VALENCIA - Formula One title rivals Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Jenson Button saw their European Grand Prix chances evaporate in the Valencia heat on Saturday after all three struggled in qualifying.

In an unpredictable season, with seven different winners in seven races, none of the trio looked likely to become the first to stand twice on top of the podium in Sunday's race at the Mediterranean port circuit.

Ferrari's Alonso, who is second overall and two points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the driver standings, will start in 11th place on the grid while Webber, fourth overall, starts 19th.

Britain's Button, the 2009 champion who was victorious in the season opener in Australia, starts in ninth place.

"The result is a cold shower, because our expectations were high and the car's potential has also increased," Spaniard Alonso, who won in Malaysia, told reporters.

"The podium is out of reach and clearly, with Hamilton on the front row, it's easy to expect that we will lose ground to him.

"Let's hope that starting from the cleaner side of the track I can quickly make up a few places."

With overtaking opportunities limited on the city circuit, which has produced few thrills since its debut in 2008, Red Bull's double world champion Sebastian Vettel is favorite to win in Valencia for the third year in a row.

The German starts on pole with Hamilton alongside.

Red Bull's Webber, who is only six points behind Alonso in the championship, had a problem with his rear wing DRS system and failed to progress beyond the first phase of qualifying.

"I had no DRS, which costs about 1.3 second per lap and that made it difficult," said the winner of last month's Monaco Grand Prix.

"The car's put up a big fight today, we only managed to do four laps and three of those were in qualifying.

"We have a lot to do tomorrow. We were hoping to fix the DRS but we didn't make the cut; we should be able to fix it for tomorrow."

Button, who is eighth in the driver rankings, was pessimistic about his chances of making up ground.

"Not a lot happens here in the race," he told reporters.

"If you get it right on the strategy maybe, but the way the tires seem to hold on for most people, it's not going to be the most exciting race, I don't think.

"It's not a place that's famous for its fantastic overtaking maneuvers. I think we're pretty much stuck with what we've got."  - Reuters