Sebastian Vettel storms to European Grand Prix pole
Page last updated at 13:46 GMT, Saturday, 25 June 2011 14:46 UK
By Sarah Holt in Valencia
BBC Sport
European Grand Prix
Venue: Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia Date: 24, 25 & 26 June Coverage: Sunday: race coverage 1200-1535 BBC One, 5 live, online. F1 forum 1530-1630 Red Button & online. Highlights 1900-2000 BBC Three
Vettel continued his dominance with his seventh pole position of the season in Valencia
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel romped to his seventh pole position of 2011 at the European Grand Prix.
The world champion set a new record lap time around Valencia's street circuit for the second time on Saturday as he beat team-mate Mark Webber.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso aborted their final runs and will share the second row.
Jenson Button, who won the last race in Canada, starts sixth for McLaren with Mercedes' Michael Schumacher eighth.
The second phase of qualifying was interrupted when Pastor Maldonado's Williams juddered to a halt in the middle of the track at Turn 20.
The Venezuelan, who is determined to chase his first points this weekend, will line up in 15th with team-mate Rubens Barrichello two places ahead.
There had been speculation before qualifying that a new directive from F1's governing body, the FIA, could rein in Red Bull's pace by as much as half a second.
The FIA had sent a note to the teams advising them that they will no longer be allowed to alter their engine maps - which is how the engine govern fuel usage - between qualifying and the race.
But just as Red Bull had predicted, the directive had no effect on this season's pecking order and it remained unchanged.
"Who's on top? Red Bull and Red Bull, so they are going to have to find something else I'm afraid," commented BBC F1 analyst Eddie Jordan.
"Hamilton can only drive what he's been given and despite his problems in recent races if he continues to drive well he will get his just rewards.
"We've been critical of Button but his qualifying is just not on par with his racing. If he was further up the grid we'd see the electrifying pace that he has."Vettel set the benchmark in the final phase of qualifying and then decided to abandon a final run as his rivals again failed to overhaul him.
"It was a very good day for us," said the 23-year-old German, who now has 22 career pole positions under his belt.
"It's quite a tricky circuit and so to get every single corner right is quite tough but my first run was quite good. It's a good point to start tomorrow."
Vettel took pole here last season and went on to complete a straightforward race victory.
Webber has had a low-key weekend but hit form at the right time, snatching second from Hamilton as he finished just 0.188 seconds before Vettel.
McLaren ran with updated front and rear wings in Valencia but it was the tyres which caught them out as the street circuit warmed up under 26C temperatures.
"It's a fantastic job by the guys, I tried to improve on the last lap but I just bailed out and hopefully have saved the tyres for the race."
McLaren will still go into Sunday's race in confident mood as their pace over a race distance is very strong but Button was left ruing that he was not able to put himself in a better starting position.
"It's not very good," he said. "I just didn't expect it today.
"In Q3 I had massive oversteer and couldn't get any rear grip. It's so frustrating. Maybe in the heat our balance isn't working. I'm sure we can change the balance for the race."
Paul di Resta also had limited running in Valencia after Force India reserve Nico Hulkenberg damaged the Scot's car in first practice which limited Di Resta's running on Friday afternoon.
"It was difficult and after Friday I was always going to be on the back foot," said Di Resta, who starts in 12th.
"You have to stay positive and we're in a position where we can fight for points. The only concern is that we haven't done a long run on high fuel."
The Spaniard has again fended off speculation in Valencia that Australian reserve Daniel Ricciardo is poised to take his seat.
Alguersuari, who took his first points of the season last time out in Canada, insisted his place in the team was not under pressure but conceded he was "not 100% happy with everything going on."
He added: "I don't think about my future and I just see myself with this team and with this [Red Bull] family. I can bring much more to the team this year and next year in F1."
Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
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