Koran GP: Hulkenberg 8th fastest, di Resta 14th

Yeongam, South Korea - Sahara Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta set the eighth and 14th fastest times in the Formula One Korean Grand Prix here on Saturday.

Mark Webber snatched pole position from his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was third fastest. Championship leader Fernando Alonso qualified fourth for Ferrari.

Hulkenberg battled understeer to outpace his teammate for the second successive weekend. The German (37 points) has impressed in the second half of the season and closed the gap on di Resta (44) in the drivers’ standings.

“It was not an easy qualifying session, but in the end everything went to plan. I did struggle in Q1 and Q2, and I’ve been fighting some understeer in the car all weekend, especially through the first sector. We never really managed to dial it out of the car, but it didn’t hurt us too much because I was able to pull together two good laps and that was enough to get me up to eighth,” said Hulkenberg, who finished ahead of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes.

Di Resta said traffic hampered his pace in Q2. “The car was capable of Q3 but once again my lap in Q2 was compromised by traffic. There were some cars backing off in the last three corners and that cost me those crucial tenths I needed to make Q3,” said the Scot.

“We are out of position on the grid, but there’s still all to play for in the race because the car was very strong yesterday during the long runs and we can be confident going into the race,” he added.

Force India are seventh in the constructors’ championship with 81 points, 35 behind the sixth-placed Sauber.