Red Bull's Mark Webber will start on pole position for Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
The Australian, who has lived in the shadow of teammate and World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel for much of the season, came out on top at Vettel's home Grand Prix with a final lap time of one minute and 30.079 seconds in today's qualifying session.
Vettel finished outside of the top two in qualifying for the first time this season and will start from third on the grid.
Meanwhile, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton drove aggressively to secure second place, despite saying he had no chance of competing for pole before the weekend.
Hamilton said after qualifying: "I definitely underestimated how good the car was with light fuel, it was one of the happiest laps I've had. It felt incredible."