Mark Webber led a dominant Red Bull 1-2 in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, coming out on top in a tight head-to-head contest with Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bulls had comfortably topped the first two qualifying sessions, with Webber leading the way both times. He remained quicker than Vettel after their first runs in Q3, but had to dig deep after his teammate briefly snatched top spot in the closing moments.
Behind them, Lewis Hamilton was best of the rest for McLaren, but the 2008 world champion was 0.8sec adrift of Webber's pole lap. Local hero Fernando Alonso took fourth for Ferrari, while Jenson Button completed the top five in the second McLaren.
Behind them, Michael Schumacher outqualified his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for the first time this season in sixth, and the two Germans were split by Robert Kubica's Renault.
Felipe Massa was only ninth in the second Ferrari, while Kamui Kobayashi completed the top 10 as Sauber put in a stronger all-'round performance than the team managed in the first four races, with Pedro de la Rosa managing 12th on the grid.
Kobayashi's last-gasp lap in Q2 meant that Adrian Sutil was bumped down to 11th for Force India, but the German could take some comfort from qualifying six places ahead of his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Rubens Barrichello, who decided against running the Williams update package after trying it in free practice, was the high-profile casualty in Q1. The Brazilian blamed traffic for his plight, and it was de la Rosa who bumped him down to 18th with just 20 seconds left on the clock.
Behind the Brazilian, Jarno Trulli led the battle of the new teams as the Lotus upgrades enabled the team to comfortably defeat Virgin, while Karun Chandhok was the quicker of the HRT drivers on the back row of the grid.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.412 1:20.655 1:19.995
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:21.680 1:20.772 1:20.101
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.723 1:21.415 1:20.829
4. Alonso Ferrari 1:21.957 1:21.549 1:20.937
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.915 1:21.168 1:20.991
6. Schumacher Mercedes 1:22.528 1:21.557 1:21.294
7. Kubica Renault 1:22.488 1:21.599 1:21.353
8. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.419 1:21.867 1:21.408
9. Massa Ferrari 1:22.564 1:21.841 1:21.585
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.577 1:21.725 1:21.984
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:22.628 1:21.985
12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.211 1:22.026
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:22.857 1:22.131
14. Petrov Renault 1:22.976 1:22.139
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.699 1:22.191
16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.593 1:22.207
17. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:23.084 1:22.854
18. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.125
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:24.674
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:24.748
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.475
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.556
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:26.750
24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:27.122
All Timing Unofficial