Despite a major threat from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers, Vettel found some much-needed pace on his super softs, clocking a 1:37.587. His team-mate Mark Webber was second quickest, just 0.075s off the pace while a minor mistake from Hamilton on his final flying lap put paid to his attempts at upsetting the Bulls for a second successive weekend.
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were next in line, qualifying ahead of Robert Kubica and Jenson Button.
It was a great qualifying for Williams, who put both cars in the top ten with Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello both 0.841s off Vettel's pace. But because Hulkenberg set his time first he will be ahead of his Brazilian team-mate on the grid.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher slumped to his worst qualifying performance of his comeback season as he could only manage P15, partly due to power steering problems. His team-mate Nico Rosberg also had a bad afternoon, qualifying P12.
Times:
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:37.587
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:37.662
03. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.969
04. Alonso Ferrari 1:38.075
05. Massa Ferrari 1:38.127
06. Kubica Renault 1:38.137
07. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.210
08. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:38.428
09. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:38.428
10. Petrov Renault 1:38.523
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.586
12. Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.627
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:38.851
14. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:38.884
15. Schumacher Mercedes 1:39.234
16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.264
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.458
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.343
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:40.658
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:40.882
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:42.086
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:42.140
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:42.600
24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:42.851
Source: Planet-F1
