Fernando Alonso took pole in a second successive wet qualifying, putting his Ferrari on pole by four tenths of a second ahead of home favourite and current world champion Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber qualified in third but will start from eighth after a five place grid penalty, which promotes Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher to third place alongside fellow German, Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India, team mate Paul di Resta also starts in the top 10 from ninth!
Williams’ Pastor “Crashi-Bashi” Maldonado starts ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button on the third row, the Venezuelan qualifying 0.163 seconds ahead of the Briton, a much improved qualifying performance from the Jenson. Button’s McLaren stablemate Lewis Hamilton will start behind his team mate in seventh for the first time in 2012, no doubt the Hamilton fans will be full of excuses for Lewis’ failure to outqualify his team mate for the 10th time this season! Webber will start from eighth as previously mentioned, di Resta in ninth and Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen rounds out the top 10.
A honourable mention go to Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso who will start from 11th place, just missing out on the top 10 shootout as conditions deteriorated in Q2. Disappointments of the day were Felipe Massa who will start from 13th after Sergio Perez’ five place grid drop and Romain Grosjean who qualified in 15th but will start from 20th after a five place grid penalty.
Tomorrow is reported to be a dry race like Silverstone two weeks ago and a fortnight ago I predicted an Alonso win after putting it on pole but the Spaniard just wasn’t quick enough to hold off Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Could it be the same situation in Germany, but Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel being the victor, starting alongside the Ferrari on the front row in Germany?
Top 10 qualifying positions:
1 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) – 1:40.621
2 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) – +0.405
3 Mark Webber (Red Bull)* – +0.875
4 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) – +1.838
5 Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) – +2.880
6 Pastor Maldonado (Williams) – +3.329
7 Jenson Button (McLaren) – +3.492
8 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) – +3.565
9 Paul di Resta (Force India) – +4.268
10 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) – +5.190
* Webber handed a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change, and will start from 8th place.
