Webber on pole in Korea
Mark Webber qualifies on pole for the Korean GP, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton
Mark Webber has claimed a surprise pole position for the Korean Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel had looked certain for pole thanks to a dominant performance in final practice, while Webber spent most of the session in his garage with an engine software problem.
But when it mattered, the Australian driver pulled off a stunning final flyer, which allowed him to snatch pole from his teammate by just 0.074 seconds, for the second Red Bull front row lock-out in as many weeks.
Webber said: "Most qualifying sessions have been very tight and I'm very happy to get the job done today. It was a reasonable lap and we did it when it counted. Tomorrow is the main day and I'm in a good position to get a good result."
Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso and Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and fifth respectively.
Felipe Massa will start from sixth place, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher complete the top 10.
Jenson Button will start from 11th on the grid. The McLaren driver failed to make it into the final qualifying session after making a mistake on his first run of Q2. He locked his front wheel and failed to improve on his time when the yellow flags were brought out for Daniel Ricciardo.
The Toro Rosso driver was forced to stop on track with a gearbox problem, and will start 16th just ahead of his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.
Marussia's Charles Pic managed to out-qualify his more experienced teammate, Timo Glock, but will start the race last following a 10-place penalty for an engine change.
Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a time after a dramatic spin at the very start of qualifying. He was able to get back to the pits but a broken brake disc put an end to his session.
This means that Karthikeyan is the only driver not to meet the 107 per cent requirements, and will only race at the stewards' discretion.
2012 Korean Grand Prix grid
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'37.242 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'37.316 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'37.469 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'37.534 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1'37.625 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'37.884 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1'37.934 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1'38.266 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'38.361 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1'38.513 |
| 11 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'38.441 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'38.460 |
| 13 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'38.594 |
| 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1'38.643 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1'38.725 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1'39.084 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1'39.340 |
| 18 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1'39.443 |
| 19 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1'40.207 |
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1'40.333 |
| 21 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'41.371 |
| 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1'42.881 |
| 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth* | No time |
| 24 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth** | 1'41.317 |
107 per cent time: 1'45.082
* Didn't set a time** 10-place grid penalty for an engine change
