Sebastian Vettel secured Red Bull Racing’s debut pole position in a thrilling qualifying session in Shanghai this afternoon. Completing just one run in Q3, Vettel lapped in a time of 1m36.184s to displace team-mate Mark Webber from top spot, the Australian had clocked a 1m36.466s. Q2 had seen Vettel top the times, but the major surprise in Q3 was Fernando Alonso, who secured second place with a lap of 1m36.381s.

Behind Vettel, Alonso and Webber, the Brawn duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button endured their worst qualifying session of the season in fourth and fifth respectively, on times of 1m36.493s and 1m36.532s. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was next in 6th (1m36.835s), followed by Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m37.397s), Kimi Raikkonen (1m38.089s), Lewis Hamilton (1m38.595s) and the ever-impressive Seabstien Buemi (1m39.321s).

In Q2, those to make the leap were Nick Heidfeld (1m35.975s), Heikki Kovalainen (1m36.032s), Felipe Massa (1m36.033s), Timo Glock (1m36.066s) and Kazuki Nakajima (1m36.193s).

Meanwhile in Q1, BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1m36.966s) qualified in a career-low 18th place, failing to graduate to Q2 for the first time. Others to get knocked-out in Q1 were Sébastien Bourdais (1m36.906s), Nelson Piquet (1m36.908s), Adrian Sutil (1m37.669s) and Giancarlo Fisichella (1m37.672s).

Below is the provisional grid for China with each car’s weight. Note – Toyota’s Timo Glock has dropped from 14th to 19th after his gearbox change.

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 644kg
2. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 637
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 646.5
4. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 661
5. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 659
6. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 664.5
7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 650.5
8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673.5
9. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 679
10. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 673
11. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 679
12. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 697
13. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 690
14. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 682.7
15. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 690
16. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 697.9
17. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 659
18. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 648
19. Timo Glock, Toyota, 652
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 679.5