Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso grabbed his second pole of the season in a wet qualifying session for the 2012 German Grand Prix. The Spaniard mastered a wet Hockenheimring by going 4 tenths faster than championship rival Sebastian Vettel who ended up in 2nd place.
Vettel was followed by Red Bull teammate Mark Webber who was a further 4 tenths adrift, followed by local hero and 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher in a promising 4th place.
Nico Hulkenberg went 5th fastest in front of his home crowd ahead of Pastor Maldonado and the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton who couldn’t improve any longer and had to settle for 7th and 8th.
Paul Di Resta qualified in 9th position, putting both Force Indias in contention for points for tomorrow’s race, with the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen settling for 10th.
Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg will all be dropping five places during tomorrow’s race due to gearbox changes.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.621s 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.026s 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m41.496s 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.459s 5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m43.501s 6. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m43.950s 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.113s 8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.186s 9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m44.889s 10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m45.811s Q2 cut-off time: 1m39.729s 11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.789s + 2.424 12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.933s + 2.568 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.985s + 2.620 14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.212s + 2.847 15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m40.574s + 3.209 16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m40.752s + 3.387 17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.551s + 4.186 Q1 cut-off time: 1m16.686s 18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.741s + 1.048 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m17.620s + 1.927 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m18.531s + 2.838 21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.220s + 3.527 22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.291s + 3.598 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m19.912s + 4.219 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.230s + 4.537