Rosberg Takes The Spotlight

All smiles from the fastest men.

Nico Rosberg clinched his 5th career Pole Position in dominant fashion, beating  teammate Hamilton by 0.279 seconds.

After the 2008 World Champion topped each of the 3 practice sessions prior to Qualifying, those sat in the grandstands, under the darkness of the nights sky, expected Lewis' blistering pace to flow right through to Q3 with car number 44 once again to be fastest.

Sebastian Vettel's final practice stint saw him spin off between Turns 1 and 2, cancelling any running with light fuel loads around the Bahrain International Circuit- jeopardising Red Bull's chances of a place on the front row without that important data.

Maldonado's Lotus in Free Practice 3.

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez set the first time of Q1 with a 1:38.521 which was soon eclipsed by Ricciardo over 2 seconds quicker.
Lotus were the only team to go out on both the soft (option) tyre, highlighting just how much they are struggling. Matters weren't helped for the team from Enstone amid Free Practice 3 when Pastor Maldonado's E22 was launched into the air after riding over a protruding orange curb at Turn 4. This was later altered and removed in time for the first part of Qualifying at 16:00 local time .

Without the unpredictable nature of the previous 2 qualifying sessions that threw wet conditions into the equation, all drivers were able to push their cars performance more than we've seen this season.
Mclaren's Jenson Button broke the 1:35.000 mark on a set of soft tyres before German Nico Hulkenberg edged him off the top spot by a fraction under a tenth who was fastest for the remaining 3 minutes.

At Turn 13, Force India's Adrian Sutil was deemed to impede Romain Grosjean whose Lotus still was able to scrap through into the next session. Sutil, who swerved to the inside, catching Romain by surprise and was fortunate not to cause a collision, was sent to the stewards and awarded a 5 place grid penalty for the race.

The 18 minute session came to a close and the bottom 6 cars knocked out of Q2 were;

17) #13 Pastor Maldonado- Lotus-Renault
18) #99 Adrian Sutil- Force India-Mercedes (5 place grid penalty)
19) #10 Kamui Kobayashi- Caterham-Renault
20) #17 Jules Bianchi- Marussia-Ferrari
21) #4 Max Chilton- Marussia-Ferrari
22) #9 Marcus Ericsson- Caterham-Renault

Hulkenberg carried on from where he left off in the second part of Qualifying; on a used set of softs he crossed the line with a time of 1:35.682. However, after achieving the fastest time in Q1, Nico was pushed down into 12th position overall and out of the final practice session. Speaking to BBC's Lee McKenzie, he highlighted a slight mistake at Turn 11 which cost him a couple of tenths but was confident of his chances for the race knowing the team's good long race pace.

A dispondent Vettel taking the press' questions after qualifying 11th

But the biggest casualty to fall was Sebastian Vettel who blamed poor downshifts for not getting into the top 10 shoot-out. Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull Racing, revealed that the spin Vettel sustained in practice led to a fault with the wastegate on the turbocharge that the team wasn't able to fix fully going into Qualifying.
The 4-time World Champion bluntly summed up the day saying they were 'not quick enough.'

Out of Q3 saw the following 6 cars;

11) #1 Sebastian Vettel- Red Bull Racing-Renault
12) #27 Nico Hulkenberg- Force India-Mercedes
13) #26 Daniil Kvyat- Torro Rosso-Renault
14) #25 Jean-Eric Vergne- Torro Rosso-Renault
15) #21 Esteban Gutierrez- Sauber-Ferrari
16) #8 Romain Grosjean- Lotus-Renault

Now that the 10 remaining drivers in final sessions of Qualifying start the race on the tyre they set their fastest lap on in the previous session, all cars are given licence to push than in previous years, where we saw teams opting to stay in the pits to save tyres.
As all cars were on track battling for Pole Position in the closing stages of Q3, the Force India of Sergio Perez, who seems to relish this circuit, and both Williams were quicker than Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen only able to put their Mclaren's 6th and 8th respectively with only minutes left.

Under the lights, it was Rosberg who shone brightest

Nico Rosberg went purple, setting a time of 1:33.185 that both Raikkonen who suffered a huge left lock-up on his timed lap, and Daniel Ricciardo, were unable to beat.
All eyes were on Lewis Hamilton. Under 3 tenths off his teammate's time, Hamilton began his last attempt to get Pole and be named the first Brit to take Pole Position in Bahrain. But a lock-up at Turn 1 made him abandon the lap.

Daniel Ricciardo was pleased with his performance, finishing an impressive 3rd. But his 10 place grid penalty from the previous race means he will start in 13th place.
Asked about Vettel's view regarding the Red Bull's not being quick enough, yet Ricciardo being able to drive the car on to the second row of the grid, the young Australian said;

''When he's talking, he's probably referring to the silver cars (Mercedes) in front of us. Red Bull's been a dominant car these last few years...bit of new territory for him.'' 

Those Silver Arrows lock out the front row of the grid, boosting their chances to make it 3 consecutive race wins and seeing them increase the gap from the rest of the field so early on. Capitalising on this dominance could prove invaluable as the other manufactures try to close the gap in performance for the European stages.

However, with the likes of Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg all looking to charge early through the cars in front of them, Mercedes may not have it all their own way.

This is how the cars will line up for The Bahrain Grand Prix;

1) #6 Nico Rosberg- Mercedes
2) #44 Lewis Hamilton- Mercedes
3) #3 Daniel Ricciardo- Red Bull Racing-Renault (10 place grid penalty)
4) #77 Valtteri Bottas- Williams Mercedes
5) #11 Sergio Perez- Force India-Mercedes
6) #7 Kimi Raikkonen- Ferrarri
7) #22 Jenson Button- Mclaren Mercedes
8) #19 Felipe Massa- Williams-Mercedes
9) #20 Kevin Magnussen- Mclaren-Mercedes
10) #14 Fernando Alonso- Ferrari
11) #1 Sebastian Vettel- Red Bull Racing-Renault
12) #27 Nico Hulkenberg- Force India-Mercedes
13) #26 Daniil Kvyat- Torro Rosso-Renault
14) #25 Jean-Eric Vergne- Torro Rosso-Renault
15) #21 Esteban Gutierrez- Sauber-Ferrari
16) #8 Romain Grosjean- Lotus-Renault
17) #13 Pastor Maldonado- Lotus-Renault
18) #99 Adrian Sutil- Force India-Mercedes (5 place grid penalty)
19) #10 Kamui Kobayashi- Caterham-Renault
20) #17 Jules Bianchi- Marussia-Ferrari
21) #4 Max Chilton- Marussia-Ferrari
22) #9 Marcus Ericsson- Caterham-Renault