Webber on pole

12 April 2012

Mark Webber will start on pole position for the first time in his Formula One career following a stunning qualifying for Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Rain blighted the middle 15-minute session at the Nurburgring, but it stayed dry for the vital top-10 shootout, and it was the Australian due to make his 130th start who heads the field.

Red Bull Racing's Webber then had to anxiously wait in the dying moments as the Brawns of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, as well team-mate Sebastian Vettel filed through, but they will start second, third and fourth respectively.

Lewis Hamilton proved his practice performances of Friday and Saturday morning were no flukes, the world champion starting fifth in his much-improved McLaren.

The weather certainly helped team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn lines up sixth - remarkably followed by Adrian Sutil, giving Force India their first top-10 position.

Behind Sutil come the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, with Nelson Piquet completing the top 10 for Renault.

For the first time in 27 races since joining Renault, Piquet finally out-qualified his more illustrious team-mate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Remarkably, the Brazilian did so with speculation rife this is his final grand prix for the team and that he is to be dropped in light of his previously under-performing record over the past 18 months.

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