Sebastian Vettel takes pole position at the 2012 USGP
// Qualifying Concludes at Circuit of The Americas
A great qualifying session today at Circuit of The Americas in Austin. Hamilton and Vettel fought to the end as the Red Bull car edged out the McLaren with just over one tenth of a second between the two.
A strong penultimate qualifying lap from Vettel appeared to be enough to secure him the position. Shortly after Vettel’s fast lap, Hamilton completed his with just seconds to go in the final session. Managing only P3, Hamilton stayed out for another attempt to take pole position.
Vettel’s last lap performance brought down the clock even more to 1:35:657, the first official pole time for the new circuit. Hamilton followed close behind to clock in with a lap time of 1:35:766, just 0.109 seconds behind Vettel for P2, pushing Mark Webber down to P3.
The surprise of the day is Fernando Alonso who managed to secure only ninth in qualifying. After a thrilling season with an incredible collection of winners so far, the fight between Vettel and Alonso has taken center stage as the two sit just ten points apart from each other in the Driver’s Championship. With Alonso starting further back on the grid, he’ll have to fight through the pack to get up to the front and make sure the fight continues in Brazil next weekend.