Sebastian Vettel was delighted with his eight pole of the season, having turned his fortunes around in Korea on Saturday afternoon.
Button up against it after qualifying seventh
Sebastian Vettel was delighted with his eight pole of the season, having turned his fortunes around in Korea on Saturday afternoon.
Vettel ran into problems on Friday as he struggled with the handling of his car in Saturday's final practice he finished down in 16th place.
But the Red Bull racer bounced back in qualifying, claiming pole position by 0.074s from his team-mate and Championship leader Mark Webber.
"It is a very good achievement from all of us because yesterday was not smooth running. We tried something which didn't work," said Vettel.
"On a new track I had very few laps. We tried to save the car a bit and did little running, so had to take what I could out of qualifying."
And although Vettel would love nothing more than to repeat his Japanese GP success come this Sunday afternoon in a bid to close the gap on Webber in the standings, the 23-year-old says he's just taking it one race at a time.
"You have to take every race as it comes," said Vettel. "Japan was nice but now we are in Korea.
"Today I am very happy, with the difficulties we had in practice. I was not able to get into the rhythm, so it's a good achievement from all of us.
"The car was quick no doubt but we needed to get it done. The most important thing was to never lose focus and remain calm and that shows we had enough. Our job is done today and we will see tomorrow."
Jenson Button has conceded it will be "very difficult" to retain his F1 crown after qualifying in seventh position.
The 30-year-old struggled to get the tyres on his McLaren up to temperature in the overcast conditions at the Yeongam circuit and finished qualifying 1.2 seconds off the pace of pole-sitter Vettel.
Button trails Championship leader and Vettel's Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber by 31 points in the standings with just three races remaining.
The Australian finished second on Saturday for Red Bull's eighth one-two in qualifying this season, and Button admitted that he expected to be closer to the front after a promising showing in practice.
Surprising
"The Red Bulls are on the front row, and it's surprising. They're quick here, but I thought we had a very strong package," Button said.
"Maybe tomorrow (in the race) we do, but in these cooler conditions, we seemed to suffer a little bit.
"(Earlier) today and yesterday, I was happy with the car and the balance was good, but this afternoon I've got very little grip, and I just can't stop locking tyres and find the pace. It's surprising to be so far back."
Button's team-mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton was fourth on the grid, and McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said the lower track temperatures in qualifying hampered his team.
"I think it's disappointing," Whitmarsh said of the qualifying result. "The track temperature was quite cold and that worked against us. It was difficult to get tyres up to temperature, and the length of the track here meant you had to push hard to get two laps in. But we have got a fast race car, and we are going to give it our best shot."
Button said he hoped to make up a number of places in Sunday's 55-lap race from starting on the cleaner side of the grid at the new Yeongam circuit.
"(The Championship) is a lot more difficult because the Red Bulls are on the front row, and they're the people we're trying to take points off," he said.
"The good thing is that I'm on the clean side (of the grid) and there's a couple of long straights after the start, so it's going to be a fun first lap. You can make or break your race on the first lap, so we'll be looking for a good start and to make up some places."
