Sebastian Vettel makes a strong case of becoming the first repeat winner of 2012 – Formula 1
Sebastian Vettel went on to take his third consecutive pole position of the season as he drove impressively during the qualifying at Valencia.
Vettel may as well become the first driver to become a repeat winner in the season as he has put himself in a very good position to take the win after finishing ahead of everyone in Valencia by recording the best finish with some imperious driving in the
final lap to displace Lewis Hamilton by only 0.3 seconds.
Hamilton looked to be set on taking pole but the Red Bull driver denied him, still the McLaren driver is in a good position to challenge for victory on race day.
Pastor Maldonado was the surprise package as he finished third. The Williams driver had a horrible weekend at Monaco and he will be looking to change that in Valencia. He has put himself in a good position to do so.
At fourth and fifth were the two Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen respectively. It is the best qualifying for the Lotus contingent in 2012 and it will give them a good chance to take a shot at claiming their first Grand Prix victory.
At sixth was the Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg who was not happy at the end of the qualifier as the German felt he could have done better had he not had Hamilton ahead of him in the final corners of the track.
Rosberg complained to the stewards as well, but the Brit has been let off by the stewards without any penalties.
Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber finished at 7th followed by the Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg at 8th. The other McLaren driver Jenson Button continued his poor run by finishing 9th. At 10th was Paul di Resta in the Force India car.
Surprisingly both the Ferraris were out of the top ten. Other drivers that were tipped to do well at the qualifiers but could not make in the top ten were Michael Schumacher for Mercedes and Mark Webber of Red Bull.
It will be an interesting race on Sunday. The start of the race will be crucial quite like it was in Monaco. Here’s the complete starting grid for the European GP.
Position
Driver
Team
1
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing-Renault
2
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes
3
Pastor Maldonado
Williams-Renault
4
Romain Grosjean
Lotus-Renault
5
Kimi Räikkönen
Lotus-Renault
6
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
7
Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber-Ferrari
8
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India-Mercedes
9
Jenson Button
McLaren-Mercedes
10
Paul di Resta
Force India-Mercedes
11
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
12
Michael Schumacher
Mercedes
13
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
14
Bruno Senna
Williams-Renault
15
Sergio Perez
Sauber-Ferrari
16
Heikki Kovalainen
Caterham-Renault
17
Daniel Ricciardo
STR-Ferrari
18
Jean-Eric Vergne
STR-Ferrari
19
Mark Webber
Red Bull Racing-Renault
20
Vitaly Petrov
Caterham-Renault
21
Pedro de la Rosa
HRT-Cosworth
22
Narain Karthikeyan
HRT-Cosworth
23
Charles Pic
Marussia-Cosworth
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