Bahrain GP: Vettel takes pole from Hamilton

A determined Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel, who has struggled this year after winning two F1 world championships in a row, put in a sensational time on his final lap to win pole position for the Bahrain GP.

Vettel, the qualifying master the last two years, had a lap of 1m32.422s beat Lewis Hamilton's McLaren who will start 2nd on Sunday with a time of 1m32.530s.

Mark Webber in the second Red Bull will start third with a time of 1m32.637s.

Jenson Button was fourth and Nico Rosberg only fifth after locking a wheel in a tight lefthander towards the end of his lap.

Mercedes' hopes of annexing the front row of the grid for a second straight F1 weekend were ended in the opening phase of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix after a late improvement from, of all things, a Caterham dumped Michael Schumacher out of the session.

The seven-time world champion was among a cluster of leading names who all believed that they would be safe with the times they posted earlier in the 20-minute session, only to find themselves sinking down the order as the track continued to evolve. At one point, it appeared that Jean-Eric Vergne and Bruno Senna would be those ignominiously highlighted in the Q1 headlines, but Schumacher found himself on the cusp of the drop zone as Heikki Kovalainen completed his final qualifying effort.

The Finn improved by around two seconds and it was enough to dump the grid's most experienced driver, who posted a scruffy lap, out at the first time of asking. Had any more drivers been on track, then the likes of Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso could also have been in trouble but all three escaped, no doubt wiser to the dangers that could lurk in the remainder of the session.

Schumacher, who claimed a defective DRS component, and Vergne – for the third time in as many races – will be joined on the outside looking in by the usual suspects for the remainder of the session. While the Frenchman also compounded his session by missing the stewards' signal to report for a weight check, he currently lines up ahead of Vitaly Petrov, Charles Pic, Pedro de la Rosa, Timo Glock – who left it late to evade the 107 per cent mark – and Narain Karthikeyan.

To emphasize how saving tires affected the order, the top ten at the checkered flag read Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean, Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg.

QUOTES

Red Bull-Renault

Sebastian Vettel (1st, 1:32.422): "It feels great and I completely owe this one to the team. It wasn't an easy start to the season for us and there was a lot of expectation, but I think more than anything it was about what we expected from ourselves and we didn't match it. We've been working extremely hard on the car, trimming here and there and finding the right way to go forward. The boys haven't had much sleep the last few races – it was a tough race last weekend in China and now here, so it's good to put the car on pole for them. The car felt better all weekend, it wasn't the smoothest qualifying session, I nearly went out in Q1, but it's good to get the pole."

Mark Webber (3rd, 1:32.637): "The car has been working better here. The first part of qualifying wasn't easy and we both had to go again in Q1. It was a pretty decent session for me and my best qualifying performance at this circuit. Seb did a good lap for pole and we're satisfied to both be at the front. The team has worked very hard and been very focused. We haven't been too strong on Saturdays until now, but we have on Sunday. We can have a good race from there tomorrow; tire strategy will be very, very important – a lot of drivers, including us, have used a lot of tires already in qualifying."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "A great team performance today and pretty unexpected to get pole and third on the grid here. It's testimony to all the hard work that's going on here trackside and back in the factory to deliver that kind of performance during what was a really exciting and tight qualifying session. Sebastian was nearly knocked out in Q1 and Q2 and then put it on pole in Q3, which shows how tight it was and Mark was there all the way through. Hopefully we can have a strong race tomorrow."

Cyril Dumont, Renault: "It's a good feeling to be at the top of the game after a few races where we were struggled a bit more, especially with our qualifying pace. The team is pushing hard to recover and understand the tires more and it's starting to pay off. I'm happy for the team and everyone who is working so hard. To start first and third is the best position for tomorrow on the clean side of the track, so I hope that we will have the usual, good race pace to convert our qualifying from today."

McLaren-Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton (2nd, 1:32.520): "I'm very happy with how qualifying went and the job the team has done so far this weekend. I've put the car on the front row at every race this year, and I feel this was one of my best qualifying performances so far. Both my laps in Q3 were very good and I feel I got everything out of the car. Fingers crossed for tomorrow: both Red Bull drivers will be very hard to beat in the race, but we're less than a tenth behind on race pace. The start could be key – we've had good launches all season so I expect us to be able to challenge Seb [Vettel] down to Turn One. This season is shaping up to be very interesting: it's anyone's for the taking, at the moment"

Jenson Button (4th, 1:32.711): "Fourth position wasn't quite what I'd been hoping for, but it's not too bad. It's always a horrible feeling on your final Q3 lap when the balance isn't quite where you want it. I couldn't get the best from the car so I pitted early to save the tires. Besides, fourth isn't too bad anyway. The car is definitely a lot better than it was yesterday – we made some improvements overnight. We'd expected the Red Bulls to be very quick in qualifying, so to be close to them is a positive. A nice surprise is that we're ahead of Nico [Rosberg] who was on pole just a week ago. A good launch tomorrow will be very important – both Lewis and I will be starting on the dirty side of the grid, which makes things more difficult, so we'll need to get it right. Tire management will be crucial too. I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: "As we've already got used to seeing this season, it was very tight at the top today. Even the early stages of qualifying – Q1 and Q2 – are nowadays extremely hard to get through. Michael [Schumacher] and Kimi [Raikkonen] can confirm that. As for our boys, well, Lewis drove an excellent lap, and missed out on pole position by just a tenth of a second. Jenson, too, was his usual rapid and reliable self, ending up in fourth place, directly behind Lewis on tomorrow's grid. The race will inevitably be a physically challenging one for all the drivers, as is always the case in hot climates such as Bahrain's, but we've got two tough racers in Lewis and Jenson and our intention is to go for the win."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (9th, No Time): "Today, we were worth a place somewhere between eighth and twelfth, so ninth on the grid fits in with our current level. Honestly, given the characteristics of this track, which are definitely not suited to our current car, so far the weekend has not in fact gone that badly. To be in with a chance of making it to Q3, we had to use all three sets of Soft tires available, so we didn't have any left for the final part of the session. Doing a time on used tires would have made no sense and would have forced us to start with a set of tires that already had a few laps on them. Now we are free to choose either the Medium or the Soft for the start of a race that looks like being very hard, especially on tires. To date, we have always gone a bit better on Sunday than Saturday: let's hope it's the same situation in Bahrain. Tomorrow, we must try and manage the tires as well as possible, making the most of having three sets of new Mediums. The start will also be important, because it would be useful to make up some places right away, given that, for us, overtaking is certainly not straightforward. The aim? To finish in the points, around sixth or seventh place. I know, it's not brilliant, but that's what we can do with the car we have today."

Felipe Massa (14th, 1:33.912): "Not exactly a brilliant position, but at least I have a new set of Softs for the race. It's true that the track was improving with every passing minute, but I can't say if using two sets of Softs in Q2 would have seen me get through into Q3. It would have been very difficult and we had decided to sacrifice something today in favor of tomorrow's race, given that here it is very important to be able to use new tires. That can make the difference when the track and the weather make for a high degradation level. We will try and get a good start and to use our strategy to make up positions. We know from our recent experience in Shanghai that, for us, overtaking is more complicated than for others. Here we suffer especially with a lack of traction coming out of the slower corners and that's why I expect we will be fighting on the defensive in the race."

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: "In all honesty, this result matches our expectations going into the session. Certainly we can't be happy about these positions, quite the contrary in fact: we are the first to be disappointed, but our potential today is what it is and now we must try and get the most out of it. Looking to a race in which tire degradation will be a decisive factor, we came up with a program aimed at saving as many new sets as possible, trying at the same time to get as far forward on the grid as we could. If and how well this choice will pay off, is something we will only find out tomorrow afternoon. The aim for this Grand Prix is damage limitation, which means bringing both cars home in the points. I expect it will be a very hard race, for the cars, the drivers and the teams: whoever manages to avoid making any mistakes will already have a fair chance of getting a good result."

Pat Fry: "Aware of our potential and the fact that tire degradation can be expected to be very high over a long run, based on what we saw in yesterday's free practice, we ran this qualifying session in different ways for each driver, thinking more about the race than the result at the end of this afternoon. For Fernando, our priority was to save sets of new Medium tires, sending him straight out on track on the Soft in Q1. It was a bit risky, but it worked. Fernando managed to get through to Q3, but had to also use the last set of Softs available, because the track was improving significantly with each passing minute. In the final part of the session, we chose not to do a timed lap, hoping to induce any of our rivals who might have been following the same strategy to do a time, which would at least have obliged them to then start the race with a set of used tires. With Felipe on the other hand, we went for a more conventional strategy, while still letting him save a set of new Softs for tomorrow, when tire management will be important. If one can manage to do as many laps as possible with a clear track ahead, it could allow you to make up some places: let's hope we can get both drivers in the top ten."

Mercedes GP

Nico Rosberg (5th, 1:32.821): "In general, I felt very comfortable during qualifying today. However, as we have been focusing on our race pace, there is always a compromise in the qualifying set-up. I think that I'm in a good position for the race for tomorrow. I am the only driver in the top five who has a set of new option tires which can be very useful at this circuit. It will be very important to drive carefully, and find the right tire management in the race, as the conditions are very tough out there."

Michael Schumacher (18th, 1:34.865): "I am obviously very disappointed to have qualified in 18th position on the grid for a race which looks to be quite competitive for us. Unfortunately on my fast lap, which was looking quite good, my DRS broke in the last sector. We tried to fix it in the garage but were not able to go out again. Trying for a lap without DRS on different tires would not have made sense. We now have to try to see what we can do from here and push as much as possible."

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: "A session of mixed fortunes for the team this afternoon. In Q3, we made the strategic decision for Nico to do just one lap and, although his starting position is not optimum, he is the only driver in the top five to have a new set of option tires available. This could prove valuable in the race, and we will learn tomorrow if our strategic decision pays off. Looking to Michael, he experienced a failure of the DRS rear wing flap, just before he entered the back straight on what would have been his quickest lap. This cost him around half a second, and with little more than a second separating the top 17 cars in Q1, that proved decisive. Unfortunately, we were unable to repair the system in time for him to run again, and he was bumped down to P18 at the very last moment. It will be a long and interesting race tomorrow, in demanding conditions, and we will look to make the most of our opportunities to achieve the strongest possible team result."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "From the outset, our focus at this circuit, where tire usage and availability of new tires are crucial, was to be in a good position in that respect during the race on Sunday. We think this is even more important here than on the three circuits that we have already raced at this year. As a consequence, Nico completed just one run in Q3 in order to save a set of fresh options for tomorrow. We knew that this strategy would likely compromise his position on the grid. However, knowing that we will be well-placed tomorrow on the tire front, I am convinced that this was the right thing to do. Last year, there were occasions when we were more than one and a half seconds behind pole position. Today, with one attempt compared to the two made by the teams ahead of us, we are behind pole by not quite four tenths. We are heading in the right direction, and our team is working in a focused and systematic way in order to achieve our targets. I feel sorry for Michael who had the pace for a good starting position, as he has proven with a fourth place and two third places in Q3 at the previous races. A problem with the rear wing mechanism prevented him from getting a good result – but he can achieve this tomorrow. Michael showed good pace during our long runs and he will be well equipped with fresh tires. After our great result last weekend with Nico securing pole on Saturday and victory on Sunday, I am quite happy with our performance this weekend so far. Our team has demonstrated that we can be competitive in quite different circumstances. Well done Sebastian on your pole today."

Lotus-Renault

Romain Grosjean (7th, 1:33.008): "It was a good result for the team. We've now got through to Q3 at every race weekend this season and that's always satisfying. I think we can be pleased with how the car is working. If I hadn't made a small mistake on my flying lap we could maybe be even further up the order. It's a big contrast here to the conditions we saw in China, and I think we can be proud of how well we've adapted to that change as it makes finding the right setup a big challenge. Today we were maybe a bit further behind the leaders than we'd like, but our race pace looks good and it's another close grid so tomorrow should be very interesting."

Kimi Raikkonen (11th, 1:33.789): "We had the speed today and we could easily have gone through to the final session with another run, but we thought it was worth taking the risk to only do one lap in Q2 and save fresh sets of tires for the race. Managing the tires will be a priority tomorrow, so while it was a gamble that didn't get us through to the final session it will hopefully be a strategy which pays off in the race. We knew it was going to be close and of course we always want to be as high up the grid as possible, but there were two options and we went for the one which we believe will deliver the best result on Sunday. There are no points given out on Saturday, so let's see what happens tomorrow."

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: "It's going to be a long hot race… We're a little bit disappointed with our pace on the soft tire and we need to assess where we lost out on speed as we didn't achieve what we thought would be possible with Romain in Q3. Kimi's pace was comparable to Romain's and with another set of tires he could have gone through to Q3.Tomorrow will be all about tire degradation, so we took the risk not to run Kimi a second time in the Q2 session in order to save tires. Unfortunately, he was pipped out of the top ten at the last moment. We knew it was a risk not running him again, but the performance penalty of not making Q3 was is not as great as it could have been due to the benefits of the fresh tires saved for the race. It's better to be starting in P11 with four new sets of tires available for the race than further up the grid with fewer new sets. Kimi's in a strong position and there is the potential for a good result. We are capable of running for the entire race with only new tires and the performance benefits that brings. Romain did a great job in Q1 on the prime tire, but his pace wasn't quite there with his initial run in Q2 on the soft tire so we ran him again. In Q3 he made a slight mistake which probably cost around two tenths, and the grid is very close out there. We're seeing around 6-8 tenths, although it appears that some of our rivals are able to extract a bit more pace from the soft tire than we are. This is not so much of an issue for the race, as we are confident in our long run pace. It's going to be a long hot race tomorrow. There's potential for high tire degradation and it's a physical race for the drivers because of the heat. Anything is possible."

Force India-Mercedes

Paul di Resta (10th, No Time): "I'm very happy with our qualifying performance today. With our reduced program yesterday it wasn't easy getting all the work done, but the team did a good job to get the car dialed into the track before qualifying. I had a great lap in Q2, just three tenths away from the quickest time, but in Q3 we all took the decision from a strategic point of view to save tires. I think this will put us in the best shape for tomorrow and I hope we can deliver a strong race."

Nico Hulkenberg (13th, 1:33.807): "It has been a very busy day for us, but we learned a lot this morning and improved the car all the way through to qualifying where we showed some good speed. My Q2 lap was looking very strong until the final sector where I got some oversteer and ran wide, which cost me a few tenths. Otherwise I think we could have had both cars in the top ten. But I'm still pretty pleased and I feel that we can fight for points tomorrow."

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "I think the whole team has delivered an impressive performance today, which leaves us in a competitive position heading into the race. We worked hard at improving the car between final practice and qualifying, and I think the track conditions came to us as well. Paul's pace in Q2 shows the potential we have in the car and allowed him to reach Q3 for the first time this year, which was a tremendous effort. Nico was close to joining him too, but a small mistake cost him some time in the final part of the lap. We are now looking forward to the race and building on today's showing to help put on a great spectacle for Bahrain."

Sauber-Ferrari

Sergio Perez (8th, 1:33.394): "Today was a very good qualifying and another great effort by the team. The result is a lot better than we expected after free practice. We really managed to maximize the car's potential today. The target now is to gain some positions at the start and then we will see how the race develops. It will be pretty tricky for everybody tomorrow in terms of tire degradation. Another podium doesn't look realistic at all; this track isn't an easy one for us anyway. But we will go for points."

Kamui Kobayashi (12th, 1:33.806): "With my last set of fresh tires it went quite well and I could improve at the beginning of my final lap but then I made a mistake at turn eleven. I lost a couple of tenths there. Overall the car was much better in qualifying than it had been in free practice this morning. Basically we have gone back to yesterday's set-up and that was the right decision. This circuit here should be fairly good for overtaking. Of course straight line speed is essential for that and I hope we can do well tomorrow."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "The result is in the region we expected it to be before we came here. We were aware that it would be difficult to be as good as in China, but everything went okay today. We struggled a bit with the balance in the morning. This track is definitely not easy for us but then qualifying was fine and both drivers did a good job. Technically there were no problems. For the race the trick will be good tire management without sacrificing too much pace. We are definitely in a position to fight for points."

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo (6th, 1:32.912): "It feels very good and I am very happy with that result. We had a below average week in China with some updates we brought. We persisted with them and we made them work significantly better here, which is down to the hard work of the whole team. My communication with the team was also very good and it has helped us get into Q3. I was happy with my driving and I got better and better in each of the sessions. It's not always you have a day like this, so I can enjoy the moment, bearing in mind that it's tomorrow that counts. Now we have to put it all together for the race and tonight we will be looking at all our strategy options regarding tires. It helps to go into a race feeling confidence and starting from sixth, I have to focus on scoring as many points as possible, as this is the best chance we have had so far. I hope I am still smiling tomorrow evening."

Jean-Eric Vergne (19th, 1:35.014): "I do not understand why I was so slow this afternoon, especially as the car was going well this morning and as can be seen from Daniel's impressive performance. Well done to him. I am keen to get back to the engineers to look at the data and find out why I could not deliver the performance I was hoping for. The track was three degrees warmer this afternoon than in the morning, but I don't think it was down to that. I've started from the lower half of the grid before and then managed to have a good race, so given that I think the car has the potential, that is what I plan to do tomorrow."

Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: "The most positive aspect of today is that we seem to have understood the reasons why we were quite slow last week in China. We came here with a few possible solutions and it seems to have delivered reasonable results. Today, if you look at the qualifying times, we have mixed feelings: Daniel has secured a fantastic result after driving very well all weekend, making no mistakes. However, it did not go our way with Jean-Eric, but hopefully we can work together to deliver something better tomorrow, as he has already produced some good races from low down the grid. Daniel will have a very tough fight up there, but whatever happens, it was important to put last weekend behind us. Finally, a big thank you to everyone, here at the track, at the factory in Faenza and the wind tunnel in Bicester: we are coming to the end of a long and intense four race stint and it is good to see that all the hard work from everyone has delivered such a positive result today."

Williams-Renault

Bruno Senna (15th, 1:34.017): "It was really difficult today. Once again, a few tenths of a second make a big difference in grid position. It's going to be a big challenge tomorrow but I think we can have a good race from where we are. I feel I got as much out of the car as possible today but we can be stronger tomorrow."

Pastor Maldonado (17th, No Time): "The car felt car felt quick this morning, so it's a shame that we had a KERS problem which meant we couldn't run in Q2. It's going to be a tough race tomorrow with the added grid penalty, as well as it being a difficult track. We need to attack from the start and get our strategy right, but our pace looked good on race simulations so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations: "We have had a relatively tough day today with Pastor experiencing a KERs problem in qualifying which forced us to pit his car and take no further part in the session. This was particularly disappointing as Pastor felt that his car balance was good. Bruno continued to improve throughout qualifying, finishing in P15 in what is a tight grid. We now need to concentrate on tomorrow and hope to use our better race pace to potentially make our way up into the points."

Caterham-Renault

Heikki Kovalainen (16th, 1:36.132): "That was an excellent qualifying session for our team. It's a real bonus for us getting into Q2 but we'd already seen this morning that we were close to a few cars and we thought that with the conditions today, being hot and pretty windy, we might be able to use the option tires to get us into Q2, and it worked out. We've also saved a set of tires for tomorrow as we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to get too much higher, and with the degradation rates we've seen yesterday and today it's clear tire management is going to play a big role tomorrow. Overall, I'm delighted for the team. We've worked really hard to put ourselves in a position where we can fight and today we showed that we are close enough to record results like we did today. We made progress over the winter, and even though we haven't really shown it yet this season, today's the sort of result we knew we could put in, so it's a great day, for everyone in Caterham F1 Team back at the factory and here on track."

Vitaly Petrov (20th, 1:35.823): "I'm reasonably pleased with how today went, bearing in mind the problem we had with the floor in FP3 which cost us a bit of time and meant we weren't really able to find a balance on the soft tires that I could really exploit in qualifying. My run on the prime tires was good – I was very close to my team mate and the car felt good, but when we switched to the options the car just didn't feel right. It wasn't so much a balance issue, it was more about how the car felt under braking and I think that's what cost me the time on the soft tires. Despite that I think we look like we're getting towards where we should be. We're much closer to the cars ahead than we were in China and having already seen how we can fight with some of the midfield cars in the races I think tomorrow could be a good day for us. It's definitely going to be interesting. There will be a lot of stops and it'll come down to who uses their tires best."

Mark Smith, Technical Director: "We are all delighted with today's result. This morning we had a very good FP3 and the work we have done overnight has paid off with Heikki's result today. Everything on his car worked as we had planned and this is a clear sign that the whole team is making progress. Vitaly had a strong run on the first set of medium tires but he just was not able to get the most out of the soft tires on his second run, but he has already shown how strong he is on Sundays so we have good reason to be positive about his prospects here as well. We know we have a good package for the race tomorrow, so we'll look forward to what will definitely be an exciting Grand Prix and aim to maintain the sort of pace we have already shown in the first three races this season."

Thierry Salvi, Renault: "Seeing Heikki in Q2 is a very good result for us and the whole team. We have been working on giving the drivers the right balance between top speed and traction out of the slower corners and today's result shows we have found the right setup for this track. The wind today, particularly on the main straight where there was a stronger head wind than yesterday, meant we had to fine tune the engine maps and our final positions in today's qualifying session is the reward for the work the whole team has done."

HRT-Cosworth

Pedro de la Rosa (22nd, 1:37.883): "I'm very happy to be honest. We come from not qualifying in Australia not long ago, so when I saw the times we posted I was glad. For us it's an important jump and, sincerely, at such a complicated track for us as this one, we didn't expect to finish ahead of one Marussia, so that's satisfying. Tire degradation is high and tomorrow I will have to find the compromise in the first part of the sector in order to have enough rubber for the last one to maintain some grip. We know that the race will be a three-stop or four-stop one and that we're going to struggle, but so will everyone else so we have to go for it and do the best we can."

Narain Karthikeyan (24th, 1:38.314): "Yesterday was a big struggle for me. We had a tough morning but later improved. Today we made some good progress and in qualifying the car was quite good. In sector 2 I had a misfire on my fastest lap, on turn 12, which cost me a bit of time. The amazing thing is that we haven't done much to the car but we're quite close to the group ahead of us and that's very positive. We found a lot of time from yesterday to today, so we can safely say we've shown real progress. Tomorrow is another day and the race will be quite difficult because of the massive tire degradation but what's certain is that we're heading into it fully confident that we can do it."

Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director: "We've continued to progress adequately and, once again, surpassed the cut without any problems. To be more precise, this time we were in the 104.3% and much closer to our rivals. In the practice session we tried out different set-ups and the changes made worked well in qualifying so we can say we're satisfied. Tomorrow an exciting race awaits us because we expect to see between three and four stops per car since the degradation of the tires is high. It will also be a challenge for the brakes and the cooling in long distance as conditions will be tough. Management of all these elements will be key."

Marussia-Cosworth

Charles Pic (21st, 1:37.683): “Not an easy day today, but I am quite happy with the result. This afternoon it was much hotter as forecast and the tire degradation was maybe a little worse with the rears. We seem to have managed this quite well though and generally the team has done a good job through the day to keep pushing forward. The race will be tough as we will struggle with the tires for sure, but we were quite conservative with them today so that we improve our chances for tomorrow and now we will have to see. For now, it has been good to get to grips with this track again and a good day."

Timo Glock (23rd, 1:37.906): “Not a very good Saturday for us. We struggled massively in terms of the car balance again this morning and also in qualifying because of too much instability at the rear under braking. The lap itself was not too bad until Turn 13, where I made a massive mistake and I think I lost everything in that corner. I tried to do a cool-down on the second lap, but the rear tires were off already and we only had one set of the Soft tires as we were trying to save them for the race tomorrow. So not the best at all and it is a shame that a fuel pick-up problem meant that we also dropped behind one of the HRTs as well. We’ll have to see what we can do in the race now. We’ve saved tires, which is good, but I have my concerns about the rears again for tomorrow."

John Booth, Team Principal: “A very good job from Charles today in somewhat challenging conditions, given the quite severe tire degradation issues we have been seeing. His solid progress in the four race weekends so far has not gone unnoticed and rightly so, as he has been applying himself fantastically well. The track evolution here has been posing a few problems, but Charles seems to have had the measure of them all weekend and his experience of racing here previously in GP2 is obviously a contributing factor. During Timo’s first run in qualifying we unfortunately experienced a fuel pick-up problem, which left him saddled with a significantly higher fuel load for his second run to overcome this. Timo then made a mistake at Turn 13, which was a real shame because he was going well before that. Unfortunately, a consequence of that has been that we will now have to start behind one of the HRT cars tomorrow, so Timo’s first mission will be to displace them before he sets about the onerous task that both drivers will face in managing the tires through the race. They each have an extra set of the Soft tire in hand and we know our race pace is strong against the cars around us. It will be a tough race tomorrow, but certainly an interesting one."

Results

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	CAR	TIME
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Red Bull-Renault	1:32.422
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.520
3.	Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull-Renault	1:32.637
4.	Jenson Button	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.711
5.	Nico Rosberg	Germany	Mercedes GP	1:32.821
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:32.912
7.	Romain Grosjean	France	Lotus-Renault	1:33.008
8.	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Sauber-Ferrari	1:33.394
9.	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Ferrari	No Time
10.	Paul di Resta	Britain	Force India-Mercedes	No Time
11.	Kimi Raikkonen	Finland	Lotus-Renault	1:33.789
12.	Kamui Kobayashi	Japan	Sauber-Ferrari	1:33.806
13.	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Force India-Mercedes	1:33.807
14.	Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	1:33.912
15.	Bruno Senna	Brazil	Williams-Renault	1:34.017
16.	Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Caterham-Renault	1:36.132
17.	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuela	Williams-Renault	No Time
18.	Michael Schumacher	Germany	Mercedes GP	1:34.865
19.	Jean-Eric Vergne	France	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:35.014
20.	Vitaly Petrov	Russia	Caterham-Renault	1:35.823
21.	Charles Pic	France	Marussia-Cosworth	1:37.683
22.	Pedro de la Rosa	Spain	HRT-Cosworth	1:37.883
23.	Timo Glock	Germany	Marussia-Cosworth	1:37.906
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	India	HRT-Cosworth	1:38.314