Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel takes pole in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix: Formula One News
After an exciting bit of qualifying at the Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey, Sebastian Vettel continued his 100 percent record in qualifying this season as he topped the timesheets with a 1 minute 25.049 at the end of the third and final qualifying stint.
While this was the young German’s 19th career pole, it also turned out to be a Red Bull’s 9th 1 – 2 in qualifying as Vettel’s teammate, Mark Webber, qualified in second position to put Red Bull as firm favourites for the Turkish Grand Prix – The Australian was four tenths of a second slower than the race leader however.
Mercedes GP continued its strong run this weekend. Many argued that the stark contrast in competitiveness was due to the likes of McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari taking it slow in free practice. However, Nico Rosberg, after putting in a solid lap when it mattered most, was able to earn himself a second row start for the race on Sunday – The top 3 drivers put in a total of 3 laps apiece in the third qualifying stint.
Lewis Hamilton went fourth fastest in his MP4 – 26 with a fastest lap of 1 minute 25.595 seconds. The Briton did a total of 6 laps in the 10 minute Q3 session. The McLaren Mercedes driver was followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who took the 5th quickest time. Jenson Button started alongside in row 3 and was the last driver to post a time in the 1 minute 25 second range.
The Renaults of Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld sandwiched the Mercedes GP of Michael Schumacher in eighth. The French based constructors were somewhat slow off the blocks in free practice but would be pleased with their progress in qualifying.
Schumacher, seeing that his teammate starts on a provisional podium position might be a touch disappointed. With that said, it is also the first time this season that the seven-time World Champion has made it to Q3. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa did not post a time in Q3 and therefore rounded off the top 10.
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