Vettel flies to British GP pole

Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the British GP on Saturday afternoon.

It was a close contest between the German and his Red Bull teammate and both of them will line up on the front row of the grid.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was their closest rival and took third on the grid. He will share the second row of the grid with Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button didn’t make it through to Q3 and qualified in 14th place.

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

Q1

No one rushed out onto the circuit in the opening stages of this first period.

Having suffered from mechanical problems in the morning, Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli were the first men out. The German set the first time of the session but was quickly relegated down the order as the rest of the drivers posted times on the board.

Petrov, Rosberg, Vettel and Barrichello traded the fastest lap until Mark Webber upped the pace with a 1’30’’988. His Red Bull teammate slightly improved to take over at the front with a 1’30’’841. After the first run, Vettel was leading from Webber, Alonso, Sutil and Hamilton.

If the leaders could assume they would make it safely through to Q2, Jaime Alguersuari and Tonio Liuzzi had to fight hard to make the cut. The Italian was in the drop zone with just one minute remaining but did enough to win himself a spot in Q2. This meant Toro Rosso’s Alguersuari was out, along with the drivers from the new teams.

Q2

The seventeen drivers remaining quickly left the pits to get a time on the board. They immediately got up to speed and Mark Webber completed his first flying lap in 1’30’’436 to bring Red Bull back on top. Unsurprisingly, his teammate Vettel moved up to P2 shortly afterwards.

With six minutes to go, everyone was back in the pits to prepare for the next round of flyers. Vettel was the first to retake the circuit but missed out on P1 by a whisker. Webber, meanwhile, managed to extend the benchmark time to a 1’30’’114. Vettel looked on course to match the Australian’s pace on his final lap but dived into the pits instead of completing it.

Both Red Bulls made it safely through, as well as the Ferraris and Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was a modest seventh fastest while his teammate Jenson Button was the biggest casualty of the session. The reigning World Champion set the 14th fastest time and was eliminated alongside Sutil, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Liuzzi, Petrov and Buemi.

Q3

With the pole position up for grabs, things got hotter in the final ten minutes of the qualifying session.

The Ferraris were the first out as the light turned green. Alonso threw down the gauntlet with a 1’30’’426 but Webber responded with a 1’29’’758. And Vettel did even better with a fastest lap completed in 1’29’’695!

The scene was set for a thrilling final rush and a fierce battle for pole between the two Red Bull drivers. Webber was the first to complete his lap but failed to beat Vettel. This meant the German was sure to get the pole position. He still improved his time with a 1’29’’615.

Alonso was the closest rival of the Red Bull pair. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest.