Vettel on pole in Valencia!

Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday’s European Grand Prix from pole position.

It was a close contest between the German and his teammate Mark Webber and both Red Bull drivers will line up on the front row of the grid, despite Valencia’s circuit expected not to suit the RB6 so much!

Series leader Lewis Hamilton was third fastest with Ferrari’s Alonso fourth. Massa and Kubica will line up on the third row. Jenson Button will share the fourth row with Williams’ rookie Nico Hulkenberg. Barrichello and Petrov rounded off the top ten.

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

Q1

First out were the Lotus and Virgin drivers, followed by Nico Hulkenberg. The German established a first reference time in 1’39’’758. Fernando Alonso looked set to beat this mark on his first flying lap but he lost a little bit in the third split and ended 2nd fastest although he quickly lost some places as the other drivers got up to speed.

The Spaniard found more pace on the next laps and took over at the front. Midway through the session, the Ferrari driver was leading from Rosberg, Button and Webber. Hamilton challenged him for top spot, as well as Vettel, but it was Robert Kubica who had the last word.

The Pole had left it late and went fastest of all on his very first flying lap. He slightly improved on the following lap, completing it in 1’38’’132. The frontrunners sat out the last minutes of the session and it ended with Kubica on top. Vettel was 2nd fastest with Button third.

Further down the order, it was a close contest between Schumacher, Kobayashi and Alguersuari for the last spot in Q2. The Mercedes driver found some improvement under the chequered flag and made it through. Sauber’s Kobayashi went out as well as the six drivers from the new teams.

Q2

Robert Kubica was once again last to leave the pits but, this time, only a couple of minutes were gone.
The first run saw the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber setting the pace with the Renault of Robert Kubica hot on their heels.

With less than a second covering the first fifteen drivers, no one was safe and all seventeen drivers were back out for a final run in the last minutes. This last dash yielded few improvements at the front. Vettel and Webber were 1st and 2nd with Massa 3rd.

Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Williams all made it through to Q1. Surprisingly enough, there was no Mercedes or Force India in the top ten.

Also eliminated were the Toro Rossos of Buemi and Alguersuari and the Sauber of Pedro de la Rosa.

Q3

The battle for pole promised to be extremely close, with no less than seven drivers potentially in contention for it.

Mark Webber laid down the first marker with a 1’37’’852 and was leading from Hamilton and Vettel after the first run. Alonso moved up to fourth in the last minute of the session as Sebastian Vettel embarked on a quick lap.

The German was fastest of all in S1 and backed it up with a personal best in S2 and a fastest S3. Completed in 1’37’’587, this lap sealed Vettel and Red Bull another pole position. Mark Webber was 2nd fastest with Hamilton third and Alonso fourth.