Red Bull maintained its perfect qualifying record Saturday as Mark Webber edged Lewis Hamilton of McLaren to start the Turkish Grand Prix from pole position. It was Webber's third straight pole as the overall Formula One leader goes for a third consecutive race victory. Red Bull has taken pole in all seven races this season. Webber set a new qualifying record with a lap of 1 minute, 26.295 seconds around the Istanbul Park Circuit to lead Hamilton by less than two-tenths of a second. Sebastian Vettel starts third after locking up his Red Bull during his final flying lap. Defending champion Jenson Button of McLaren completes the second row as fourth. Fernando Alonso, Red Bull's closest competitor in the drivers' standings, starts 12th for Ferrari. Red Bull is the first team to secure seven straight poles since Ferrari did so in 2000-'01. Four of the five winners at the “Otodrom” started first on the grid. “It hasn't been the smoothest of weekends for us in getting the running in,” said the 33-year-old Webber, who also had a new engine put into his car after Friday's practice. “I was a little bit on the backfoot going in to be honest. But I dug in and got the best out of it.” Hamilton, with girlfriend and pop singer Nicole Scherzinger watching on, put himself in the running for a first victory of the season. “It's a real boost for me and my team knowing we have a very good baseline pace and our race pace is even better,” Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, said after overcoming a spinout at turn 8 in morning practice. Michael Schumacher's qualifying session also finished at the high-speed corner as the Mercedes driver went off into the gravel. He had already set the fifth best time to sit ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Renault's Robert Kubica starts seventh ahead of Felipe Massa, who leads Ferrari going into its 800th GP. Kubica's Renault teammate Russian Vitaly Petrov was ninth and Japanese Kamui Kobayashi 10th for Sauber. German Adrian Sutil, of Force India, was 11th.
