Mark Webber may be contesting the second-last race of his long Formula One grand prix career but he’s not going out quietly.

Only a dramatic last-gasp surge from newly-crowned four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel prevented his F1 retirement-bound teammate Webber from claiming his third pole position in the last four races in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

It was the eighth pole of the season for 28-year-old Vettel and the 44th of his career as he seeks a record eighth consecutive victory in the race at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday (Monday AEDT).

But he was upstaged in qualifying by Red Bull colleague Webber in both Japan and Abu Dhabi and the Australian seemed set to repeat that dose as he held the fastest time before the German produced a scorching last lap to stop the clock 0.103 seconds quicker.

It was the fifth time this year that the Red Bull pair have locked out the front row and a perfect 40th birthday present for team boss Christian Horner.

Webber was left to rue a small error when he ran wide at the tricky turn 19.

“The apex is a little blind so it’s easy to get it wrong,” Webber said. “I was in that club.”

“Sometimes you’re happy you’ve done your best and sometimes you’re not.

“Seb put all his sectors together. I put two and a half together and just dropped it in the last sector.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Romain Grosjean was third fastest for the Lotus team ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and last year’s winner, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso was sixth for Ferrari and Sergio Perez seventh for McLaren ahead of two Finns, Heikki Kovalainen for Lotus and Valtteri Bottas of Williams with another Mexican, Esteban Gutierrez taking 10th in the second Sauber.

Kovalainen shone again as he did on Friday after stepping in as a late replacement for fellow Finn – Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen – who on Friday underwent back surgery in Strasbourg.