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Australia’s Mark Webber last night maintained his cracking weekend pace to qualify in pole position for tonight’s (Melbourne time) German Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver had been consistently fast in practice and followed up with a flying lap of one minute, 30.079 seconds in qualifying to score ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton’s time of 1:30.134 relegated Webber’s Red Bull teammate — and championship leader — Sebastian Vettel to the second row, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Ferrari’s Filipe Massa and Mercedes Nico Rosberg are on the third row, with Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button slipping to the fourth row after having to abort one of his final laps.
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Formula 1: German Grand Prix - Race Line Up
Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Fastest in First Practice at Nurburgring
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in Second Practice at Nurburgring
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Final Practice at Nurburgring
Earlier, Webber clocked a fastest practice time of one minute, 31.770 seconds and was taking some confidence from his early pace.
‘‘For me here it’s been ‘so far, so good’,’’ the 34-year-old said. ‘‘The car feels pretty good, Fernando and Sebastian Vettel are really quick as well, and you never know with McLaren.
We have concentrated on ourselves and it was good. It was nice it stayed dryish, as it’s easier to manage from everyone’s side, but whatever is thrown at us this weekend we should be ready for it, and I am really comfortable.’’ Sydney Morning Herald
Both McLaren drivers were downbeat about their team’s chances of challenging for pole after Friday’s practice at the Nurburgring but Hamilton hooked up an aggressive lap to lose out on a first pole position of the season by only 0.055 seconds.
“I definitely underestimated how good the car was with light fuel,” said Hamilton. “It was one of the happiest laps I’ve had. It felt incredible.” BBC Sport
Adrian Sutil maintained his strong form for Force India with 1m 32.010s, to head Vitaly Petrov’s Renault on 1m 32.187s, as Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes completed the top 10 with 1m 32.482s.
As Hamilton headed Q2 with 1m 30.998s from Vettel and Alonso, a late jump to fifth by Rosberg pushed Nick Heidfeld out of Q3, leaving the Renault driver 11th on 1m 32.215s. Paul di Resta didn’t make it either, lapping his Force India in 1m 32.560s to head the Williamses of Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello on 1m 32.635s and 1m 33.043s respectively. Sergio Perez couldn’t better 1m 33.176s in his Sauber, and Sebastien Buemi just shaded Toro Rosso team mate Jaime Alguersuari, 1m 33.546s to 1m 33.698s.
The session weeded out Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, who didn’t run for the first 10 minutes, vaulted to eighth with his first run as the track got better, but failed to improve again on 1m 33.786s when it mattered. Behind him, Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen survived an off in Turn One to set 1m 35.599s for 19th, with Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio each improving right at the end to 1m 36.400s and 1m 36.641s in their Virgins to sandwich Karun Chandhok’s Lotus on 1m 36.422s as they filled 20th to 22nd places. Formula 1
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