Sebastian Vettel put his RB8 on pole at the Buddh International Circuit.
Though this seemed inevitable, there were other surprises at today's qualifying. Romain Grosjean was out in Q1, this despite his consistent performance of putting his Lotus ahead on the grid.
Massa threatened to go out in Q2. But put him back through Q3 with a fighting last lap.
As for Schumacher, he left Indian fans disappointed. He had to make do with P14.
Q3 was exciting, with Alonso, Hamilton and Webber threatening to topple Vettel. But the young World Champion stayed put and at the chequered flag, it was a case of the 'pairs'.
The 2012 Indian GP Qualifying as it happened
For the 2012 Indian Grand Prix starting at 3 p.m. tomorrow, we have Vettel on Pole followed by teammate Webber, McLaren's Hamilton & Button on P3 and P4, Ferrari's Alonso & Massa on P5 and P6. They were followed by Raikkonen on P7, Perez on P8, Maldonado on P9 and Rosberg on P10.
At the press conference that followed, we detected some heat between Vettel and Webber. The latter, on being queried about today's performance and if he could have managed P1, he responded saying that there are other challenges in the team and that everyone seems to be getting through them well.
As for Vettel, it was yet another good result. He did however, say that anything can happen in these races. And he has us curious about Red Bull's strategy tomorrow considering he mentioned that the tyres seemed to last reasonably well.
Meanwhile, Hamilton and Alonso are confident that their cars can challenge Vettel on race day.
Check out our complete coverage of the Indian GP here for live updates tomorrow at 3 p.m.
