on provisional pole with a time of 1:28.801, with just a few minutes of the session remaining. Vettel's team mate Mark Webber then posted a 1:28.6, only for Button to go two-tenths of a second quicker after the chequered flag fell. Vettel, however, still had one lap left in him and went quicker again, reclaiming pole with a 1:28.316. Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello also improved on his final lap, moving up to third position, ahead of Webber, with a 1:28.5. Race History would favour Vettel, the previous four Turkish Grands Prix having been won from pole position. Button however had two more laps of fuel in qualifying, meaning he would have been on pole fuel-corrected. Vettel initially made a strong start from pole, beating Button into the first corner. Vettel then ran wide at the tenth turn, gifting Button the lead. Button's Brawn team-mate had a less fortunate start, a clutch problem dropping him from third on the grid to thirteenth by the end of the first lap. Webber was running third, having initially been passed by Jarno Trulli before the Australian regained his position. Felipe Massa had moved up to fifth position, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso. Reigning world champion Hamilton had lost a place on the first lap, meaning he was running in 17th position out of 20 runners. At the front Button began to open up a lead over Vettel but the action was in the midfield, Nico Rosberg getting past both Ferraris to move up to fifth by lap six. On lap eight, Barrichello spun trying to pass Heikki Kovalainen after a wheel-to-wheel battle from Turns 9 to 16. The Brazilian dropped to seventeenth but quickly regained two places before losing part of his front wing in a clash with Adrian Sutil on lap eleven. Barrichello pitted on lap thirteen, conversely teammate Button had serenely opened up a 5.6 second lead at the front of the race. The leaders began pitting for their first stops on lap 15, with Vettel the first to stop, followed by Button two laps later and Webber and Rosberg on lap 18. Significantly, Vettel was fuelled lighter on a three-stop strategy, in contrast to the other leaders two-stop strategy. Vettel was therefore able to close the gap on Button after the first stops with his lighter car, but was unable to make the pass he needed before his second