Webber secures third pole in a row
Mark Webber will start from pole position for a third straight race, having fended off the challenge of Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel was again the slower Red Bull in qualifying and took third, while Ferrari faces a tough time in its 800th grand prix, with Fernando Alonso a disastrous 12th on the grid having failed to find enough speed in Q2 and Felipe Massa at least reaching Q3 but qualifying only eighth.
Webber was fastest on both runs in Q3, taking provisional pole with a 1m26.510s and then improving to 1m26.295s on his final attempt.
McLaren's Hamilton beat Webber's time in the first and third sectors, but in the middle of the lap the Red Bull was unbeatable, so Hamilton had to settle for second, 0.138 seconds adrift.
A lock-up into the first corner ended Vettel's chances of challenging Webber for pole with his last lap, so he starts third, just ahead of Jenson Button in the second McLaren.
Despite spinning off at Turn 8 and getting stuck in the gravel at the end of Q3, Michael Schumacher outqualified Nico Rosberg as the Mercedes pair shared row three.
It was a good day for Renault - as Robert Kubica took seventh and Vitaly Petrov made his first Q3 appearance and secured ninth, with Massa sandwiched between them. Sauber also got back into the top ten with Kamui Kobayashi joining Petrov on row five - although he used up his tyres in Q2 trying to get there so barely featured in the final shoot-out.
Alonso's Q2 departure was by far the biggest shock of the session. The double world champion's first Q2 attempt was shuffled back outside the top 10 by the end, and in trying to fight back he made a mistake under braking for the final complex. Although Alonso still had time to squeeze in one final lap after that, it was too slow and he ended up only 12th, 0.4s off Massa's Q2 pace.
Adrian Sutil (Force India) missed out on the top ten again as Kobayashi's late jump into Q3 pushed him back to 11th. Pedro de la Rosa could not emulate his Sauber team-mate Kobayashi so starts 13th, with the Toro Rossos and Williams also departing in Q2.
For the second time this year, Force India's Tonio Liuzzi was the man who joined the new teams on the sidelines after Q1. Lotus was again the fastest among the newcomers, with Jarno Trulli ahead of Heikki Kovalainen.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:27.500 1:26.818 1:26.295 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.667 1:27.013 1:26.433 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.067 1:26.729 1:26.760 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.555 1:27.277 1:26.781 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:27.756 1:27.438 1:26.857 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.649 1:27.141 1:26.952 7. Kubica Renault 1:27.766 1:27.426 1:27.039 8. Massa Ferrari 1:27.993 1:27.200 1:27.082 9. Petrov Renault 1:27.620 1:27.387 1:27.430 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.158 1:27.434 1:28.122 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:27.951 1:27.525 12. Alonso Ferrari 1:27.857 1:27.612 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.147 1:27.879 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.534 1:28.273 15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:28.336 1:28.392 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.460 1:28.540 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.227 1:28.841 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:28.958 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.237 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.519 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.744 22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:31.266 23. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:31.989 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:32.060 All Timing Unofficial
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