United States Grand Prix - Qualifying Highlights (VIDEO)

As Ferrari's Fernando Alonso already predicted, both Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were fighting at the front for pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton splitting the two Red Bull drivers. Alonso was not surprised by Sebastian Vettel's pole position, with the German having dominated every practice session earlier before. The Spaniard will start today's race from eighth position, thanks to Romain Grosjean's five place grid penalty. During the Q3 session, both Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa used scrubbed tyres and both were struggling to get a better position on the grid. When asked if Ferrari made a tactical mistake by using these tyres, both Alonso and Massa denied such claims. "The last lap is the best," the Brazilian said. "Normally it is a mistake if you don't use the tyres at the beginning. But it's not the case." His team mate Alonso stressed that the scrubbed tyres were not a huge factor in their qualifying struggle and that it was just the F2012's lack of qualifying pace. When Alonso was asked about the scrubbed tyre choice, he said: "I think it was very similar. I think there was no difference. We decided to start with the scrubbed thinking it was not better or not worse. I don't think there was any problem with that. We were positions seventh and ninth in Abu Dhabi (qualifying). The car is more or less the same. We are positions seventh and ninth in Austin. It's not surprising for us, to be honest." Despite starting from eighth position, the man from Oviedo is confident he will outscore his main title rival Sebastian Vettel on Sunday in Austin Texas. "We said yesterday after qualifying Red Bull will probably be one and two, we will probably be seventh or eighth and people will say it's all over. Then on Sunday we will show that we can score more points than Vettel. I don't know how, but we have this feeling inside," the Ferrari driver said.


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