After a resounding victory in Valencia, Spain a fortnight ago, German Sebastian Vettel will line up in the preferred P1 starting grid spot for Sunday's British Grand Prix after capturing the pole in the all-important session knockout qualifying Saturday at the revamped Silverstone circuit.

Vettel's lap of 1:29:615 in the deciding Q3 segment was enough to shove Red Bull teammate Mark Webber (1:29:758), who was followed by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (1:30:426) more than half a second back in third.

Vettel's pole run only boosts the German's already-solid chances a backup performance of his 2009 British GP win.

"We should be able to have a good race but you never know," said Vettel, who notched his second consecutive pole and fifth of the season.

Vettel paced Q1 and ran second to Webber in Q2 before moving back to the top of the leaderboard in the final segment when it counted.

Following the lead trio in the top five were McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Pedro de la Rosa and Michael Schumacher completed the top 10.

Eliminated prior to Q3 was defending World Champion Jenson Button, who qualified 14th in his McLaren and continues his frustrating quest for speed at Silverstone.