Valencia 2010 Qualifying – Vettel on pole

Vettel On Pole in Valencia 2010

Sebastian Vettel resumed Red Bull’s 2010 qualifying supremacy, returning to pole for the first time since China in the process, as he headed a front-row lockout for the team in a closely-fought battle on the streets of Valencia.

The German pipped team-mate Mark Webber by 0.075 seconds as Red Bull took their eighth pole in nine races this year.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was also in contention for pole, but a mistake on his final run left him third.

Local hero Fernando Alonso took fourth place for Ferrari from team-mate Felipe Massa. The second McLaren of Jenson Button will start seventh on the grid.

Button also made a mistake, going into the final corner.

The big news of Q1, apart from fastest lap in 1m 38.132s from Kubica, was that Schumacher only just escaped exclusion there and then on his final lap, which jumped him up from 18th to 12th.

European GP starting grid

1 VETTEL Red Bull
2 WEBBER Red Bull
3 HAMILTON McLaren
4 ALONSO Ferrari
5 MASSA Ferrari
6 KUBICA Renault
7 BUTTON McLaren
8 HULKENBERG Williams
9 BARRICHELLO Williams
10 PETROV Renault
11 BUEMI Toro Rosso
12 ROSBERG Mercedes
13 SUTIL Force India
14 LIUZZI Force India
15 SCHUMACHER Mercedes
16 DE LA ROSA Sauber
17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso
18 KOBAYASHI Sauber
19 TRULLI Lotus
20 KOVALAINEN Lotus
21 DI GRASSI Virgin
22 GLOCK Virgin
23 CHANDHOK HRT
24 SENNA HRT