Spanish GP – Qualifying: Webber breaks Vettel’s pole streak

Q1: The first driver to set off is the Indian driver from the HRT team, followed by the Belgian from Virgin. The two HRT drivers set the first times before Vitaly Petrov records an initial time, which he later improves to 1’26’107. The hard tires brought by Pirelli take time to warm up, and the drivers improve lap by lap. Jenson Button then takes the lead halfway through the session by going under the 1’25 mark. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel then set the two best times while Jaime Alguersuari records the second-best time on soft tires, quickly surpassed by his teammate. Most drivers use soft tires to qualify, while Nick Heidfeld cannot participate in the session.

The times drop during the final minutes, but the McLaren and Red Bull drivers have not used soft tires, which places them better for the race. And an achievement from Team Lotus, Heikki Kovalainen will participate in Q2, having qualified 17th ahead of his teammate Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello.

Eliminated in Q1: Trulli, Barrichello, Glock, Liuzzi, Karthikeyan, D’Ambrosio and Heidfeld

Q2: The two Red Bull drivers are the first to go out on soft tires, and Sebastian Vettel does not use his KERS during his lap which he completes in 1’21”540, followed by his teammate in 1’21”773. The two McLarens follow half a second behind the leader, along with the Ferraris while the two Mercedes leave the pits. The two Mercedes drivers qualified in 5th and 6th positions, while Pastor Maldonado reaches Q3 with the eighth fastest time. The two Force India drivers are overtaken by the Team Lotus driver who positions in 15th place.

Eliminated in Q2: Buemi, Perez, Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Kovalainen, di Resta, Sutil.

Q3: The first driver to start is Jenson Button after a minute and a half of an empty track, followed by Sebastian Vettel. The Brit sets a lap under the 1’22 mark, while his teammate is a few hundredths ahead. The two Red Bull drivers follow with Mark Webber ahead of his teammate. The two Red Bull drivers then exit the car after fitting soft tires, but prefer to save the set of new tires. Alonso then manages to secure the 4th spot between the two McLarens, and Vitaly Petrov positions himself between Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg.

Michael Schumacher did not set a time and will have the choice of his set of tires tomorrow afternoon.

Mark Webber is ahead of Sebastian Vettel for the first time this season, and both drivers have an extra set of new tires for the race tomorrow afternoon.

Results of the qualifying – 2011 Spanish GP