The first qualifying session of the Formula One 2010 season has finished, with Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel stealing the pole position from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. More surprising was the fact that Massa managed to pip Alonso to P2.

In the first session, nearly all of the new team’s drivers failed to make it through. Interestingly Karun Chandhok managed to get out on track after all, coming last – but getting some well needed laps under his belt before his first F1 GP on Sunday. Quickly following him were Trulli, Kovalainen, Di Grassi, Senna, Glock and Alguersuari.

The second session quickly followed with both Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the front runners. Both drivers scraped through in 9th and 10th position to make it through to Q3. The only major scalp to go during this session was Rubens Barrichello, who managed 11th.

The final session saw the top 10 drivers running on empty, desperate to get a quick lap, whilst saving the tyres that they now have to start the race with. Vettel was first out on track, with no one showing any clear sign they were going to catch him after that.

Michael Schumacher again struggled to keep up with his younger Mercedes team mate, Nico Rosberg – only making P7, 3 tenths down. This wasn’t new for Schumacher – who has struggled all weekend so far keeping up with Rosberg, and is yet to beat him. In race pace however, it could be a different story.

Jenson Button also struggled to keep up with his McLaren team mate, Lewis Hamilton. Button and Hamilton had been pretty similar in times and performance over previous sessions, but Button just couldn’t string it together for the final push, finishing P8.

Arguably, Rubens Barrichello looks to be in a very strong position in P11. Whilst not immediately obvious, Barrichello gets to pick his tyre compound, selecting the hard tyre, whilst everyone in front of him is on the soft. This means he’ll potentially last far longer out on track and may make up some significant track position.

That said, Vettel and the Ferrari’s are in world of their own, nearly half a second at least in front of the competition. Expect these guys to bring it home, barring any major race incidents. The question is, will they be in the same qualifying positions when the pass the chequered flag? Only tomorrow will tell.

See you on Twitter tomorrow at 1200 GMT for full race coverage.

Final Qualifying Standings

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault

2.  Massa          Ferrari

3.  Alonso         Ferrari

4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes

5.  Rosberg        Mercedes

6.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault

7.  Schumacher     Mercedes

8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes

9.  Kubica         Renault

10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes

11.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth

12.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes

13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth

14.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari

15.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari

16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari

17.  Petrov         Renault

18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari

19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth

20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth

21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth

22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth

23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth

24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth