F1: Vettel Remains Untouchable In Austin Qualifying

After leading all three practices at Circuit of the Americas, Sebastian Vettel won the pole for Sunday's United States GP...

Jared Turner | Posted November 17, 2012 Austin, TX

Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Steve Matchett take a look at the leaderboards after qualifying in Austin. (Image: SPEED)

It's fair to assume that Sebastian Vettel is already a big fan of the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

So far, at least, COTA has been awfully kind to him.

After leading all three practices at the new 3.4-mile course, the Red Bull driver remained No. 1 in Saturday's first-ever qualifying session at Austin with a lap of 1:35:657 that edged McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (1:35:766) for the pole.

"I'm very pleased with the result," Vettel said. "We started off on the right foot yesterday with the first practice. Through qualifying we were very happy. It was a little closer with Lewis than I wanted. It should be a good race tomorrow."

Hamilton, who starts on the dirty side of the grid, says his focus will be getting through the first corner unscathed while not causing any problems for Vettel, the World Championship leader.

"I don't want to get in Sebastian's way but I do want to win, so I'm going to try to get through cleanly," Hamilton said.

Red Bull's Mark Webber (1:36:174) clocked in third quickest in the decisive Q3 round but wasn't in the same league as the two frontrunners.

"We would have liked to have had a little more pace but overall I'm happy to be third on the grid," Australian Webber said.

The Lotus cars of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five, with Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Pastor Maldonado filling out the rest of the top 10.

Grosjean, however, will drop five places on the grid because of a penalty for a gearbox change.

With only Sunday's United States GP and next week's season finale in Brazil left on the 2012 schedule, German Vettel holds a 10-point lead over Spaniard Alonso in the championship standings.

If Vettel leaves Austin with a lead of 25 points or larger, he will clinch the title a week early and join an elite club of triple World Champions, having won the title a third consecutive year.

Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull has ruled the roost all weekend at Circuit of the Americas. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Alonso, the only other driver still mathematically in the championship race, can remain alive with a fourth-place finish if Vettel wins.

While Vettel and others enjoyed the spoils of a strong performance on Saturday, qualifying was a major disappointment for Jenson Button, a driver expected to contend for victory.

Hampered by a loss of power on his McLaren in the final moments of Q2, the 2009 World Champion missed Q3 and will start 12th on Sunday's 24-car grid.

"We had a problem," Button said following his early exit from qualifying. "I don't know what it is. We just lost drive."

SPEED's extended, live coverage of Formula One in Austin resumes at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday with a half-hour pre-race show followed by the United States GP at 2.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.