Third pole in a row for Webber!

Mark Webber secured himself a third consecutive pole position as he went fastest in Saturday’s qualifying session.

Despite earlier reliability worries, the Australian took pole for the Turkish GP and ensured the Red Bull Racing team remains unbeaten in qualifying this season. Lewis Hamilton still came close to break the Milton Keynes-based team streak of pole position and will line up on the front row of the grid.

A mistake at Turn 1 meant Vettel was unable to challenge his teammate for pole and he will line up on the second row of the grid with reigning World Champion Jenson Button by his side. The third row will be a Mercedes affair with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg lining up alongside each other.

Kubica and Massa will share the fourth row while Petrov and Kobayashi will be on the fifth row.

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

Q1

The Lotus and Virgin pairs were first out with Adrian Sutil right on their tail as he tried to make up for the time lost this morning. The Force India driver was the early pacesetter but was quickly replaced at the top of the timesheets by Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard was relegated down to third not long after, as Button and Hamilton completed their first timed laps. Nico Rosberg split the McLarens shortly before the halfway point. The Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel were very last to leave the pits but quickly got in the pace. They slotted in 4th and 6th place before further upping the pace.

Their second timed laps saw them move at the top of the timesheets, with Vettel leading from Webber. Vitaly Petrov moved up to 4th with his last effort as the frontrunners remained in the pits in the final part of the session.

Chandhok, di Grassi, Senna, Glock, Kovalainen, Trulli and Liuzzi were eliminated.

Q2

Vettel quickly resumed his domination with a 1’27’’188 fastest time but it didn’t last long as Webber and Hamilton went slightly faster than him. The German stroke back a few minutes later and reclaimed top spot with a lap completed in 1’26’’925.

Webber briefly took the lead in the final minute of the session but Vettel found some more improvement and went quickest than his teammate. Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Rosberg and Massa.

Alonso was a shock victim of this session as he was unable to make it into the top ten. The Ferrari driver made a few mistakes that prevented him from improving his times and he ended in 12th position.

Sutil, De la Rosa, Buemi, Barrichello, Alguersuari and Hulkenberg also went out. Alguersuari encountered some problems on his way back to the pits and stopped his Toro Rosso in the second split.

Q3

Mark Webber went fastest on the first run, with Hamilton 2nd and Vettel 3rd. The Australian improved on his own time to secure himself pole position while his teammate made a mistake in the first split and aborted his last lap.

Hamilton went second fastest. Vettel was third fastest. Michael Schumacher spun at Turn 8 and got stuck in the gravel trap but still managed to out-qualify his teammate Nico Rosberg.