Lewis Hamilton gave Mercedes its first pole position at the German Grand Prix since 1954 by edging Red Bull's three-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel in Saturday's qualifying.

Hamilton's second consecutive pole and third of the season made up for the disappointment of seeing the second Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg, knocked down to 11th at the end of the middle of three qualifying sessions because of an embarrassing miscalculation by the team.

The new tyres held and the threat of a pullout in Sunday's race by top drivers appeared averted.

Hamilton set the fastest qualifying time of 1 minute, 29.398 seconds. Vettel had dominated the last two practice sessions but ended up .103 seconds behind Hamilton, who gained his 29th career pole after his team overcame problems with the car during the last two practice sessions, which Hamilton called "disasters."

"It was even worse this morning. I was a good eight tenths of a second off, and I wasn't comfortable with the car at all," said Hamilton, who has often criticized his car ahead of races.

"So we went back into the truck, analyzed everything, put in a lot of hard work ... It's a privilege to drive for this team, they've great history, so I'm proud to be able to get pole for them, but there are no points today. They come tomorrow," Hamilton said. He is still winless since joining Mercedes this season.

Mercedes came into the race with pole in five of the previous six GPs but has struggled to sustain the challenge in actual racing conditions.

It is the first Mercedes pole at the German GP since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1954 at the old Nordschleife circuit and Hamilton is now level with Fangio on the all-time list of poles. Mercedes did not race as a team in Formula One for 55 years, however, until it returned in 2010.

Hamilton held pole at the British Grand Prix last week but had an early puncture and finished fourth.

Marc Webber in the second Red Bull was third, with the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean next.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso was sixth, Felipe Massa of Ferrari seventh and his teammate Fernando Alonso eighth.

Rosberg, winner of two of the last three races, was sitting second midway through the second qualifying session and his team left him in the garage, apparently believing his time was good enough to put him into the top 10 for the third and decisive session.

But Raikkonen led a charge of late efforts and Rosberg watched from the garage as he was eliminated.

"It was quite a shock," Rosberg said. "I didn't see it coming. I could have been on the front row today and that's why I'm so disappointed."

Mercedes, second in the constructors' standings behind Red Bull, said it miscalculated.

"It's a little bit of an understatement to say that we have mixed emotions after qualifying," Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said. "Lewis put in a superb lap to take pole position. With Nico, we misjudged how quickly the track was improving and got caught out: he clearly had the pace to qualify at the front today.

"Ultimately, the final decision on the pit wall rests with me and it's clear we could have done a better job today," Brawn said.

Mercedes motorsports director Toto Wolff said he was "super sorry" for Rosberg.

"We got things wrong in Q2 and not only did he have the pace to fight for pole today but he has also been instrumental in getting the car right since yesterday," Wolff said.

Many leading drivers had threatened to pull out of Sunday's race if tyre blowouts that plagued last week's British GP persisted.

Supplier Pirelli made changes and the tyres have held, reducing the risk of a pullout.

Vettel said Pirelli appeared to have done a good job and did not think there would be any reason to pull out of the race.

"I am confident that we won't have any problems, I don't expect any difficulties," Vettel said.

Vettel said he was struggling "to get it together" in the first sector of the circuit and that the tail wind had been a factor.

"It was quite close, and I tried everything I had. But we are much closer to them here than we were in Silverstone. We have made some progress and are confident for tomorrow.

"We've done our homework and now it's up to us. We are on the front row, which wasn't quite enough for pole position, but I am looking forward to tomorrow," said Vettel, who is seeking his first win on home soil.

Vettel, who led in Silverstone until a gearbox problem forced him out, holds a 21-point lead over Alonso in drivers' standings after eight of 19 races.

"We've made a step forward for this race, no doubt, although we still need to improve, no question about that," Alonso said.

"We have not been the quickest before, especially on Saturdays, and we're not still not the quickest now," said Alonso, who finished third at Silverstone.