Sebastian Vettel continued his 100 percent pole position record for 2011 in Turkey, his lack of dry running on Friday proving no disadvantage whatsoever as he blitzed all three parts of Istanbul qualifying.
His teammate Mark Webber completed an all-Red Bull front row, 0.4 second slower than Vettel, with the team so confident of its superiority that the two drivers went for just one early run in Q3 then sat in the pits watching their rivals fail to beat them.
Nico Rosberg underlined Mercedes' improvement by grabbing third on the grid, but his teammate Michael Schumacher could not maintain his practice form and was only eighth.
The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button took fourth and sixth, split by Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari driver continuing to take fifth in every qualifying session of 2011.
Vitaly Petrov took seventh on the grid for Renault, two places ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld. Three-time Turkish Grand Prix winner Felipe Massa, who had an engine change after practice, made it into the top 10 but did not run in Q3 so will start 10th.
Rubens Barrichello gave Williams its best qualifying position of a tough season so far in 11th - though he had been on course for a Q3 slot until Heidfeld squeezed ahead by 0.024s in the final moments of Q2. Pastor Maldonado was 14th in the second Williams, with the two Force Indias between them.
Kamui Kobayashi was classified last, his Sauber having cut out on the back straight before he could set a Q1 time. His teammate Sergio Perez took 15th ahead of the Toro Rossos.
Lotus did not get a car through to Q2, though Heikki Kovalainen was within a respectable half-second of the cut-off as he beat teammate Jarno Trulli by 0.9sec.
Tonio Liuzzi impressively qualified his Hispania between the two Virgins, and will start ahead of both as Jerome D'Ambrosio's five-place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement in practice means he will drop from 20th to last.
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Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.049s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.454s + 0.405
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.574s + 0.525
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.595s + 0.546
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.851s + 0.802
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.982s + 0.933
7. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m26.296s + 1.247
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.646s + 1.597
9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m26.659s + 1.610
10. Felipe Massa Ferrari No time
Q3 cut-off time: 1m26.740s Gap **
11. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m26.764s + 1.154
12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.027s + 1.417
13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.145s + 1.535
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m27.236s + 1.626
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.244s + 1.634
16. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.255s + 1.645
17. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.572s + 1.962
Q3 cut-off time: 1m28.321s Gap *
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m28.780s + 1.767
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m31.119s + 2.106
20. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.445s + 3.432
21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m30.692s + 3.679
22. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.813s + 3.800
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m31.564s + 4.551
24. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari No time
107% time: 1m33.103s
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2