Vettel on Pole for Formula One European Grand Prix at Valencia

For the third time this season Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will start from the pole in a Formula One race, this time in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain. It is the German driver’s 33 career pole, tying him for third with F1 greats Jimmy Clark and Alain Prost. Only Ayrton Senna (65) and Michael Schumacher (68) have more—twice as many. Vettel will have those marks to shoot at for a while.

Lewis Hamilton put hs McLaren one the front row but his best time was three-tens of a second slower than Vettel’s. McLaren has been hot all season; it looks like Red Bull is finally finding its pace.

McLaren has been hot but recently Jenson Button has not. The former World Champion qualified ninth at Valencia.

Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta wowed the crowd by qualifying both Force Indias in the top ten, and hometown boy Pastor Maldonado made it too, qualifying third in his Williams. Kamui Kobayashi took seventh in his Sauber, and Lotus drivers, Romain Grojean and Kimi Raikkönen took third and fourth—either could easily be the eighth different winner in this, the eight race of the season.

Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes completed the top ten.

Much more notable was who did not make the cut: Both Ferraris failed to advance into the final qualifying session. Two-time champ Fernando Alonso could not make his Ferrari work around Valencia’s 25 corners, finishing 11th, while teammate Felipe Massa came in 13th.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber had an even worse day; the hydraulic actuator on his DRS wing plate failed, leaving him 19th, unable even to make it to Q2.

Timo Glock had a stomach ailment and didn’t qualify his Marussia. He will likely start form the back of the grid.

The Formula One Grand Prix of Europe will be televised on Fox-TV in the United States, starting at Noon EDT.