Vettel takes pole in Britain, Button sixth

By Alan Baldwin

SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) - Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel seized his second pole position in a row on Saturday while Formula One leader Jenson Button qualified only sixth for his home British Grand Prix.

Button's team mate and closest title rival Rubens Barrichello, whose last win was with Ferrari in 2004, took second place on the starting grid for Brawn GP with Australian Mark Webber third for Red Bull.

The pole, in a time of one minute 19.509 seconds, was the fourth of Vettel's Formula One career and third of the season. Barrichello lapped in 1:19.856.

Vettel's time looked even more impressive when official figures published later showed his car weighing in at 666.5 kg compared to Barrichello and Button's 657.5. Webber's Red Bull weighed 659.5.

"All the new parts we brought here seemed to have worked very well, so I think we have made a step forward," said the 21-year-old German, whose victory in China makes him the only driver other than Button to have won a race this year.

Button has a 26 point lead over Brazilian Barrichello, and is 32 ahead of Vettel, with 10 races remaining but was gloomy about his chances after struggling to heat up his tyres.

"I think it is almost impossible (to win)," he said.

"I haven't had the pace all weekend. I was hoping for something a bit better, being sixth is a lot worse than I thought it would be.