It was an impressive lap considering the conditions, but the on-form Spaniard
played down his achievement, saying it owed much to a call from his Ferrari
team to bring him in midway through the top-10 shoot-out for a tyre-change.
Alonso is likely to face a stern challenge from Vettel, who may well have
taken pole had his team used the same tactics. “Maybe that was a better way
to do it,” the German conceded. “But we’re on the front row, which is good,
starting on the inside as well.”
Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber, went third fastest, although the Australian
will start eighth on the grid after an unscheduled change of gearbox. His
penalty is great news for local race fans as Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher
and Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg were both bumped up one place, making it
three Germans starting in the top four.
It was great news, too, for the McLarens
of Britons Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who were only able to go
seventh and eighth fastest respectively.
Button took little satisfaction from the fact that he had outqualified his
team mate for the first time this season, reporting that it had once again
been impossible to get the tyres working in the conditions.
Both drivers, though, said they were confident that McLaren’s new upgrade
package was working and that the car would go better in the dry.
“I definitely think we can have a good race,” Hamilton said ahead of his
100th grand prix. “I plan to hunt everyone down. The great thing at
Hockenheim is the big DRS zone along the back straight – hopefully Jenson
and I will be doing lots of overtaking there tomorrow.”