Webber takes pole as Red Bull owns the front row of the grid for the second successive Grand Prix.
0.200 seconds was the difference between the top two and it was enough for Mark Webber to prevent team-mate Sebastian Vettel from adding to his collection of four pole positions from the opening four races.
The German driver had seemed to have pole in the bag after setting the early pace throughout qualifying but Webber narrowly bettered his lap by coming home in a time of 1:20.981. Away from the Red Bulls and it was the same old story for the chasing pack. Any hopes of a McLaren/Ferrari fightback took another knock after Hamilton could only manage third on the grid—his lap a whole second slower than that of Webber.
In terms of national interest, Fernando Alonso gave the Spanish crowd something to cheer about late in the day when he went a fraction faster than Button and split the McLarens; the Ferrari will line up fourth in Sunday’s Barcelona Grand Prix.