Kubica gives BMW pole in Bahrain

Robert Kubica

Robert Kubica won the first pole position of his Formula One career for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. For the first time since the race in China in October 2006, a Ferrari or McLaren missed out on pole, as BMW Sauber star Kubica again proved that this season will not be a two-horse affair.

On an extremely windy circuit, Kubica edged out Massa by less than 0.2secs, with current championship leader Lewis Hamilton in third in his McLaren.

A happy BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen said: "Fantastic. A great effort. Thank you."

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth as Ferrari and Heikki Kovalainen was fifth in his McLaren, followed by the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.

Jenson Button was ninth in his Honda, with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in 10th for Renault.

"It was quite a good lap," said the Pole. "I locked my front wheels at corner nine and I had a vibration in the last three corners, so it was not easy. They were all right handers which was very difficult because it was pulling to one side under braking. I did not expect to have pole but it was enough and I am very happy. The long runs went pretty OK. I think Ferrari was clearly the fastest but in a race anything can happen.

There was disappointment for Felipe Massa, who had been the fastest throughout practice. The Ferrari driver complained that he had been held up on his first run by Nico Rosberg and said that on the second Fernando Alonso was in his way, although he added that he did not think it cost him a lot.

"I am very happy. I missed the chance to take pole position in Australia, but this time it worked out well," said Kubica. "My first run in Q3 was quite good, but I made a small mistake in the first corner. The second run was better, although I again made a small mistake in corner 9. We knew before the season that the car was good due to the results of the computer simulation and the wind tunnel work. Finally it has paid off that we never gave up working hard. I want to thank the entire team who have worked so hard over the last months. We will now study the data and prepare for tomorrow. A long race lies ahead of us."

"The team did a great job to recover from the accident," Hamilton said after his third place effort. "The crash made absolutely no difference to me. We all knew it would be very close this weekend but we also knew we could compete to be in the top three. We are in a good position. Ferrari seemed to have outstanding pace going into qualifying, but I was happy with the balance and felt I could challenge. We probably could have had pole. We have a good strategy and we will see how we go tomorrow."

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