FERNANDO Alonso will start from pole for the second successive race at today's German Grand Prix – but admitted he was happy just to get through qual-ifying in one piece in conditions that were once again extreme.

Two weeks after being subjected to a deluge at Silverstone, the drivers completed yesterday's sessions Hockenheim in a thunderstorm. "It wasn't fun, that's for sure," said Alonso, who had claimed after Q2 that the track was dangerous.

"When you have this type of conditions it's very difficult to put a clean lap together and very easy to finish in the gravel or in the grass or in the wall. It's a bit of a survival moment. You try to complete the lap and whatever the position is, you are happy.'

The championship leader's Ferrari, sporting full-wet Pirelli tyres, recorded a fastest lap of 1min 40.904secs, half a second better than the Red Bull of local hero Sebastian Vettel (1:41.026). The German's team-mate Mark Webber, who is second in the drivers' standings, was third-fastest (1:41.496) but incurred a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

That means Michael Schumacher (1:42.459) lines up third on the grid in his Mercedes. He is joined on the second row by another German, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton start sixth and seventh, the former out-qualifying the latter for the first time this season with 1:44.113 to his team- mate's 1:44.186. Webber will be eighth, with Paul di Resta (1:44.889) in the other Force India in ninth, despite having being third-fastest at one stage.

Alonso, who finished second behind Webber at Silverstone, added: "It wasn't easy for anybody. There was a lot of aquaplaning at turn six, but everything went well for us. We made a good call to put on fresh tyres [in Q3], the track was better in the closing moments, which was good for us to put in a good lap time."

Vettel appeared to be baulked at one point by Webber towards the end of one lap in Q3 and gesticulated to his team-mate down the start-finish straight.

The 25-year-old said: "I lost a lap running into him. It was difficult, but it's hard as you can't see anything in the mirrors, and he probably didn't see me. The track was better towards the end and the last lap, although mine was not entirely clean. You lost the car a little bit with the rivers of water.

"Maybe what Fernando did [changing tyres] was the better way to do it. Fortunately we're on the first row, which should be good, and we're starting on the inside which should also be good."

Webber added: "It was tricky for us and we had dodgy conditions on the track. When you know you're getting a five-place penalty, it's easy not to get it right but I'm very happy to finish quite far up. We did some good laps and got a good result. Fernando stopped for fresh tyres, which maybe we could have done, but should-have, could-have, would-have."

The big failures in qualifying were Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who starts the race in 14th, followed by Roman Grosjean in his Lotus, Williams' Bruno Senna and – unhappily for Mercedes on home soil – Nico Rosberg. Grosjean and Rosberg's situations are compounded by the fact they also face five-place penalties for gearbox changes which put them back in 20th and 22nd.

Button and Hamilton, who had been quick in Q2 once again, paid the price for their cars' inability to cope with wet conditions, the latter describing it as like "driving on ice".

The British pair were both around three-and-a-half seconds slower than Alonso and a furious but defiant Hamilton said: "I really don't understand what happened at the end [of Q3]. We need to investigate and find out. We were looking good in Q1, in the dry, and again in Q2, and it was OK in Q3 until the end.

"I don't understand how everyone went that much quicker. I'm not sure what we did wrong. It means tomorrow's going to be a tough race, as it always is, but I plan to hunt down everyone that is in front of me. The great thing is there is a big DRS [overtaking zone] down the back [of the circuit, so I hope we will be doing some overtaking tomorrow."

Di Resta insisted he was not too downhearted to be starting ninth. The Scot said: "It was a very difficult session and the rain didn't make life easy for anybody because there was so much aquaplaning on the back straight with two or three big puddles.

"Towards the end of Q3 I was getting ready for my final run but the traffic didn't really work out for me and I struggled to get the lap when it really counted. Still, we made it into the top 10 so I'm happy.

"We think it will be dry [for the race] so it was important to get lots of running during final practice to build up a feel for the car in the dry. We are definitely in a good position to score points and I'm ready to fight and move forward in the race."

Schumacher hopes to give the home crowd something to cheer about today. He said: "We had been expecting a position between fifth and seventh on the grid, so fourth in qualifying, which will become third place on the grid, is even better.

"Naturally I'm particularly happy for all the Mercedes colleagues in the grandstands who support us throughout the year. We know it should be dry tomorrow and we should be more competitive here than we were at Silverstone."