Sebastian Vettel ‘surprised’ at winning dramatic pole for Korean Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel was surprised to take pole at the Korea Grand Prix (Picture: Getty)

Sebastian Vettel says he was surprised at the performance of his Red Bull after successfully edging out Lewis Hamilton to take pole at the Korean Grand Prix.

Vettel claimed his place on the front of the gird with a strong performance in Yeongam, with Hamilton pushing him all the way during a tight showdown.

But despite taking his third successive pole, the current world champion admits he was surprised with the performance of his car.

‘It was very close with Hamilton,’ said Vettel.

Hamilton pushed Vettel all the way in a tight affair (Picture: Action Images)

‘I had a good lap in Q3 at the first attempt, and fortunately it was good enough.

‘It was such a tight battle; I was very surprised we were good in sector one as we expected to only be competitive on the straights.’

Hamilton had to make do with second place, while Mark Webber, who finished third, was relegated 10 places as punishment for receiving three reprimands this season.

It meant Romain Grosjean was promoted to third, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso.

A win for Vettel in tomorrow’s race would all but guaranteed him another world title.