Sebastian Vettel will start from pole position for the United States Grand Prix on Sunday to give his title hopes a massive boost.
The Red Bull driver dominated practice, but it came down to just one tenth of a second between himself and Lewis Hamilton as the pair battled for the fastest time.
It was Vettel who came out on top though to secure his 36th pole, whilst title rival Fernando Alonso could only manage ninth, a surprising two places further back than team-mate Felipe Massa.
Hamilton split the Bull’s with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean fourth fastest.
The sessions were dominated by long runs as the drivers struggled to heat up their tyres on the green circuit which is yet to rubber in.
Lotus showed consistent pace with Kimi Räikkönen popping up in fifth ahead of Michael Schumacher. The German’s team-mate Nico Rosberg could only manage 17th.
Jenson Button was left disappointed after failing to progress through to Q3 with an apparent throttle issue leaving him crawling back to the pits. He starts 12th.
Meanwhile all 24 cars managed to qualify within the 107 per cent regulation despite concerns from HRT.
Qualifying Results for the 2012 United States GP:
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:36.558 | 1:35.796 | 1:35.657 |
| 03 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:37.215 | 1:36.298 | 1:36.174 |
| 12 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:37.565 | 1:37.616 | |
| 16 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:38.418 | 1:38.437 | |
| 04 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:37.486 | 1:36.906 | 1:36.587 |
| 15 | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:38.500 | 1:38.206 | |
| 09 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:37.968 | 1:37.123 | 1:37.300 |
| 05 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:38.051 | 1:37.404 | 1:36.708 |
| 02 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:37.058 | 1:36.795 | 1:35.766 |
| 08 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:37.756 | 1:37.066 | 1:37.141 |
| 07 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:37.667 | 1:36.549 | 1:36.937 |
| 13 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:38.104 | 1:37.665 | |
| 06 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:37.927 | 1:37.102 | 1:36.794 |
| 10 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:37.537 | 1:37.011 | 1:37.842 |
| 17 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.862 | 1:38.501 | |
| 18 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:39.114 | ||
| 14 | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:38.434 | 1:37.879 | |
| 11 | B. Senna | Williams | 1:37.520 | 1:37.604 | |
| 22 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:41.166 | ||
| 19 | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:40.056 | ||
| 23 | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:42.011 | ||
| 20 | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:40.664 | ||
| 21 | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:40.809 | ||
| 24 | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:42.740 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:43.317 | ||||
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