Webber delighted with German pole

F1 Grand Prix, GP Germany, Nürburgring

Mark Webber has finally got himself a pole position after masterfully surviving all the weather changes during the German qualifying session. The Brawns are second and third while his teammate Vettel is 4th. World Champion Lewis Hamilton is 5th.

As the session started, literally everyone was immediately on track, afraid that rain would fall later in the session. First in the queue were Vettel and Webber, followed by the Brawn cars, the Williams drivers and all the others.

Due to the chilly temperatures, almost all drivers are out on the softer option tyre, attempting to immediately secure their position for Q2. The Red Bulls however chose the harder compound and therefore ran several consecutive laps before ending up in front of the timesheets.

Halfway through the session, Vettel climbed up to the front, just ahead of Hamilton. Nico Rosberg is 3rd, followed by Button, Heidfeld, Alonso, Raikkonen and Nakajima. Both Toyota's are still far behind in 16th and 17th place.

Webber initially failed to put in a competitive time on the prime tyres and therefore chose to try again. The options prove much more effective on his Red Bull RB5, resulting in a provisional first place in 1:31.257.

Glock meanwhile missed the chicane and consequently waited on the racing line to get some free space ahead of him for another attempt. The German however must have been sleeping a bit as Alonso was quickly coming up behind him, infuriating the Spaniard who was on a flying lap.

Glock however ruined that attempt too and had to come in for extra fuel in order to be able to do another attempt. Just at the same time the marshalls start signalling a 'slippery track' as some light drizzle started ti fall.

As a result, Kubica, Buemi, Fisichella, Glock and Bourdais are out and we continue with the 15 others into Q2.

By the start of the second session, a queue of cars is again waiting on the green light. All drivers are on the soft option tyre to try to be ahead of even more rain that could be on the way. Halfway through the lap however the track has become so wet that Nakajima and Massa went off, fortunately able to resume.

Apart from Webber, all drivers immediately enter the pits to get intermediates.

Alonso is the first to set a lap, followed by Trulli, Massa and Heidfeld. One minute later everyone set an initial laptime but they all continue for an additional one.

With 5 minutes to go Barrichello is out on option tyres and is very very quick. All the others will have to follow if they would like a chance to fight that time. Rubens is a massive 3.5 seconds ahead of Webber's previously fastest time.

Interestingly, the rain picked up again at some parts of the track, sending Raikkonen and Alonso off the track. Alonso will have to try again because he is currently out of Q3. His teammate Piquet is actually in second place, ahead of Sutil thanks to a single lap at the right time on the options.

With the hectic weather situation, we have an interesting mixup in Q2. Eliminated are Heidfeld, Alonso, Nakajima, Trulli and Rosberg.

Jenson Button is the first to run a lap in Q3 but it appears that was just an installation lap as he immediately enters the pitlane before completing a flying lap. His teammate did and set a 1:32.797. The gaps are fairly big at the moment: Vettel is second 0.4s behind Barrichello while Massa for instance is 6th, more than 1.5s slower than the fastest time so far.

A little further on, with 2 minutes to go, Sutil moves up to 4th place, showing his adaptability to different weather conditions. Button meanwhile is struggling as his first lap is slowest of all.

20 seconds to go and Hamilton puts his McLaren on pole, ahead of Barrichello and Button. Both men continue for another lap while the Red Bulls are also coming up.

Webber first improves Hamilton by 0.3s. Vettel puts himself second, only to be topped by Button after another quick lap. The final one crossing the line is Barrichello, good for a second place behind pole-man Webber.