| Qualifying Session - Saturday | |||||||
| 1 |  | Sebastian Vettel |  | Red Bull | 1:27.039 | 1:25.610 | 1:25.049 |
| 2 |  | Mark Webber | | Red Bull | 1:27.090 | 1:26.075 | 1:25.454 |
| 3 | | Nico Rosberg |  | Mercedes | 1:27.514 | 1:25.801 | 1:25.574 |
| 4 |  | Lewis Hamilton |  | McLaren | 1:27.091 | 1:26.066 | 1:25.595 |
| 5 |  | Fernando Alonso |  | Ferrari | 1:27.349 | 1:26.152 | 1:25.851 |
| 6 | | Jenson Button | | McLaren | 1:27.374 | 1:26.485 | 1:25.982 |
| 7 |  | Vitaly Petrov |  | Renault | 1:27.475 | 1:26.654 | 1:26.296 |
| 8 | | Michael Schumacher | | Mercedes | 1:27.697 | 1:26.121 | 1:26.646 |
| 9 | | Nick Heidfeld | | Renault | 1:27.901 | 1:26.740 | 1:26.659 |
| 10 |  | Felipe Massa | | Ferrari | 1:27.013 | 1:26.395 | no time |
| 11 | | Rubens Barrichello |  | Williams | 1:28.246 | 1:26.764 | |
| 12 | | Adrian Sutil |  | Force India | 1:27.392 | 1:27.027 | |
| 13 | | Paul di Resta | | Force India | 1:27.625 | 1:27.145 | |
| 14 |  | Pastor Maldonado | | Williams | 1:27.396 | 1:27.236 | |
| 15 |  | Sergio Perez |  | Sauber | 1:27.778 | 1:27.244 | |
| 16 |  | Sebastien Buemi |  | Toro Rosso | 1:27.620 | 1:27.255 | |
| 17 | | Jaime Alguersuari | | Toro Rosso | 1:28.055 | 1:27.572 | |
| 18 |  | Heikki Kovalainen |  | Lotus | 1:28.780 | ||
| 19 |  | Jarno Trulli | | Lotus | 1:29.673 | ||
| 20 |  | Jerome d'Ambrosio |  | Virgin | 1:30.445 | ||
| 21 | | Vitantonio Liuzzi |  | Hispania | 1:30.692 | ||
| 22 | | Timo Glock | | Virgin | 1:30.813 | ||
| 23 |  | Narain Karthikeyan | | Hispania | 1:31.564 | ||
| 24 |  | Kamui Kobayashi | | Sauber | no time | ||
| Istanbul, Turkey | |
 | |
Jerome d'Ambrosio (Virgin) qualified 20th but penalised five grid places for ignoring yellow flags in second practice. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) failed to set a Q1 time within the 107% requirement (1:33.103) but allowed to race at stewards' discretion. | |