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Vettel knocks off Button for Turkish GP pole

Sat 6th, June 2009

Istanbul, Turkey (Sports Network) - Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull beat Brawn GP's Jenson Button by 0.105 seconds in the conclusion of Saturday's qualifying to take the pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix.

Vettel lapped the 3.317-mile, 14-turn Istanbul Park in one minute, 28.316 seconds for his second pole of the season and the third of his Formula One career. The young German led all three sessions in qualifying, becoming the first driver to do so since Lewis Hamilton last October in the Chinese Grand Prix.

"In Friday's practice, we had an engine failure, and we were not able to do a lot of laps, still I had a good feeling for the car, so I was quite confident today," Vettel said. "It's quite a surprise to be quickest in all sessions."

Vettel, who is the only grand prix winner other than Button in the first six F1 events this year, rebounded from a disappointing performance two weeks ago in the Monaco Grand Prix. He hit the barriers in the early stages of the race and ended up finishing 18th.

Button will start on the front row for the third straight grand prix after turning in a lap of 1:28.421. The current world championship leader won the pole for the last two races.

"Today with some changes to the setup and the wind calmed down, the car just seemed to be much better," Button said.

Button's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, will roll off third, followed by Mark Webber from Red Bull and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Ferrari teammates Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa captured the sixth and seventh starting positions, while Renault's Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg from Williams and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica completed the top-10.

Massa has won the last three Turkish GP's, while Raikkonen took the inaugural event in 2005, driving for McLaren. The first four races at Istanbul have been won from the pole.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton failed to advance from the first session for the second straight grand prix after a dismal qualifying run in his MP4-24 car. The defending world champion will start 16th.

"It felt quite good in practice on Friday, and today it's just gone downhill, so we have to find out why," Hamilton said.

Hamilton did not make it out of the opening round in qualifying for the first time in his F1 career after crashing halfway through the session in Monaco.

Sunday's race is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. (et).