Vettel on Pole, Alonso lost in 8th

Sebastian Vettel will start the USA Grand Prix from pole position yet again with team mate Webber directly behind him in 3rd.  Only Lewis Hamilton had a real chance of causing an upset to Vettel’s performance and the Brit nearly did it, missing out by just a single tenth of a second.

In terms of the championship battle, Fernando Alonso isn’t making it easy for himself by qualifying 9th, behind Massa and struggling with grip.

He’s not letting this get to him though, he’s still determined and pretty positive for the race.

Difficult saturday again! Good that the points are given tomorrow.. 😉 We need to attack in the race, and score more points than our rivals!

— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) November 17, 2012

Elsewhere in the top 10, Michael Schumacher made a bid to make sure he’s still noticed in F1 with an impressive 5th for the start, just behind Kimi Raikkonen who’s on form following his Abu Dhabi victory and clearly knows what he’s doing. Ahem.  Kimi’s teammate Grosjean had to take a gearbox change and subsqequently a 5 place grid penalty.  Shame for the French lad, he did well to post the 4th best time, and his drop down the grid moves Alonso up to 8th, but onto the dirtier, less grippy side of the track.

You can see the rest of the grid below and as for the race, it will be fascinating to see who emerges from turn 1 in the lead after the run up the hill.  You’d be brave to bet against Vettel, but then again you can never discount Alonso and Ferrari – here’s to a great race and prolonging the championship climax to Brazil!  Or as Mark Gallagher says…

https://twitter.com/markgallagher62/status/269883598893633539

Don’t forget you can join us in London to watch the race live on a cinema screen with a grand prix pub quiz before hand, prize raffle and a fan forum – will be loads of fun.