McLarens Lewis Hamilton took pole position on the Spanish Grand Prix earlier than the surprise pairing of Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton was an incredible 0.578 seconds quicker than Maldonados Williams, with Alonsos improved Ferrari just missing out on a front-row slot.
Sebastian Vettel was eighth after not setting a time within the final session.
McLarens Jenson Button and Vettels Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber were 11th and 12th.
They missed out for various reasons - Button was suffering from the handling of his car and Webber since the team erroneously thought his first lap will be quick enough to get him through.
Hamiltons 2012 so far
- Australia: 1st on grid, 3rd in race
- Malaysia: 1st on grid, 3rd in race
- China: 7th on grid, 3rd in race
- Bahrain: 2nd on grid, 8th in race
Instead, as others improved, Webber slipped out of the head 10 - the agony of his situation was underlined by the truth that there has been just 0.121secs between his time and that of Raikkonen, who was fifth within the second session.
Team boss Christian Horner said: "We thought wed just done enough."
Both Hamilton and Alonso said that they had done "perfect" laps to secure their positions.
"i believe fantastic," Hamilton said. "You could always be at liberty with pole but youre always searching for that perfect lap, and that i really felt I got everything out of the auto.
"Everything was really sweet, I didnt miss any apexes and thats an important experience, but tomorrow goes to be a tricky race. Its going to be about taking care of your tyres and getting the correct pit stops and being patient."
Hamilton delighted with best ever pole
Alonso, who was driving a car with a lot of upgrades, added: "We did a leap forward, I dont know the way much because i suspect P3 is over-performing.
"i used to be really comfortable with the lap, it was perfect, i'll fit 100 more sets of tyres and never do better."
Maldonados second position was by far the appropriate performance of his career, and it underlines Williamss return to form this season after a variety of difficult seasons .
"We now have been working so hard looking to understand these tyres and to develop our car around these tyres," Maldonado said.
"We did an outstanding leap forward for this race. There's a great atmosphere within the factory and team. The automobile looks fantastic especially on race pace."
All of the teams were struggling to get the ideal out of the tyres The race may be won and lost and tyre wear and strategy - and that explains why Vettel is to this point down.
He'll probably start at the tougher hard tyre - teams ought to use both forms of tyre within the race - and Red Bull have gambled as a way to be a higher strategy in the end.
"Are we in a time now when the tyres are so critical that no-one pushes for grid position in qualifying and everybody just concentrates at the 66 laps of the race instead?"
Vettel said: "There's nothing is incorrect. We decided to abort the lap to have a free selection of tyres for the race.
"We were slightly surprised how much of a step the others could do. But Im quite confident for race, we always have an excellent race car. Now we have a few new sets (of tyres) which has proved successful for others in previous races this year."
Button have been fastest in Friday practice but found his car transformed from the beginning of Saturday.
He said: "I dont know (where it went wrong). All day i've struggled with the balance, yesterday the automobile was fantastic, i assumed wed be quick enough today, at the very least get into Q3. Ive struggled with a completely different balance.
"Then in qualifying I struggled with oversteer after which once I added more front end I had understeer. I dont know whats happening.
"The speeds within the car I just dont know whats taking place with mine."
Red Bull trio consider difficult session
Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen were fourth and fifth fastest sooner than Saubers Sergio Perez.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was seventh, previous to Vettel, the second one Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashis Sauber.
Hamilton stopped on his slowing down lap. Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said he didn't immediately know why.
Force Indias Paul di Resta was 13th, just earlier than team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Spanish Grand Prix 2012, Circuit de Catalunya, day three
- Sunday 13 May: Race 12:10 BST BBC One and BBC One HD, BBC Radio 5 live and live text commentary on BBC Sport website; Highlights 19:00-20:00 BST, BBC Three
From WhatNewsToday.net
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