Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) décroche la première position de tête de l’histoire du Grand Prix de Corée. Mark Webber (Red Bull) partira à ses côtés. En 2e ligne, on retrouvera Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) et Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) partia 5e, tandis que Felipe Massa (Ferrari) partira 6e. Jenson Button (McLaren) est 7e.
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:37.123 | 1:36.074 | 1:35.585 | 19 |
| 2 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:37.373 | 1:36.039 | 1:35.659 | 21 |
| 3 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:37.144 | 1:36.287 | 1:35.766 | 23 |
| 4 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:37.113 | 1:36.197 | 1:36.062 | 20 |
| 5 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:37.708 | 1:36.791 | 1:36.535 | 18 |
| 6 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:37.515 | 1:36.169 | 1:36.571 | 18 |
| 7 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.123 | 1:37.064 | 1:36.731 | 21 |
| 8 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:37.703 | 1:37.179 | 1:36.824 | 21 |
| 9 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:37.980 | 1:37.077 | 1:36.950 | 22 |
| 10 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:38.257 | 1:37.511 | 1:36.998 | 25 |
| 11 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:38.115 | 1:37.620 | 18 | |
| 12 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:38.429 | 1:37.643 | 15 | |
| 13 | 22 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:38.171 | 1:37.715 | 16 | |
| 14 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.572 | 1:37.783 | 18 | |
| 15 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:38.174 | 1:37.799 | 18 | |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:38.583 | 1:37.853 | 18 | |
| 17 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:38.621 | 1:38.594 | 16 | |
| 18 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.955 | 10 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:40.521 | 10 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:40.748 | 8 | ||
| 21 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:41.768 | 9 | ||
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:42.325 | 10 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.444 | 10 | ||
| 24 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:43.283 | 7 |