On his final run in Q3 Vettel went to the top with a lap of 1m 20.101s, but Webber’s best aced him as 1m 19.995s won the Australian his second pole of the year.
Behind them Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren was a breathless best of the rest on 1m 20.829s, moving ahead of Fernando’s Alonso Ferrari which the Spaniard had lapped in 1m 20.937s. Jenson Button sandwiched the red car after taking his McLaren round in 1m 20.991s.
Right at the end Michael Schumacher confirmed how much more comfortable he feels in the revamped Mercedes by snatching sixth place with 1m 21.294s, leaving the ever-impressive Robert Kubica seventh for Renault on 1m 21.353s, Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg on 1m 21.408s, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on 1m 21.585s, and BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on 1m 21.984s from his sole run.
Alonso, criticised by some in China for his passing move on team mate Massa on the pit lane entry, annoyed Nico Rosberg as Q3 began by pulling straight out in front of him in the pit road. Ferrari have since been handed a $20,000 fine after the FIA decided Alonso had been unsafely released.
Qualifying took place on a bone dry track and with warm sunshine and a steady wind.
As Webber and Vettel fought for P1 in Q2, Force India’s Adrian Sutil narrowly lost out to Rosberg, his 1m 21.985s leaving him 11th ahead of BMW Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa on 1m 22.026s, Williams’s Nico Hulkenberg on 1m 22.131s, Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 1m 22.139s, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi on 1m 22.191s and Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 22.207s and Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi on 1m 22.854s.
Petrov, however, falls from 14th to 19th because Renault changed his gearbox after his shunt in final practice this morning.
Rubens Barrichello was the fastest faller in Q1, after lapping his Williams in 1m 23.125s. Behind him the Lotus duo was again closely matched, with Jarno Trulli on 1m 24.674s and Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 24.748s. That was comfortably ahead of the Virgins, with Timo Glock on 1m 25.475s and Lucas di Grassi on 1m 25.556s. Karun Chandhok was again the faster HRT on 1m 26.750s, with Bruno Senna on 1m 27.122s.
The Virgins, however, each get a five-place grid penalty for the team’s failure to notify the FIA within two hours of second practice of the gear ratios the team chose for Saturday.
With all the penalties taken into account, Buemi will start 14th from Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Barrichello, Trulli, Petrov, Kovalainen, Chandhok, Senna, Glock and Di Grassi.
