Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull Racing edged Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by the slimmest of margins to win the pole for the German Grand Prix in front of his home crowd on Saturday.
Vettel topped Alonso by only 0.002 seconds, giving the young German his third consecutive pole and the sixth in 11 grand prix this season. Alonso was quickest in the first two qualifying sessions, and led the way before Vettel completed his last lap around the 2.842-mile, 13-turn Hockenheim course in one minute, 13.791 seconds.
Alonso will start on the front row for the first time this season. The Spaniard won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in March. MiamiHerald.com
Vettel shouted, “Yeh baby!” after being given the news that he had won a close battle between himself Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
“It will be interesting to work out how much distance two thousandths of a second is! All session Fernando was very strong and Ferrari are generally very competitive,” said the German
“It was very exciting and in Q2 I knew we had one lap to get it right. It was close and you push a little bit more and you lose the edge of the tyres and then feel you are losing time. My last run wasn’t 100 per cent perfect, I had a bit here or there where I went above the limit but in the end it was enough by nearly nothing to stay ahead and get on pole.”
“We always expect the Red Bulls in Q3 to give something more ... in Q3 they are usually far away,” said Alonso. Sydney Morning Herald
Behind them, the McLarens share row three, with Jenson Button acing Lewis Hamilton on their final runs. The former improved to 1m 14.427s, the latter did not improve on 1m 14.566s.
Robert Kubica was seventh for Renault on 1m 15.079s, ahead of Rubens Barrichello on 1m 15.109s for Williams, Nico Rosberg on 1m 15.179s for Mercedes, and Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 15.339s in the second Williams. F1.com
In the closing seconds of Q2, Rosberg and Hulkenberg prevented their German compatriot Michael Schumacher from advancing into the final qualifying session. Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One champion and teammate of Rosberg’s, will start 11th.
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