An exciting qualifying session here in Valencia, with Sebastian Vettel grabbing pole position for the third time here with 1.38.086s followed by Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado.
Lotus put up a strong fight and Romain Grosjean had the provisional pole until the last minute of the qualifying session.
Ferrari had a qualifying session to forget after Fernando Alonso only scored eleventh in front of his home crowd, while teammate Felipe Massa took thirteenth.
| Pos. | Drivers | Teams | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. |  Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull | 1:38.086 | 15 |
| 02. |  Lewis Hamilton |
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:38.410 | 17 |
| 03. |  Pastor Maldonado |
Williams F1 | 1:38.475 | 21 |
| 04. |  Romain Grosjean |
Lotus F1 | 1:38.505 | 16 |
| 05. |  Kimi Raikkonen |
Lotus F1 | 1:38.513 | 16 |
| 06. | Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:38.623 | 17 |
| 07. |  Kamui Kobayashi |
Sauber F1 | 1:38.741 | 12 |
| 08. | Nico Hulkenberg |
Sahara Force India | 1:38.752 | 19 |
| 09. | Jenson Button |
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:38.801 | 16 |
| 10. | Paul di Resta |
Sahara Force India | 1:38.992 | 18 |
| 11. |  Fernando Alonso |
Scuderia Ferrari | 1:38.707 | 14 |
| 12. | Michael Schumacher |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:38.770 | 12 |
| 13. |  Felipe Massa |
Scuderia Ferrari | 1:38.780 | 14 |
| 14. | Bruno Senna |
Williams F1 | 1:39.207 | 15 |
| 15. |  Sergio Perez |
Sauber F1 | 1:39.358 | 14 |
| 16. | Heikki Kovalainen |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:40.295 | 11 |
| 17. |  Daniel Ricciardo |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:40.358 | 12 |
| 18. | Jean Eric Vergne |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:40.203 | 9 |
| 19. | Mark Webber |
Red Bull | 1:40.395 | 7 |
| 20. |  Vitaly Petrov |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:40.457 | 8 |
| 21. | Pedro de la Rosa |
HRT F1 Team | 1:42.171 | 7 |
| 22. |  Narain Karthikeyan |
HRT F1 Team | 1:42.527 | 8 |
| 23. | Charles Pic |
Marussia F1 | 1:42.675 | 10 |
| 24. | Timo Glock |
Marussia F1 | no time | 0 |
| 107% Time: | 1:45.742 | |||
