Sebastian Vettel showed that Red Bull have the fastest Formula One car at the moment after the fight for pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso ended in his favour by 0.141s.
Vettel was in excellent form, and used Bridgestone’s softer tyre to record 1m 54.101s in the final, Q3, session. Massa, also on the softer tyre, got closest with 1m 54.242s, with his new Ferrari team mate Alonso third on 1m 54.608s.
It was an interesting session, which suggested that McLaren are a long way off the ultimate pace as Lewis Hamilton’s fourth best time was 1m 55.217s. It was also a disappointment for Mercedes GP, after Nico Rosberg had been so quick thus far, to see him only fifth on 1m 55.241s. The young German has had the upper hand over returnee Michael Schumacher all weekend, the multiple champion lining up seventh on 1m 55.524s. Mark Webber slipped his Red Bull between them, with 1m 55.284s. Formula 1
Sebastian Vettel Grabs First Pole of The Season at Bahrain
Fernando Alonso Fastest in Final Practice at Bahrain
Formula 1: Bahrain Grand Prix - Third Practice Results
Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber starts sixth, with Robert Kubica in his Renault ninth behind Button, and Force India’s Adrian Sutil a fine 10th.
Eleventh-placed Williams driver Rubens Barrichello has a potential advantage over some of the drivers in the top 10, who must start the race on the tyres with which they set their qualifying time.
The Sauber team did not live up to the pace they showed in pre-season testing, with Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi lining up 14th and 16th. Auto Racing Daily
POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:54.1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:54.2 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:54.6 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:55.2 5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:55.2 6 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:55.3 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:55.5 8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:55.7 9 Robert Kubica Renault 01:55.9 10 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:56.3 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:55.3 12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:55.7 13 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:55.9 14 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:56.2 15 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:56.3 16 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:56.3 17 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:56.6 18 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:57.1 19 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:59.7 20 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:59.9 21 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 02:00.3 22 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 02:00.6 23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 02:03.2 24 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 02:04.9
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