Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel takes pole for F1 Korean Grand Prix

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany gestures as he celebrates after qualifying in pole position at the Korean Formula One Grand Prix at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam, South Korea, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) (The Associated Press)

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel,centre, of Germany waves to the crowd after qualifying in pole position at the Korean Formula One Grand Prix at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam, South Korea, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, left, of Britain was second fastest and Red Bull driver Mark Webber of Australia third for tomorrows race. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) (The Associated Press)

YEONGAM, South Korea – Sebastian Vettel's extraordinary dominance of Formula One continued on Saturday when he claimed the pole position for the Korean Grand Prix.

The German has taken the pole for three straight races — winning the first two. He's aiming for a third consecutive win at the Yeongam circuit and, most importantly, a fourth consecutive F1 championship.

Vettel set his pole time early in the final qualifying session, and was able to abort his final flying lap when nearest challenger Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes came up 0.2 seconds short in his bid to beat Vettel's time.

"I had a very, very good lap in Q3 at my first attempt, and I knew that would be tricky to beat myself," Vettel said.

"Fortunately the first lap was good enough," he added. "Mercedes was pretty strong."

Hamilton had been the fastest in Friday's practice, but Mercedes could not improve the car as much overnight as Red Bull did.

Still, Hamilton said he was satisfied with second.

"I felt I got the most out of the car," the British driver said. "In general it's been a good weekend and I really hope tomorrow we can fight with them (Red Bull)."

The positive news for Hamilton, and everyone else who qualified in an even-numbered grid slot, is that the even numbers have the inside line to the first corner, while the odd-numbered places are outside but on the rubbered racing line.

Vettel's teammate Mark Webber qualified in third but carries a 10-grid-place penalty into Sunday's race for hitching a ride back to the pits on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at the Singapore Grand Prix. He will be demoted to 13th.

Lotus' Romain Grosjean qualified fourth but will be promoted to third, ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Alonso, who is Vettel's nearest challenger in the title chase but a distant 60 points back after finishing runner-up to the German for three straight races.

Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa qualified seventh, ahead of the Sauber pair Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, with Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen in a disappointing 10th, 1.6 seconds off Vettel's time.