Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel secured pole position after qualifying today at the 2013 Formula One Indian Grand Prix. The young German, who is likely to earn his fourth consecutive world championship tomorrow, managed a time of 1:24.119 despite the somewhat smoggy conditions. He’ll need to finish just fifth or higher, regardless of the performance of any rival driver, to secure the title.

However, he’ll still have his work cut out for him as the next two drivers on the grid tomorrow will be Mercedes AMG duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who managed times of 1:24.871 and 1:24.941, respectively. Fourth fastest today was Vettel’s Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber, who was a fraction of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Lotus’ Kimi Räikkönen, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will fill out positions sixth, seventh and eighth tomorrow, while McLaren pair Sergio Perez and Jenson Button will start at ninth and tenth spots, respectively.

Weather conditions for the area surrounding the Indian GP’s Buddh International Circuit are expected to be fine and sunny tomorrow, with a peak temperature of 86 degrees F (30 degrees C). Temperatures at the track tend to be considerably high at the Indian GP, and, as we saw during qualifying, there’s always a bit of dust and pollution from nearby New Delhi reaching the track.

Pirelli has nominated its P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tires for the race.

Going into tomorrow’s race, Sebastian Vettel leads the Drivers’ Championship with 297 points. In second is Fernando Alonso with 207 points followed by Kimi Räikkönen in third with 177 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing sits on 445 points versus the 297 points of Ferrari and 287 points of Mercedes AMG.

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