Korean Grand Prix: Webber in pole position but Vettel favourite
Published:Mark Webber will start the Korean Grand Prix in first position after edging out Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in qualifying.
However despite losing pole position, the German is still the 11/10 favourite to win a third successive race in the Far East and overhaul Fernando Alonso at the top of the drivers’ championship.
Victory in South Korea would give Vettel a superb chance of capturing a hat-trick of Formula One titles, with just four more races to go.
Webber will have other ideas though, and will be looking to improve on his current fifth place in the standings with a win in Yeongam.
He was impressive in Q3, producing the outstanding lap of qualifying right at the death to record the quickest time of 1:37.242 time.
The Australian demoted Vettel to claim his 11th career pole, and can be backed at a healthy 3/1 to deny his colleague again by winning the race.
Lewis Hamilton put his recent transfer news to one side to begin in third spot for current employers McLaren-Mercedes, who still have an outside chance in the constructors’ championship against Red Bull.
The Brit will be taking Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes GP role at the end of the season, and is 9/2 to give his soon-to-be former team a win in South Korea.
Hamilton recently admitted to regrets over his recent Twitter outbursts, and will be looking for a strong finish to the campaign before switching teams.
Current championship leader Fernando Alonso could not tighten his grip at the top of the standings in qualifying, and will start in fourth.
Ferrari’s Spaniard has been in inspired form this season, but at 6/1 it will take some doing to achieve the full 25 points in this Grand Prix.
Kimi Räikkönen will be next on the grid in fifth, with the Lotus flag-bearer a long 25/1 to snatch an unlikely victory.
The big news from qualifying was arguably Jenson Button missing out on the Q3 session after a yellow flag mishap, with the 2009 champion questioning the ruling afterwards.
However the upshot is that the 32-year-old will start in 11th place and faces an uphill struggle to challenge the leaders with a win at 40/1.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
