Qualifying: Vettel outwits Ferrari to take pole

Mar.13 (YF1) Sebastian Vettel, driving the Renault Powered Red Bull Racing RB6, only did one flying lap in the Q3 which proved to be a magnificent effort and enough to nab the first pole position of the 2010 season for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

He said afterwards, “It is a big surprise, it was clear that there are four teams close to each other. Yesterday was tough and it was another long night, especially for the mechanics, but everybody was keen this morning. I knew we had a great car but you have to get it together. I am very happy to be on pole thanks to the team, it’s a nice feeling to be on top.”

Vettel complained of understeer early in the qualifying session, but this did not deter the German who fended off a concerted effort from the Ferrari drivers on his way to pole. In fact, on the evidence of Q2 and Q3, it was always going to be between Vettel and Fernando Alonso…

Wrong. Felipe Massa turned the tables on his highly vaunted Spanish team mate by powering to second place on the grid and only 0.141 seconds of Vettel’s best. Alonso was third and will head up the second row for his first Grand Prix with Ferrari.

A clearly satisfied Massa said, “I think it’s very nice to be back racing and being competitive. I am happy to be back after such a difficult time. I was watching on TV but it’s much better to be in the car. It’s a good start to the season for us especially when you look at last season. All the guys at the factory have had such a tough job but this is payback for them, I am very happy to be here and that we are fighting for the top.”

It was clear that going into the Q3 that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing were going to be the teams to beat. They had dominated qualifying throughout with Vettel and Alonso topping the timing sheets Q2 and Q1 respectively.

Notably Mercedes powered drivers were struggling for pace for the first time this weekend. Best of them was Lewis Hamilton who claimed fourth place on the grid, fractionally faster than Nico Rosberg who was fifth.

Hamilton was surprised that he was as close as he was to the Ferrari and red Bull, “I was surprised with that result. We don’t have the same pace as Red Bull and Ferrari, so I am overwhelmed with fourth and there are a lot of quick guys behind me. It’s a great starting point, hopefully we can keep the position tomorrow and maybe even make up another place. It’s downforce – we are weak in the middle section where we lose about a second. The guys are working on that back in the factory though.”

Mark Webber (Red Bull racing) was at the sharp end of matters throughout but stumbled when it mattered ending Q3 in sixth.

Comeback champion Michael Schumacher lived up to his own predictions, that he is “a little rusty” when it comes to the business of flying laps, but nevertheless will start from seventh on the grid ahead of reigning World Champion Jenson Button who will share the fourth row with the seven times World Champion.

Button explained, “It was getting better every run but I did struggle with front locking this afternoon. Something felt wrong through qualifying so we are going to have a look at that.”

Robert Kubica will head up the fifth row in the Renault which appears to lack the edge against the big four teams. He too complained of understeer and will be satisfied with his performance under the circumstances.

Adrian Sutil once again impressed with the Force India and will be glad that he managed to make it into the final qualifying shootout but a little disappointed that his final run 1.5 seconds off his best time in Q2.

As expected new teams fail to make it out of Q1

It was good to see Karun Chandhok finally climb into the cockpit of the Hispania Racing HRTF1 and actually get out and do some laps for the first time on the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. It was always going to be a tough ask for both the Hispania drivers, including Bruno Senna and true to form they were bottom of the timing sheets after Q1 with Senna 23rd nearly eight seconds slower than the fastest time with Chandhok last and nearly 10 seconds adrift.

Chandhok, who won many friends this weekend in Bahrain, through his likable disposition, said, “We got out and it was a massive panic. I don’t know what lap time I’ve done, even. We just wanted to check if all the gears went up and down. There are so many things we can improve, I’m not even comfortable in the seat. These are all things we should have done two months ago.”

Senna explained told BBC, “We didn’t have any time to do set up changes – we did one change from practice to qualifying. But with more practice we will get better and I am sure we will be a lot closer to the other new teams.”

As expected all the new teams failed to make it out of the drop out zone. Timo Glock (Virgin Racing) in 19th was fastest of all the newcomers, ahead of Lotus duo Jarno Trulli in 20th, Heikki Kovalaianen 21st and Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing). Glock was over four seconds off the fastest lap.

Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) dropped out in Q1 after a losing a session long battle with Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber).

At the top end of the timing screens Red Bull Racing and Ferrari were slugging it out for top slot with no Mercedes powered cars threatening. Finally it was Alonso with the fastest time, a 1 minute 54.612 seconds followed by Vettel, Sutil, Webber, Massa, Hamilton, Rosberg and Kubica. World champions Schumacher and Button were ninth and eleventh respectively. A fraction over one second separated the top 10.

No big surprises in Q2 although Button just scrapes through

Button and McLaren sweated to make it through into Q3 until a last gasp effort by the reigning World Champion saw him make it out the drop zone at the expense of  Barrichello.

Other than that there were no surprises as once again Red Bull Racing and Ferrari hogged the top four slots with Vettel fastest with a time of 1 min 53.833 seconds from Alonso, Webber and Massa, with Rosberg fastest of the Mercedes powered brigade fifth fastest ahead of Hamilton, Kubica, Sutil and Schumacher.

Vettel was the first driver to break into the 1 minute 53 second barrier with his flyer, as a consequence only the top six were within a second of the German’s lap time.

Hulkenberg, who looked all set for a good start to his career judging on his practice performance, had to be content with 13th on the grid after being beaten by Barrichello for the first time this weekend. Both Saubers failed to make the cut as did Liuzzi, Buemi and rookie Petrov. The latter slowest of the Q2 runners.

Qualifying best lap times