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US GP: Vettel beats team-mate Webber to Austin pole

Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull lock-out of the front row in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix

The four-time Formula 1 world champion looked as though he would have to give best to team-mate Mark Webber for most of the final segment of qualifying.

Webber was a tenth clear of Vettel after their respective first runs and improved further on his second set of new tyres to sit on provisional pole.

But Vettel dug deep on his final lap, going fastest of all in the final sector to pip Webber to pole by just over a tenth of a second.

The Red Bulls were more than three quarters of a second quicker than Roman Grosjean, who put his Lotus 'best-of-the-rest' in third, narrowly ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and Sergio Perez's McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen Lotus substitute Heikki Kovalainen qualified eighth, folllowed by Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Esteban Gutierrez in the second Sauber.

Bottas was a star in the early part of qualifying, going fastest of all in Q1 and fourth in Q2, but he made a mistake on his crucial lap in Q3.

Last-gasp improvements in Q2 from Gutierrez and Kovalainen knocked Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso out of the top 10 shootout. The Australian will start 11th for the race, ahead of Paul di Resta's Force India.

McLaren's Jenson Button missed the cut by less than two tenths of a second with his final lap in Q2 and wound up 13th fastest. He will drop to 16th on the grid thanks to a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under red flags in practice.

Nico Rosberg wrestled an ill-handling Mercedes to 14th fastest time, ahead of the similarly subdued Ferrari of Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne in the other Toro Rosso.

Adrian Sutil's poor qualifying run continued as he dropped out in Q1, along with Maldonado's Williams, the Marussias and the Caterhams.

The German complained vehemently on team radio about traffic and his car ground to halt shortly after the chequered flag fell.

Caterham's Giedo van de Garde just edged the battle of the backmarker teams to qualify 19th, ahead of Marussia's Jules Bianchi and team-mate Charles Pic.

These three were separated by just over a tenth of a second, while Marussia's Max Chilton qualified last, just under a second further adrift.

Pos Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.338s
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.441s  +0.103s
 3. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.155s  +0.817s
 4. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.296s  +0.958s
 5. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m37.345s  +1.007s
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.376s  +1.038s
 7. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m37.452s  +1.114s
 8. Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m37.715s  +1.377s
 9. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m37.836s  +1.498s
10. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.034s  +1.696s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.078s                                  Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.131s  +1.066s
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m38.139s  +1.074s
13. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.217s  +1.152s
14. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m38.364s  +1.299s
15. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m38.592s  +1.527s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.696s  +1.631s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m39.094s                                  Gap *
17. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m39.250s  +1.429s
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m39.351s  +1.530s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m40.491s  +2.670s
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m40.528s  +2.707s
21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m40.596s  +2.775s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.401s  +3.580s


107% time: 1m44.668s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2


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