June 25, 2011 -- Updated 1618 GMT (0018 HKT)
Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel earned his seventh pole position this season in Spain on Saturday.
(CNN) -- Sebastian Vettel insisted that Formula One's latest rule changes will not slow down his world champion Red Bull team after claiming yet another pole position for Sunday's European Grand Prix.
The German and teammate Mark Webber have claimed first place on the grid for all eight races so far this season between them, with all but one of those going to Vettel, and they will occupy the top two positions in Valencia following Saturday's qualifying.
Teams have been told they can no longer prepare one engine system for qualifying and another for race day, but Vettel said this would not affect Red Bull more than any other marque.
"There was a lot of talk going into this GP about the regulation changes and there will be a lot of talk before the next one," the 23-year-old said after setting the fastest time of one minute 36.975 seconds in his only flying lap of the third and final session at a street circuit where he won from pole last year.
F1 championship standings
"I think everyone will lose out on something, but people expect us to lose more than other teams and that is where I disagree. Overall it was a very good day for us -- it's good to have the front row for our team, but it will be a long race tomorrow."
Reigning champion Vettel leads the drivers' standings by 60 points from McLaren's Jenson Button, who prevented him claiming his sixth win of 2011 last time out in Canada.
"It's always tough here. It's a tricky circuit, as there are so many corners -- I think there are 25 before we cross the line again, so to get all of them right is very difficult and to get the perfect lap is quite tough," Vettel said.
Webber qualified second last year as well, but was involved in a spectacular crash early in the race that ended his hopes.
Alonso quickest in Valencia practice
The Australian's time of 1:37.163 pushed McLaren's Lewis Hamilton into third place on 1:37.380 ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (1:37.454) and Felipe Massa (1: 37.535).
"I didn't have the smoothest build-up in qualifying, so the guys did a good job to recover with me," Webber said.
Button, who won the last race in Montreal after Vettel's final-lap error, was frustrated to be back in sixth.
"The car felt pretty good in Q2 and I didn't have to push it too much, so I don't know why that changed for Q3," the 2009 world champion said.
"I had quite a bit of oversteer and I couldn't get enough rear grip or traction, particularly in the first two sectors."
Mercedes will fill seventh and eighth on the grid after Nico Rosberg edged out seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
Another German driver, Nick Heidfeld, claimed ninth but his Lotus Renault teammate Vitaly Petrov was edged out for 10th by Force India's Adrian Sutil.
Mexican rookie Sergio Perez made it into Q2 alongside Sauber teammate Kamui Kobayashi, and will start 16th on his return following his crash in qualifying at Monaco.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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