Red Bull Racing has struck back in today’s qualifying session at Valencia, with Sebastian Vettel taking pole position for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix.
Vettel edged out his team-mate Mark Webber – the pair running the F-Duct aerodynamic system for the first time in qualifying conditions.
Australian Webber held the top spot late in the third qualifying segment but Vettel pulled out a stunning time (1m37.587s) to take the top spot.
Behind the two Red Bull stars is world championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who put his McLaren third ahead of Ferrari’s home town hero Fernando Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa.
Renault’s Robert Kubica took a solid sixth ahead of Jenson Button (McLaren), the Williams pair of Nico Hulkenburg and Rubens Barrichello and the second Renualt entry of Vitaly Petrov rounding out the top 10.
The biggest disappointment of the session was Mercedes. Nico Rosberg will start 12th while team-mate Michael Schumacher is down in 15th.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:38.324 | 1:38.015 | 1:37.587 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:38.549 | 1:38.041 | 1:37.662 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.697 | 1:38.158 | 1:37.969 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.472 | 1:38.179 | 1:38.075 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:38.657 | 1:38.046 | 1:38.127 |
| 6 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:38.132 | 1:38.062 | 1:38.137 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.360 | 1:38.399 | 1:38.210 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:38.843 | 1:38.523 | 1:38.428 |
| 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:38.449 | 1:38.326 | 1:38.428 |
| 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:39.004 | 1:38.552 | 1:38.523 |
| 11 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:39.096 | 1:38.586 | |
| 12 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:38.752 | 1:38.627 | |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:39.021 | 1:38.851 | |
| 14 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.969 | 1:38.884 | |
| 15 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:38.994 | 1:39.234 | |
| 16 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.003 | 1:39.264 | |
| 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:39.128 | 1:39.458 | |
| 18 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.343 | ||
| 19 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:40.658 | ||
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:40.882 | ||
| 21 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:42.086 | ||
| 22 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:42.140 | ||
| 23 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.600 | ||
| 24 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.851 |
