Red Bull were simply untouchable in qualifying today as Sebastian Vettel took pole ahead of Mark Webber.
Q1
It was Kamui Kobayashi who went out with the new teams in Q1, in a bad result for Sauber who were hoping to get both of their cars into the pole position shootout.
Kobayashi was held up by Bruno Senna in the HRT during his final lap as he went crashing out of qualifying. Things may get worse for the Japanese driver, as on the way into the pit lane he ignored an FIA scrutineering call and drove into his garage.
It was Timo Glock who was the fastest driver of the three new teams, with Vettel setting the fastest lap at the other end of the timesheet, a 1:20.417.
18. Kobayashi – Sauber – 1:22.222
19. Glock – Virgin – 1:24.050
20. Kovalainen – Lotus – 1:24.120
21. Trulli – Lotus – 1:24.199
22. di Grassi – Virgin – 1:25.118
23. Senna – HRT – 1:26.391
24. Yamamoto – HRT – 1:26.453
Q2
When McLaren went out on the softer compound tyres at the start of Q2 it seemed they were worried about whether they would manage to get into the top 10. It turns out that they had every right to be worried, as world champion Jenson Button went crashing out in 11th.
The Briton ran wide at turn 2 and was unable to drive his MP4-25 into the top 10, as Pedro de la Rosa surprisingly went through into the final part of qualifying.
Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil and Michael Schumacher will join Button in being bitterly disappointed about not making it through into the pole position shootout. Sebastien Buemi, Tonio Liuzzi and Jaime Alguersuari also went out in Q2.
Mark Webber clocked the fastest time in the second part of qualifying (1:19.531) just 0.04s ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
11. Button – McLaren – 1:21.292
12. Barrichello – Williams – 1:21.331
13. Sutil – Force India – 1:21.517
14. Schumacher – Mercedes – 1:21.630
15. Buemi – Toro Rosso – 1:21.897
16. Liuzzi – Force India – 1:21.927
17. Alguersuari – Toro Rosso – 1:21.998
Q3
Super soft tyres were the order of the session in Q3 in the battle for pole position, unsurprisingly won by Red Bull with Vettel on pole ahead of Mark Webber.
Vettel set a 1:18.773, over a second faster than Red Bull’s nearest competitors Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso was in 3rd ahead of teammate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton was 5th, with Nico Rosberg 6th, qualifying 8 places ahead of his seven-time world champion teammate Michael Schumacher!
Vitaly Petrov will start 7th, as he ceases to be the only driver to start the season yet to out-qualify his teammate, as Renault’s other driver Robert Kubica took 8th.
Pedro de la Rosa qualified ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who rounded off the top 10.
1. Vettel – Red Bull – 1:18.773
2. Webber – Red Bull – 1:19.184
3. Alonso – Ferrari – 1:19.987
4. Massa – Ferrari – 1:20.331
5. Hamilton – McLaren – 1:20.499
6. Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:21.082
7. Petrov – Renault – 1:21.229
8. Kubica – Renault – 1:21.328
9. de la Rosa – Sauber – 1:21.411
10. Hulkenberg – Williams – 1:21.710
Jack Sargeant is the editor-in-chief and designer of An F1 Blog. Follow him on 
The entire session was a let down. RBR too bloody quick so always had pole, Schu a let down, Button a let down, Kobay a let down. The only ray of sunshine was Petrov. Good job from him and In wish him luck tomorrow