Webber snatches thrilling pole
Mark Webber grabbed pole with a brilliant final lap in his Red Bull
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Saturday, 11, Jul 2009 05:21
Red Bull's Mark Webber will start tomorrow's German grand prix from pole position for the first time in his career after a brilliant final lap at the Nurburgring, writes Adam Leveridge.
The Australian driver outshone team-mate Sebastien Vettel, who qualified fourth, on a wet and unpredictable track.
Webber is joined on the front row by Brawn GP's Rubens Barichello while his team-mate and drivers' championship leader - Jenson Button - will be on the second row after qualifying third.
Button's British countryman Lewis Hamilton was fifth in his McLaren.
Vettel was the first to complete a flying lap in Q1 with 1m 33.4s. The time set by the young German was immediately beaten by Jenson Button and then by the flying Lewis Hamilton in a rejuvenated McLaren, who was the first driver to break into the 1m 31s.
Hamilton continued to up the pace, recording a time of 1m 31.4s, but it was Webber who found himself at the top of the times at the end of the session, which was interspersed with wet weather.
Robert Kubica, Sebastien Buemi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Timo Glock and Sebastien Bourdais were all caught out by unpredictable conditions and ended Q1 in the drop zone.
The rain persisted into Q2 and Webber led early on with a 1m 38s.
Rubens Barrichello was the first to gamble on a set of super-soft dry tyres when the rain eased off with five minutes to go.
And this gamble paid off for the Brazilian and he topped the times at the end of the 15-minute session after completing a lap in the 1m 34s.
It didn't take long for other teams to follow Barichello's example - but several missed the window of opportunity as rain began to fall again. Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg all failed to make it into the top-ten shootout.
In a frantic Q3, Barichello was the first of the ten remaining runners to post a time.
McLaren proved that they have taken huge strides forward with MP4-24 when Hamilton snatched provisional pole from Barichello's Brawn, before a late charge from Button and Webber pushed the reigning world champion down the order to fifth.
Barichello's final run moved him back up to second ahead of Button, the second Red Bull of Vettel and Hamilton.