Webber secures third pole in a row in Turkey

Red Bull’s Mark Webber scored a third consecutive pole position after fending off a stern challenge from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix. The Australian lapped in a time of 1m26.295s to go over a tenth quicker than Hamilton, while Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel completed the top three almost half a second behind.

Going into Q3, both Red Bull drivers looked set to battle it out for pole position and secure an easy front-row lock-out, with Vettel holding the upper hand by setting the pace in Q1 and Q2, but a brake problem on the German’s car allowed McLaren’s Hamilton through to steal an unlikely second place. Webber never looked threatened at the very front however and will start tomorrow’s race from the front of the grid, keeping Red Bull’s 100% record of 2010 pole positions going.

Webber wins Monaco Grand Prix

Mark Webber won the Monaco Grand Prix today in dominating fashion, from flag-to-flag, in his Red Bull-Renault, leading a Red Bull 1-2 with his team-mate Sebastian Vettel finishing second.

Front row starter Robert Kubica, after getting beaten to the first corner by Vettel, finished in third place in his Renault – the engine manufacturer sweeping the podium for the first time since the Luxembourg GP in 1997.

The race ended under the Safety Car, when Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok collided with three laps to go – the race being interrupted by four Safety Car periods in total.

Webber takes pole in front of Kubica in Monaco

Following straight on from his victory in Barcelona, Mark Webber (1:13.826) took a superb pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, the only driver to dip below 1m14s. Team mate Sebastian Vettel (1:14.227) pulled out a lap right at the end to go third quickest, the Red Bull pair split by the impressive Robert Kubica (1:14.120) in the Renault.

As ever the Monte Carlo qualifying session was hard fought and spectacular, with just over a second covering the top 10 on the grid.

Alonso is fastest in Monaco Practice

There was little change at the sharp end of the field in the second free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix this afternoon as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso continued to lead the way, setting down a firm marker to his rivals for the rest of the weekend. The Spaniard improved on his morning laptime by over a second and lapped over a tenth quicker than his nearest rival.

There was little delay in first laptime getting on the board at the start of the session, with Hispania’s Bruno Senna setting the benchmark at 1m25.830s. A barrage of improvements followed with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton lowering the target to a 1m17.709s just six minutes later, before Tonio Liuzzi, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber all took to the front briefly. Renault’s Robert Kubica then made himself one to watch by beating them all with a 1m15.935s, before cutting a further four tenths off his time on the following lap to set a 1m15.589s.

Webber takes dominant win in Spain

Red Bull’s Mark Webber took his first victory of the 2010 campaign after a dominant drive from pole position in Barcelona on Sunday. The Australian was uncatchable from the off and cruised to the finish when his main challenger Lewis Hamilton was ruled out two laps from the end after a left-front puncture, handing second place to local hero Fernando Alonso.

Webber’s victory marks the first of 2010 to come from pole position and was never truly in doubt from the very start of the race. He was able to fend off fellow front-row starter and team-mate Sebastian Vettel, slowly building a lead to the German over the course of the first stint. When Vettel was the first of the front-runners to pit on lap 16 from second place, Webber had built a four-second advantage and it was about to grow further.