Vettel on pole as Red Bulls dominate in Indian qualifying

(CNN) -- Sebastian Vettel usurped Fernando Alonso as Formula One's youngest double world champion, and all the signs are now pointing to the prospect of the German beating his Spanish rival to a coveted third title.

The Ferrari driver led by 44 points with nine races to go, but Vettel now holds a six-point advantage going into Sunday's Indian Grand Prix -- where the Red Bull driver will start in pole position as he seeks to repeat last year's victory at the Buddh International Circuit.

The 25-year-old, who has won the last three races, topped Saturday's qualifying session ahead of teammate Mark Webber and will have the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button creating a buffer against Alonso, who was fifth fastest.

"We got a very good result and now we look forward to the race," said Vettel, who like Webber admitted to making mistakes in Q3.

"The races these days, a lot of things can happen so I don't think that means a lot. Obviously I'm very happy to be on pole, it's the best possible position to start, so yeah, I'm very happy with that but there's a hard race coming up."

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Red Bull's Mark Webber is one of the biggest names in Formula One. The Australian has vast experience on the grid but the origins of his motorsport career lie in go-karts.

Webber's first love was for motorbikes, and he used to race them as a youngster, before turning to go-karts when he was a teenager.

Webber switched to karting as a 14-year-old and the move paid instant dividends as he won his state championship in New South Wales. The Australian describes the medium as "very raw."

Webber started off in Formula One as a test driver for the former Bennetton team in 2001 and got his big break in the form of a race seat with Minardi the following season.

Webber still looks fondly upon his time as a go-kart driver and recently took to the seat again as part of the Red Bull Kart Fight event in Japan.

Legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna was a huge fan of go-karting, right up until his tragic death in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. The three-time F1 champion still raced karts right up until his death, according to Webber.

Webber still thinks go-karting is the best way for young drivers to learn about motorsport and see if they have what it takes to progress. Webber is pictured with a group of karting kids in Melbourne back in 2006.

Webber says: "Karting is the best way for you to get a feel of how to race each other, dealing with the competition, dealing with winning, dealing with losing and you soak it up so much at a young age and learn very fast."

In focus

On your bike

It's go time

Big break

Straight from the kart

Senna's seal of approval

Back to my roots

Home is where the kart is

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Webber is fifth overall, 63 points behind Vettel, and has helped Red Bull march towards a third successive manufacturers' title.

The duo have now been on the front row for three successive races, and last time out in Korea Webber earned his first podium since winning at Silverstone in July.

"I think the way the factory has helped us this weekend has been incredible," the Australian said.

"Milton Keynes has really been pushing hard -- even though they're not here they are with us in terms of work ethic and also for the team and the guys on the floor here.

"Obviously it's not the easiest environment to work in, not in terms of temperature but in terms of other challenges and everyone's getting through that pretty well."

Ferrari coy in flag controversy

Alonso, whose teammate Felipe Massa qualified sixth, acknowledged that Ferrari had been left behind by Red Bull's recent technical improvements.

"When we had a similar car, it was possible to fight with Vettel and we have even been ahead of them, but now we are fighting against (designer) Adrian Newey and, at the moment, we cannot match him," the 31-year-old said.

"We brought some updates here which have worked as we expected, but the others have also improved over these past two weeks: it's down to us to bring something more significant for the final three races."

While Hamilton and Button are effectively out of the title race, third-placed Kimi Raikkonen still has slim hopes of adding to his 2007 crown -- though his chances of success on Sunday were hit when he qualified seventh as the leading Lotus.

"Unfortunately, we didn't seem to have any grip this afternoon so it was much more difficult than we thought," the Finn said.

"I'm quite disappointed as I thought we had a much better car than that."

Sauber's Sergio Perez, who will replace Hamilton at McLaren next season, was eighth fastest ahead of Williams' Pastor Maldonado.

Nico Rosberg rounded out the top 10, while his Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher will start in 14th place.

"We had a tough qualifying session today and I cannot yet really explain why, particularly when I compare the times to what I did this morning," said the seven-time world champion.

"In practice, we were able to run similar lap times with much more fuel in the car but, for whatever reason, we were unable to get the tires into the right working window and generate enough grip this afternoon."

Meanwhile, MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner will start in pole position for his farewell race at his home circuit in Australia on Sunday.

The Honda rider, who will retire from motorcycling at the end of this season, headed off Yamaha's series leader Jorge Lorenzo and second-placed Dani Pedrosa in Saturday's qualifying.

Stoner, who has had a corner at the Phillip Island circuit named after him, is third in the standings but his chances of a second world title were ended earlier this season by injuries.