P-DPA – Runaway Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel grabbed pole position on Saturday for the Korean Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel’s Australian Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was third fastest in qualifying but a 10-place grid penalty from the previous race relegates him to 13th.

The German set a time of one minute, 37.202 seconds around the Yeongam circuit and did not even need to improve on his last flying lap, qualifying two-tenths of a second faster than Hamilton.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean qualified fourth but will move up to third, ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, Ferrari duo Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, Sauber pair Nico Huelkenberg and Esteban Guttierez, and Kimi Raikkonen in a Lotus.

Vettel claimed his sixth pole of the season and his third in a row. It will be the fifth time in succession that Vettel and Hamilton will line up on the front of the grid.

The two McLarens of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button and the Force India pair Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil failed to make the top 10.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Jean-Eric Vergne were also knocked out in Q2.

Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado, the Caterham pair of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, and Marussia’s Jules Bianchi Max Chilton went out after the first qualifying.

Vettel has a 60-point lead over Alonso in the drivers’ standings, with Hamilton a further 36 points back.