Webber takes maiden pole

Red Bull's Mark Webber mastered changing conditions to take pole position for the German Grand Prix.

Veteran Aussie grabs top spot ahead of Brawns

Red Bull driver Mark Webber has taken the first pole position of his career ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The 32-year-old Australian was best able to master changing conditions that made tyre choice and timing critical throughout each of the three qualifying sessions. Rubens Barrichello, who had dominated an eventful second qualifying session, fell short by just over a tenth of a second in the final shootout. World championship leader Jenson Button will start from third place on the grid after he was outperformed by his Brazilian team-mate. A dream pole for local favourite and British Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel did not materialise as he only managed to set the fourth fastest time in Q3. McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen gave their team a much-needed boost by finishing in fifth and sixth respectively, with Force India driver Adrian Sutil producing a fantastic performance to line-up behind them.

Rain

The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will start behind Sutil, with Renault's Nelson Piquet rounding out the top 10. Due to the threat of rain, every single driver rushed out on to the track at the beginning of the opening 20 minute session. By the end of Q1, a sprinkling of rain had began to fall, meaning Robert Kubica, Sebastien Buemi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Timo Glock and Sebastien Bourdais could not improve their times in the latter stages - all being eliminated. In the break between the first and second sessions, the rain began to fall more heavily and the 15 remaining cars all scrambled out of the pits again. But the conditions proved too treacherous for dry tyres and everyone was forced to make an immediate return to the pits for intermediates.

Slippery

As Q2 drew to a close, the conditions changed yet again and Barrichello timed his lap on dry tyres to perfection, finishing over a second ahead of the field. Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg were all caught out on the slippery surface and did not progress to the final session. Barrichello set the early pace in the final qualifying shootout as the rest left their runs late and struggled to get near the Brazilian's time. Eventually, Hamilton knocked Barrichello off top-spot while Button temporarily made it an all-British front-row by slotting into second. The Red Bulls then charged into contention with Webber moving into pole position before Vettel briefly claimed second. The Brawn GPs were on hot-laps behind them, but each fell just short as Barrichello took the remaining front-row place ahead of Button. German Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 1 min 32.230 secs
2 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.357
3 Jenson Button (Britain) Brawn-Mercedes 1:32.473
4 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull-Renault 1:32.480
5 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.616
6 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.859
7 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:34.316
8 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:34.574
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:34.710
10 Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:34.803
11 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:42.310
12 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:42.318
13 Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams-Toyota 1:42.500
14 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:42.771
15 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams-Toyota 1:42.859
16 Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:32.190
17 Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:32.251
18 Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:32.402
19 Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:32.423
20 Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.559