HOCKENHEIM, Germany, (Reuters) – Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel snatched pole position for his home German Grand Prix yesterday after beating Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by barely the blink of an eye.
“Yes, baby!” shouted the 23-year-old local favourite, taking his sixth pole in 11 races and Red Bull’s 10th, after denying Ferrari their first top slot since 2008 by a mere two thousandths of a second.
Vettel’s fastest lap of one minute 13.791 seconds came right at the end of the session and Alonso, following him, could not match it.
“It would be interesting to calculate just how much it is,” Vettel said of the time gap that clinched his third Formula One pole in succession and first in front of his home fans.
“Two thousandths of a second is not really the margin you are looking for,” he added.
“The main challenge will be tomorrow. It will be a tough fight against the red cars I guess.”
Brazilian Felipe Massa qualified third for Ferrari, a day before the first anniversary of the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying crash that ended his 2009 season and left him in hospital with life-threatening head injuries.
Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber, winner of three races this season, was fourth after making a mistake and running wide.
McLaren’s world champion Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, the overall leader, will line up alongside each other on the third row.
