In what proved to be one of the best qualifying sessions of the season, it quickly become apparant that the battle was between Alonso and Sebastian Vettel for the coveted grid slot. And they did not disappoint.On their final flying laps, Vettel ahead of Alonso on the track, the Red Bull racer moved ahead in the first sector only to have Alonso better his time. However, Vettel pulled it back in the second, only to once again lose out to Alonso.
And in the final sector, as he crossed the line, Vettel was 0.067s down on Alonso's previous best lap time, meaning the Spaniard could have parked his car. However, he didn't, opting instead to finish the lap, although even he could not top his earlier 1:45.390.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were third and fourth ahead of Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi.
Meanwhile, Felipe Massa caused qualify to run a six minutes longer than usual as he brought out the red flags in Q1 when his P10 broke down out on track with a suspected electronic problem.
Times:
01. Alonso Ferrari 1:45.390
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:45.457
03. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.571
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.944
05. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:45.977
06. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:46.236
07. Rosberg Mercedes 1:46.443
08. Kubica Renault 1:46.593
09. Schumacher Mercedes 1:46.702
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.884
11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.666
12. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:47.674
13. Petrov Renault 1:48.165
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.502
15. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.557
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:48.899
17. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:48.961
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:50.721
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:50.915
20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:51.107
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:51.641
22. Klien HRT-Cosworth 1:52.946
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:54.174
24. Massa Ferrari
Source: Planet-F1
