Fernando Alonso will start Sunday’s German Grand Prix from pole position after proving the class of the field in a wet qualifying session at Hockenheim.
The Spaniard set the fastest two times at the end of Q3 to end the session 0.4s clear of Sebastian Vettel.
Alonso had been the only top runner to pit during the final segment, and appeared to benefit from running on a newer set of wet tyres in the closing minutes.
Mark Webber ended the running third fastest, but will lose five places on the grid thanks to a penalty for a gearbox change undertaken this morning.
Michael Schumacher, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Paul di Resta and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top 10.
The result marks the first time all season that Button has out-qualified his McLaren team-mate Hamilton.
Felipe Massa (14th), Romain Grosjean (16th) and Nico Rosberg (17th) were among those to be eliminated in Q2. The first significant rain had arrived in the opening minutes of the second session, ensuring that the early laps set on intermediate tyres would largely determine the Q3 field.
Rosberg and Grosjean will both join Webber in losing five places on the grid after gearbox changes of their own.
Jean-Eric Vergne found himself eliminated in Q1 for the sixth time this season after Schumacher narrowly avoided disaster by edging the Frenchman on his final lap.
See below for the full qualifying result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:16.073 | 1:38.521 | 1:40.621 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:16.393 | 1:38.309 | 1:41.026 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:16.500 | 1:39.382 | 1:41.496 |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:16.686 | 1:38.010 | 1:42.459 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:16.271 | 1:39.467 | 1:43.501 |
| 6 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:16.181 | 1:38.731 | 1:43.950 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.507 | 1:38.659 | 1:44.113 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.221 | 1:37.365 | 1:44.186 |
| 9 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:16.352 | 1:39.703 | 1:44.889 |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:15.693 | 1:39.729 | 1:45.811 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:16.516 | 1:39.789 | |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.726 | 1:39.933 | |
| 13 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.481 | 1:39.985 | |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:16.265 | 1:40.212 | |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:16.685 | 1:40.574 | |
| 16 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:16.426 | 1:40.752 | |
| 17 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.988 | 1:41.551 | |
| 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:16.741 | ||
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:17.620 | ||
| 20 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:18.531 | ||
| 21 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:19.220 | ||
| 22 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:19.291 | ||
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:19.912 | ||
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:20.230 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s German Grand Prix Race Guide
