Mark Webber grabbed the pole position at one of his favourite circuits. The Aussie was in front of Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and Massa.

Before qualifying started there have been three names on the top of the time sheets. Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first practice, Mark Webber in the second and this morning it was Sebastian Vettel who was on top. The gap between the three driver was this morning only two tenths. The first to set a timed lap was Timo Glock with a 1:38.486. In the following minutes times dropped quickly. In the end it was Felipe Massa, who was the only driver of the top teams who fitted soft tyres, who was quickest with a 1:31.826.

On the back of the field the usual suspect didn't make it to the second part of qualifying. Both HRT, Virgin and Team Lotus cars failed to surprise. Everybody was within 107% though. They were joined by Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver was caught out when he remained in the pits while others around him beat their times. He will start the race tomorrow from P18.

When Q2 started we saw an indication of where the pole time would end. The top runners all fitted the yellow soft tyres to get the fastest time. It was Lewis Hamilton who was on top in the second part. He was just in front of Vettel and Alonso. Mark Webber had a gap of three tenths and Jenson Button followed at half a second distance. A small surprise in Q2 was that Nick Heidfeld didn't make it into the last part of qualifying and Adrian Sutil did. It meant that there were four Germans in the final battle for the pole on the Nurburgring.

The third and last phase of qualifying started with Fernando Alonso driving out of the pits. The short 10 minute session meant that if you wanted two runs you had to go out immediately. After their first run Mark Webber was leading with a 1:30.251. The absolute fastest time of the weekend. Behind him it was Vettel at a tenth distance. Hamilton and Alonso were third and fourth. The drivers nearly immediately started their second runs. Mark Webber went even faster in the second run. It was enough for the pole position as Lewis Hamilton was just half a tenth short.

Update: The FIA has announced that the fuel of the Scuderia Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi didn't match the regulations. His times were scrapped.