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It is the 22nd pole of Vettel’s career, and the ninth in a row for Red Bull stretching back to the end of last season.
In claiming all eight this season, it is the first time a team has managed such a feat since McLaren started 1998 with nine successive poles.
Reigning champion Vettel became the first driver to set a sub one minute 37-second lap witnessed at the Valencia Street Circuit.
Vettel posted a time of one minute 36.975 seconds, finishing 0.188secs ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who pipped Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren late on, leaving the Briton to start third.
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Formula 1: European Grand Prix - Race Line Up
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Valencia
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Fastest in Second Practice at Valencia
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Final Practice at Valencia
Behind the leading trio will be Ferrari duo Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fourth and fifth, with Jenson Button sixth in his McLaren, finishing almost 0.7secs behind Vettel.
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher line up seventh and eighth for Mercedes, with Renault’s Nick Heidfeld ninth and Adrian Sutil 10th for Force India. Telegraph.co.uk
Q2 was red flagged less than eight minutes in when Pastor Maldonado for some reason stopped his stricken Williams in the middle of the road in Turn 20, soon after setting what was at the time the 13th fastest time of 1m 39.645s. It resumed quickly once the broken FW33 was wheeled away.
Vettel had already set the pace with 1m 37.305s from Hamilton and Button on 1m 37.727s and 1m 37.749s apiece, but subsequently the dramas surrounded Sutil, whose late 1m 39.034s bumped Vitaly Petrov, who was left 11th on 1m 39.068s. Behind the Russian’s Renault, Paul di Resta was also set for a Q3 run until a slide under braking for Turn 13 on his last run stopped him from improving on the 1m 39.422s that left him a nonetheless strong 12th for Force India. Williams’ Rubens Barrichello was 13th in 1m 39.489s, from Kamui Koyabashi on 1m 39.525s for Sauber, Maldonado, Sergio Perez in the other C30 on 1m 39.657 and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi on 1m 39.711s.
Those left in the cold were Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 40.232s for Toro Rosso, then the Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli. The former was at one stage 14th on 1m 41.664s until others improved, which left him 19th, while Trulli spun at the end of a quick lap and had to rely on 1m 42.234s for 20th. Timo Glock kept Virgin comfortably ahead of HRT, with a lap of 1m 42.553s to Tonio Liuzzi’s best of 1m 43.584s, then came Virgin’s Jerome D’Ambrosio on 1m 43.735s and HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan on 1m 44.363s. Formula 1
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