Nico Rosberg made it two poles in two races for Mercedes with a dominant display at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Rosbergs pole was assured when he set a dominant time of 1:32.330 during the final runs in Q3. Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull, doing his only run in Q3, could not match it and slotted into second, two-tenths down. The consolation for Vettel was Ferraris Fernando Alonso aborting his lap after a small error, the Spaniard having to settle for the third place secured by an earlier run.
For the first time this season everything went perfectly today and that's a great feeling, said a jubilant Rosberg celebrating his second career F1 pole. Pole position feels like a kick-start for me and it's a great achievement from everyone in the team. We still had some work to do after the practice sessions yesterday and the team had a busy night to turn it around. Thanks to them for the quickest car out there today.
Behind the front three, Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth and Mark Webber fifth, though they will be demoted. Webber with a three-place drop from his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in China, Hamilton for a lunchtime gearbox change after problems with his Mercedes in the final free practice session this morning.
That promotes Felipe Massa to fourth on the grid to make it an all-Ferrari second row. The Brazilian was the only Q3 runner to opt for the hard tyre and so will start on a different strategy to those around him.
Behind Massa the Force Indias, having looked in good form all weekend, qualified seventh and eighth with Paul Di Rest a hundredth-of a second quicker than Adrian Sutil. Behind them Kimi Rikknen was ninth after a disappointing qualifying session that saw neither Lotus repeat their apparent pace of the practice sessions. Rikknen was the last of those to set a time in Q3. Jenson Button will start tenth after cruising around the circuit and opting to not set a time. He has the choice of starting tyre.
Q1 saw a closely fought battle between the backmarkers. Charles Pic emerged easily on top with the upgraded Caterham and took P19 but behind him the gaps between his rivals were very small. Jules Bianchi qualified P20 for Marussia, followed by the second Caterham of Giedo van der Garde in P21 and Marussias Max Chilton 22nd and last. Also eliminated at this stage were Saubers Esteban Gutirrezwho will drop from 18th to last when a five-place penalty acquired in China is appliedand Pastor Maldonado. Maldonado was agonisingly close to making the cut, setting the same time as Valtteri Bottas but eliminated by virtue of his lap being set later in the session that that of his team-mate.
Vettel was quickest in Q2 but attention was focussed at the other end of proceedings. With everyone on the medium tyre is was more about speed and less about strategythough the option of doing two runs or only one was still open. In the end a top four of Rosberg, Alonso, Di Resta and Hamilton believed they had done enough after their first attempts and stayed in the garage.
The surprise of the session was the elimination of Romain Grosjean. Lotus had not looked in danger of that fate from their times in practice but mistakes on both of his quick laps relegated Grosjean to 11th. Behind him Sergio Prez was 12th in the second McLaren, followed by Daniel Ricciardo for Toro Rosso, and Nico Hlkenberg for Sauber. 15th was Bottas and 16th the second Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Tomorrows race sees parallels to China: a Mercedes on pole with cars apparently having better long-run pace clustered behind, with others on different strategies as the wildcards in proceedings. It promises to be an interesting Bahrain Grand Prix.
Qualifying positions before penalties are applied*
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.330s2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.584s + 0.254s3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.667s + 0.337s4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.762s + 0.432s5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m33.078s + 0.748s6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.207s + 0.877s7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.235s + 0.905s8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.246s + 0.916s9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m33.327s + 0.997s10 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
Q2 11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.762s + 1.016s12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.914s + 1.168s13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.974s + 1.228s14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.976s + 1.230s15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m34.105s + 1.359s16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.284s + 1.538s
Q1
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m34.425s + 1.547s18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.730s + 1.852s19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m35.283s + 2.405s20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.178s + 3.300s21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m36.304s + 3.426s22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.476s + 3.598s
Grid Penalties to be applied
Mark Webber to drop 3 places and Esteban Gutierrez to drop 5 places respectively for collisions at previous round. Lewis Hamilton to drop 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change
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