Webber Clinches Pole in Germany Ahead of Hamilton

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton drove a superb lap to take second place behind Red Bull’s Mark Webber after a thrilling battle for German Grand Prix pole. Red Bull’s world champion Sebastian Vettel qualified outside the top two for the first time in 2011 to go third ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard’s team-mate Felipe Massa was fifth from Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. McLaren’s Jenson Button aborted his final run and lines up in seventh place, 1.2secs behind Hamilton. Both McLaren drivers were downbeat about their team’s chances of challenging for pole after Friday’s practice at the Nurburgring but Hamilton hooked up an aggressive lap to lose out on a first pole position of the season by only 0.055 seconds. His delight was plain over the car-to-pit radio as he made his way back to the pits. “That was a good lap,” Hamilton told the team. “That was a wicked lap. That was as good as it gets.” After climbing out of the car, he added: “I definitely underestimated how good the car was with light fuel. It was one of the happiest laps I’ve had. It felt incredible.”