Sebastian Vettel stormed to his second consecutive pole position at Silverstone on Saturday as Red Bull Racing fulfilled its practice promise.
The young German played second fiddle to team-mate Mark Webber on their first Q3 forays but turned the tables on his final flier to snatch his third pole of the season by a comfortable 0.347s margin.
Red Bull appeared to have a clear pace advantage over Brawn around Silverstone’s fast corners, but was denied a front-row lockout as circuit specialist Rubens Barrichello demoted Webber to third on his final lap.
There was disappointment for the large British crowd as championship leader Jenson Button could only manage sixth on the grid, while 2008 Silverstone winner Lewis Hamilton hit a new qualifying low of 19th.
Red Bull had clearly signalled its potential in practice and underlined it by setting the two fastest times in the low-fuel Q2 session, Vettel pipping Webber by 0.1s.
It was the Australian who took the early initiative in Q3, lapping nearly half a second faster than his rivals on his first run, but Vettel once again showed his ability to dig deep and rise to the occasion with a super-committed yet flawless final lap.
Webber, meanwhile, was distracted and possibly slightly impeded by an inattentive Kimi Raikkonen on the approach to Stowe, compromising his turn-in to the fifth-gear right-hander and leaving him with too much to do in the twisty final sector.
Whereas Vettel found 0.9s on his second run, Webber improved by less than 0.2s and found himself leapfrogged by Barrichello.
The Brazilian has been happier with the BGP 001 than team-mate Button all weekend and must now fancy his chances of getting his name into the 2009 win column.
Jarno Trulli produced a typically strong qualifying performance to take fourth for Toyota, while Kazuki Nakajima did a stellar job to top the times in Q1 and then secure a career-best fifth on the grid, two places ahead of Williams team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Sixth-placed Button complained that his Brawn was sliding around too much in the Brooklands/Luffield complex, leaving him with his lowest starting berth of the season and a mountain to climb if he is to extend his remarkable winning streak in Sunday’s race.
Timo Glock took eighth on the grid for Toyota ahead of Raikkonen – the only Ferrari to make Q3 – and Renault’s Fernando Alonso.
Felipe Massa was consigned to 11th place after grappling with understeer in the slow final sector, will Robert Kubica – whose practice had been blighted by mechanical woes – was the top BMW in 12th.
Heikki Kovalainen hustled the recalcitrant McLaren to 13th, but team-mate Hamilton’s hopes of advancing to Q2 were dashed by a huge crash for his friend Adrian Sutil which brought out the red flag with just seconds of Q1 remaining, while Hamilton was midway round his final flier.
Sutil appeared to be braking normally for the Abbey chicane when his Force India snapped violently sideways, sending him flying across the gravel at unabated speed and into a heavy impact with the tyre barrier on the right-hand side.
Fortunately the German escaped unscathed, but it was a bitter disappointment after he had shown strong practice pace and his Silverstone-based squad had high hopes of getting both its cars into Q2 with the upgraded VJM02.
Instead Giancarlo Fisichella was the best-placed Force India in 16th, while Sutil was mired in 18th.
British GP starting grid
1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. BARRICHELLO Brawn
3. WEBBER Red Bull
4. TRULLI Toyota
5. NAKAJIMA Williams
6. BUTTON Brawn
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. GLOCK Toyota
9. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
10. ALONSO Renault
11. MASSA Ferrari
12. KUBICA BMW
13. KOVALAINEN McLaren
14. PIQUET Renault
15. HEIDFELD BMW
16. FISICHELLA Force India
17. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
18. SUTIL Force India
19. HAMILTON McLaren
20. BUMEI Toro Rosso