Bahrain GP: Vettel on pole ahead of the Ferraris

Sebastian Vettel took pole position in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing driver beat the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso while Michael Schumacher will start from seventh position, ahead of world champion Jenson Button.

Alonso set the provisional fastest time in Q3, with Ferrari among the few teams to complete two qualifying runs in the final session. But Vettel took the lead with 1.54.101, remaining undefeated and securing his sixth career pole.

Both Ferraris improved their times and Massa overtook Alonso to take second place. Hamilton's first attempt in Q3 was 1,8" slower than Ferrari's pace. The Englishman then improved his time by finishing in fourth position. Behind him was Nico Rosberg with the Mercedes, fifth, ahead of the Webber's Red Bull and Schumacher's other Mercedes.

With the new teams in difficulty there were no surprises in Q1 and in addition to the new arrivals, Alguersuari was eliminated with Toro Rosso. Virgin was the best of the new teams with Glock ahead of Trulli's Lotus.

Team Driver Pos Q1 Q2 Q3       
 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:55.029 1:53.883 1:54.101  
 2. Massa Ferrari 1:55.313 1:54.331 1:54.242 
 3. Alonso Ferrari 1:54.612 1:54.172 1:54.608 
 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.341 1:54.707 1:55.217 
 5. Rosberg Mercedes 1:55.463 1:54.682 1:55.241 
 6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:55.298 1:54.318 1:55.284 
 7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:55.593 1:55.105 1:55.524 
 8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.715 1:55.168 1:55.672 
 9. Kubica Renault 1:55.511 1:54.963 1:55.885 
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:55.213 1:54.996 1:56.309 
11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:55.969 1:55.330 
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:55.628 1:55.653 
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:56.375 1:55.857 
14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.428 1:56.237 
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:56.189 1:56.265 
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.541 1:56.270 
17. Petrov Renault 1:56.167 1:56.619 
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:57.071
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.728
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:59.852
21. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.313
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2:00.587
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 2:03.240
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 2:04.904