Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's Indian Grand Prix on pole position after edging out Mark Webber in Saturday's qualifying session.
The two-time world champion was expected to ease to pole but he only saw off the challenge of his teammate Webber by less than a tenth of a second.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will make up the second row on the grid after they qualified in third and fourth position respectively.
Fernando Alonso, who trails Vettel in the drivers' rankings by six points, qualified in fifth place alongside his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who was sixth.
Force India's Paul di Resta could only qualify in 16th place.
Indian Grand Prix qualifying positions:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
4. Jenson Button (McLaren)
5. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
7. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus Renault)
8. Sergio Perez (Sauber)
9. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
10. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
11. Romain Grosjean (Lotus Renault)
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
13. Bruno Senna (Williams)
14. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
15. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
16. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
17. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
18. Jean-Eric Verge (Toro Rosso)
19. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
20. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
21. Timo Glock (Marussia)
22. Pedro De La Rosa (HRT)
23. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
24. Charles Pic (Marussia)
