After drab and rainy practice sessions on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday was practically dry. Drivers who dropped out after Q1 were the usual suspects of: Kovalainen, Chandhok (who takes Trulli's place this weekend), Glock, D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Ricciardo. Kobayashi was the surprise exit in Q1 as he was edged out by other drivers on soft tyres. HRT driver, Liuzzi incurs a 5-place grid penalty for changing his gear box and so, starts behind rookie team-mate Ricciardo.
Second Qualifying session was dominated by Hamilton who finished with a time of 1min30.998. And these 7 drivers didn't progress to Q3: Heidfeld, Di Resta, Maldonado, Barichello, Perez, Buemi, Alguersuari
The last shoot-out saw an epic effort from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, swapping second place with Alonso early in the session. Red Bull's Mark Webber eventually took pole with 1min30.079, and Hamilton pushed Vettel into 3rd with a 1min30.134 lap time. The rest of the top ten were Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Button, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher.
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| Top 3 Drivers after Qualifying for German Grand Prix |
Amendment: Buemi's qualifying time was later disallowed due to fuel irregularities, and will start at the back of the track. Story courtesy of Autosport.com
