Sebastian Vettel will start tomorrow ‘s European Grand Prix from pole position after proving the class of the field in qualifying around the Valencia Street Circuit.
Vettel's one-and-only Q3 lap proved 0.32s quicker than the best effort from second-quickest man Lewis Hamilton.
Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean will share the second-row of the grid having both spent time at the top of the order in Q3.
Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Robserg, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta rounded out the top 10.
While there were celebrations in Vettel's half of the Red Bull garage, team-mate Mark Webber will start just 19th after suffering hydraulic issues in Q1.
Local hero Fernando Alonso will also have plenty of work to do in the race after qualifying 11th. Just 0.22s had separated Alonso's Q2 time from fastest-man Grosjean.
Just 23 drivers had taken part in the earlier Q1 session, with Marussia's Timo Glock unable to compete due to illness. It is at this stage unclear whether the German will be fit for tomorrow's race.
See below for the full qualifying result
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:39.626 | 1:38.530 | 1:38.086 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.169 | 1:38.616 | 1:38.410 |
3 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:38.825 | 1:38.570 | 1:38.475 |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:39.530 | 1:38.489 | 1:38.505 |
5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:39.464 | 1:38.531 | 1:38.513 |
6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.061 | 1:38.504 | 1:38.623 |
7 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.651 | 1:38.703 | 1:38.741 |
8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:39.009 | 1:38.689 | 1:38.752 |
9 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.622 | 1:38.563 | 1:38.801 |
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.858 | 1:38.519 | 1:38.992 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.409 | 1:38.707 | |
12 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:39.447 | 1:38.770 | |
13 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:39.388 | 1:38.780 | |
14 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:39.449 | 1:39.207 | |
15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.353 | 1:39.358 | |
16 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:40.087 | 1:40.295 | |
17 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:39.924 | 1:40.358 | |
18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:40.203 | ||
19 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:40.395 | ||
20 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:40.457 | ||
21 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.171 | ||
22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.527 | ||
23 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:42.675 | ||
DNS | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth |
Here is the Foxsports News report
See below for Speedcafe.com's European Grand Prix Race Guide