NUERBURGRING, Germany — Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes earned the pole position for Sunday's German Grand Prix, edging Red Bull's three-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton's second consecutive pole and third of the season made up for the disappointment of seeing the second Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, knocked down to 11th at the end of the second qualifying session.
Hamilton set the fastest qualifying time Saturday of 1 minute, 29.398 seconds. Vettel had dominated the last two practice sessions but ended up .103 seconds behind Hamilton, who gained his 29th career pole after his team overcame problems with the car during the last two practice sessions, which Hamilton called "disasters."
"It was even worse this morning. I was a good eight tenths of a second off, and I wasn't comfortable with the car at all," said Hamilton, who has often criticized his car before races.
"So we went back into the truck, analyzed everything, put in a lot of hard work ... It's a privilege to drive for this team, they've great history, so I'm proud to be able to get pole for them, but there are no points today. They come tomorrow," Hamilton said.
He is still winless since joining Mercedes this season.
Mercedes came into the race with fives poles in the previous six GPs but has struggled to maintain the momentum in racing conditions. Hamilton held the pole at the British Grand Prix last week but had an early puncture and finished fourth.
Marc Webber in the second Red Bull was third in qualifying, with the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean next.