Vettel grabs pole in disrupted qualifying

Vettel dominated the session for Red Bull, setting the fastest time in all three segments and beating Toyota's Jarno Trulli and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to pole.

The Brawns were fifth and seventh, with Rubens Barrichello ahead of Jenson Button, but their positions could come under threat if they are protested for setting their best Q2 times while yellow flags were out.

The first two red flags occurred in Q2, starting when Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari ploughed head-on into the Degner barriers after running wide on entry.

The Spaniard was assisted out of his car but soon declared unhurt and cleared to race.

Then Glock had an even larger crash as he accelerated out of the final chicane - his Toyota understeering over the gravel at speed and spearing into the barriers.

The medical team carefully extracted Glock, who was conscious and moving in the cockpit, and he was removed from the scene on a stretcher. The German waved to the crowd as he was placed into an ambulance and is being taken to hospital by helicopter with pain in his back and left leg.

With the red flags having interrupted most drivers' Q2 flying laps, there was a last minute sprint to get through to Q3 - and this was also interrupted when Sebastien Buemi crashed on the exit of Spoon and deposited his Toro Rosso's front wing and other debris in the middle of the track as he limped back to the pits.

As yellow flags waved for that incident, both Brawns made last minute gains that got them into Q2 - to the displeasure of drivers like Renault's Fernando Alonso, who lifted on his last lap and ended up 12th and eliminated, along with Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Robert Kubica (BMW).

The Spoon incident was Buemi's second accident of the afternoon, as he had already spun backwards into the Degner tyre wall in Q1. Amazingly he got back to the pits, received a new rear wing, and rejoined in time to easily reach Q2, then qualified for Q3 before his second trip into the barriers.

Heikki Kovalainen had also spun at Degner in Q1, but regained control before hitting the wall. He was less fortunate on his first flying lap in Q3 - spinning into the barriers and causing the final red flag of this disjointed afternoon. The Finn was unhurt but will join Buemi on row five.

After Kovalainen's incident the session finally proceeded without drama to the finish, with Vettel easily securing pole with his first flying lap.

Red Bull will have a car at both ends of the grid, with Mark Webber missing the session as he will need a new chassis following his practice crash.

Behind Trulli and Hamilton, Adrian Sutil showed Force India was firmly back on the pace by taking fourth, with BMW's Nick Heidfeld splitting the Brawns in sixth.

Kimi Raikkonen took eighth, while Giancarlo Fisichella was within half a second of his team-mate's pace in Q1, but that left him back in 16th. It was a similar story for home driver Kazuki Nakajima, who only managed 17th for Williams.

Romain Grosjean (Renault) and Tonio Liuzzi (Force India) were the other Q1 departures, with the latter set to take a gearbox change penalty anyway, along with Webber.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:30.883  1:30.341  1:32.160
 2.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:31.063  1:30.737  1:32.220
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:30.917  1:30.627  1:32.395
 4.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:31.386  1:31.222  1:32.466
 5.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:31.272  1:31.055  1:32.660
 6.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:31.501  1:31.260  1:32.945
 7.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:31.041  1:30.880  1:32.962
 8.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:31.228  1:31.052  1:32.980
 9.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:31.499  1:31.223
10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:31.196  1:31.103 
11.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:31.286  1:31.482
12.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:31.401  1:31.638
13.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:31.417  1:32.341
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:31.550
15.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:31.571
16.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:31.704
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:31.718
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:32.073
19.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:32.087
20.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)

All Timing Unofficial