Flying Webber on pole position

Mark Webber will start Sunday’s Spanish GP from pole position with Sebastian Vettel locking out the front row for Red Bull Racing.

The Australian set a blistering 1’19’’995 fastest time to hold off the assaults of his German teammate in the dying part of the session.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will share the second row of the grid while Button and Schumacher will line-up right behind them. This is the first time this season the seven-time World Champion has out-qualified his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Let’s have a look at how the session panned out:

Q1

The Lotus of Kovalainen and Trulli were the first to leave the pits and embark on flying laps.

Local hero Fernando Alonso quickly established himself at the top of the field but was demoted to fourth by Button, Hamilton and Kubica with nine minutes remaining.

RBR drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel bided their time. Their first efforts put them in third and fourth place but they were back in first and second by the end of the session.

The McLaren Mercedes of Hamilton and Button plus the Ferrari of Alonso were within six tenths of a second of the Red Bulls.

Pedro de la Rosa was sixth fastest, ahead of Rosberg and Kubica.

Unsurprisingly, the Lotus, Virgins and HRT didn’t make the cut. They were joined by Williams’ Rubens Barrichello who couldn’t understand why the team had been talking to him on the radio while he was on his final effort.

Both Virgin Racing drivers received a five-place grid penalty due to the team being late in supplying the FIA with gearbox ratios on Friday.

Karun Chandhok and Vitaly Petrov will also be dropping five grid places (gearbox change).

Q2

All the drivers quickly went out at the start of the session with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel immediately setting an impressive pace on their hard tyres.

They went for the softer tyre option on their final run and reasserted their dominance with fastest times in the 1’20 bracket. Jenson Button went third fastest ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Robert Kubica was the last driver within a second of pacesetter Mark Webber.

Out went Liuzzi, Alguersuari, Buemi, Petrov, Hulkenberg, De la Rosa and Sutil. This means that for the first time this season there was no Force India in the final shootout.

Q3

As the light went green, there was no question as to whether Red Bull Racing would be taking a fifth consecutive pole position. But would it go to Vettel or Webber?

The Australian had the upper hand on the first run. Vettel tried to strike back on the 2nd and final run but Webber managed to go even quicker to take his second pole of the season. The German might not be too upset about that as none of the four previous races has been won by the driver starting from pole.

Hamilton, Alonso and Button were within a second of the Red Bulls but couldn’t match their pace.