Vettel takes 4th consecutive pole

F1 Grand Prix, GP Turkey, Istanbul Park

Sebastian Vettel had a fearly easy afternoon in Turkey as he was fastest in all parts of qualifying. He finds himself along Mark Webber on the front row. Neither of the Red Bulls even needed a second flying lap in Q3 and therefore have an extra set of unused tyres. Nico Rosberg is 3rd.

Qualifying for the Turkish GP is held under sunny skies with hardly a cloud to see. The weather is in sharp contrast to the rain seen on Friday.

Kamui Kobayashi is the first man to take the track in Q1 after 3 minutes have ticked away without any action at all. The Japanese didn't get far though as halfway through his flying lap he lost throttle and came to a halt before the start of the pitlane. As such he won't be allowed any further participation in today's qualifying.

Halfway through the session we see the top guns come on the track, with Vettel setting the fastest time ahead of his teammate and Lewis Hamilton. The Renault drivers meanwhile only came out of the pitlane with 6 seconds to go, and both used the harder tyre to put in a time good enough for Q2. Petrov put in the 5th fastest time while Heidfeld ended up in 11th place.

Apart from these, most drivers choose to go out for another attempt, including both Ferraris who are on a bit of pressure. Massa does a run on the softer tyre, while Alonso went out on the harder compound. Their eventual positions in Q1 are 1st for Massa and 5th for Alonso. That really is the best dry-track performance of a Ferrari we've seen so far this weekend.

Out of qualifying after Q1 are Kovalainen, Trulli, D'Ambrosio (who will move back 5 places due to a penalty for ignoring a yellow flag during free practice2. Liuzzi is also out with Glock, Karthikeyan and obviously Kobayashi who didn't set a time.

Michael Schumacher kicks off Q2, along with his teammate as they both come out on the harder tyre. 3 minutes later nearly everybody is on track. All cars at this stage are on the softer tyre, with Webber for example being a full second faster than his time in Q1.

Still, Vettel and Hamilton were faster, while Alonso ends up in 4th, ahead of Button and Massa. As the track cleared up few minutes later, Renault, Williams and the Force Indias look like the cars who will have to fight for a place into Q3.

3 minutes from the end Petrov posts the 6th fastest time of Q2 after completing a lap on the soft tyres. One minute later Schumacher is P4 after completing his first flying lap on the soft tyres. Nico Rosberg moved up into 2nd just moment later.

Nick Heidfeld is the last man on track and manages to just get through to Q3, bumping out Rubens Barrichello from 10th. Along with Barrichello are Sutil, Di Resta, Maldonado, Pérez, Buemi and Alguersuari.

Vettel was again fastest in Q2, ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton, Webber, Schumacher and Alonso.

First man out in Q3 is Vitaly Petrov, closely followed by Jenson Button. Alonso however goes quicker than both of them, only to see Mark Webber go even faster. Vettel however goes even faster, improving his teammate by 0.4 seconds. Lewis Hamilton ends up in 3rd place.

With two and a half minutes left on the clock, Heidfeld takes the track for the first time, along with the Mercedes GP cars. Alonso and Hamilton are also out for another lap. In fact everybody is, except for the Red Bulls. They are where they want to be and are now saving a set of new soft tyres for the race.

Rosberg is the first to cross the finish line in the second phase of Q3. The German ends up in P3, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Michael Schumacher ends up in 8th place, ahead of Nick Heidfeld.

Felipe Massa meanwhile didn't complete a single flying lap in Q3 and will therefore start from 10th on the grid.