly half of Nico Rosberg in second place. It was also a good day for MercedesMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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with Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton starting in second and third, respectively. 

A blanket of fog covered the track for all of qualifying. It was not wet or an obstruction to the drivers' vision, but it kept track temperatures down, especially in the first session. Most of the teams initially started on medium tires but had to switch to softs by the end of the session to stay competitive.

Romain Grosjean lost out in the first session. He qualified 17th, just one spot away from moving forward, because he used medium tires, instead of softs. Jenson Button was fastest, and Mark Webber was second. 

The second session was quite laid back. Vettel and Webber traded fast times early in the session. Everyone was on soft tires and often on reused sets of softs from the previous session.

Daniel Ricciardo just missed out moving into session three and was knocked out by Button in the closing moments of the session. Neither of the Force IndiasForce IndiaIndia, 2007 > present8 models
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made it to Q3 as well.

Vettel's strategy of saving tires really came into focus during Q3. He had two fresh sets of soft tires available to him if he needed them, while all of the other drivers only had one new set available.

Both Alonso and Webber went out early on medium tires to see if it was possible to sacrifice some pace for not having to come in as quickly during the race tomorrow. The strategy didn't work for Webber, but Alonso managed a 1:25.826, which was enough to put in in eighth. 

Rosberg and Hamilton waited until two minutes left in the session to go out of soft tires to set laps. They set times good enough for second and third, respectively, but could not beat Vettel's already strong time. 

The only quirk in Vettel's plan all day was that he went out just before the end of the session on a new set of soft tires. He had the lead in hand at that point but seemed to be afraid of what the Mercedes would do. He botched his fast lap by putting all four wheels off track and threw away the lap from there. It wore a new set of tires for no reason.

Regardless, Vettel starts from the front tomorrow and only needs to finish fifth or higher to take his fourth championship. If he and Webber perform well enough, Red BullRed BullAustria, 2004 > present12 models
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can also take the constructors' championship.