Meanwhile in Bahrein...

[Ferry_vO]

There's a qualifying session going on!

Surprise after Q1:

18: Schumacher
19: Vergne
20: Petrov
21: Pic
22: De La Rosa
23: Glock
24: Karthikeyan

Great job by Heikki Kovalainen making it into Q2, and a bad job by Mercedes not sending out Michael on soft tires!

[Ferry_vO]

Q2 results:

11: Raikkonen
12: Kobayashi
13: Hulkenberg
14: Massa
15: Senna
16: Kovalainen
17: Maldonado (No time set)

It's really unpredictable this year!

[Ferry_vO]

Q3 results; Vettel's back on pole! Very nice drive from Ricciardo too, in sixth.

1: Vettel
2: Hamilton
3: Webber
4: Button
5: Rosberg
6: Ricciardo
7: Grosjean
8: Perez
9: Alonso
10: Di Resta

[wombat666]

Q3 results; Vettel's back on pole! Very nice drive from Ricciardo too, in sixth.

1: Vettel
2: Hamilton
3: Webber
4: Button
5: Rosberg
6: Ricciardo
7: Grosjean
8: Perez
9: Alonso
10: Di Resta

Ricciardo, Grosjean and Di Resta were outstanding.

As an aside, this must be one of the ugliest environments in Motorsport Worldwide.

[Ferry_vO]

Sand, sand and more sand... The track itself isn't that bad though, atleast not in the current layout. The longer version they used in 2010 was terrible!

[Ferry_vO]

Full results:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:34.308	1:33.527	1:32.422	18
2	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.813	1:33.209	1:32.520	13
3	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:34.015	1:33.311	1:32.637	17
4	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.792	1:33.416	1:32.711	12
5	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:34.588	1:33.219	1:32.821	10
6	16	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:33.988	1:33.556	1:32.912	17
7	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:34.041	1:33.246	1:33.008	13
8	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:33.814	1:33.660	1:33.394	17
9	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:34.760	1:33.403	No time	11
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:34.624	1:33.510	No time	15
11	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:34.552	1:33.789		6
12	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:34.131	1:33.806		13
13	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:34.601	1:33.807		12
14	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:34.372	1:33.912		14
15	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:34.466	1:34.017		14
16	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:34.852	1:36.132		10
17	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:34.639			8
18	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:34.865			5
19	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:35.014			8
20	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:35.823			7
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:37.683			8
22	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:37.883			6
23	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:37.905			7
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:38.314			7
		Q1 107% Time		1:40.380

Note - Maldonado qualified 17th, but drops five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Keep an eye out for Perez and Alonso tomorrow, who both saved a set of tires, and Perez will start on the harder tires so probably one less stop for him. Both Red Bulls and McLarens used one soft set more than Rosberg and the rest of the top ten..

[wombat666]

Grosjean is in pretty good shape providing he makes it through lap 1.
Perez, Kobayashi and Raikkonen should provide some entertainment as well.
Maybe Renault will get the 'Iceman' on the right tyres at the right time this round.

[Ferry_vO]

Grosjean is in pretty good shape providing he makes it through lap 1.
Perez, Kobayashi and Raikkonen should provide some entertainment as well.
Maybe Renault will get the 'Iceman' on the right tyres at the right time this round.

Kinda funny how the F1 races turned from sprints to almost endurance with the arrival of Pirelli, isn't it?
Strategy and tire conservation are suddenly more important than downright speed and qualifying in the top ten is no longer a garantee for scoring points.

[Wing_Z]

Kinda funny how the F1 races turned from sprints to almost endurance with the arrival of Pirelli, isn't it?

Well that was Pirelli's brief: make tyre strategy a major factor, adds to the spice of the racing.
They've done a pretty good job, I think it must be quite difficult to engineer a tyre that works for a certain number of laps, then degrades dramatically.
Alonso and di Resta have taken that on board, no time in Q3 means extra tyres for the race.
Also I noticed Alonso put in only a single lap in Q1, so he's really nursing tyres.
Rosberg also has a set spare, so should see different strategies, and hopefully a good race.

Interesting to see the top grid positions all separated by a tenth each...

EDIT: Maldonado and Schumacher take a 5-place rid penalty for new gearboxes.
What's going on? Hamilton also had issues last race.

[wombat666]

The gearbox penalty rule needs a good re-think.
I don't like the draconian way it penalises a driver who's driven bloody hard [like Maldonado] over a problem beyond his control.
Equally, I detest the limit on engines, I'd suggest that the major teams get at least 12 per season and the minnows a minimum of 18.
MotoGP shows sense by allowing the CRT teams extra engines over the Factory 'Prototypes'.

[Ferry_vO]

Last race was a Mercedes race, this one looks like a Renault race so far..

[wombat666]

Renault power 1-2-3-4 ............
I'll lay even money on Raikkonen pulling off a win very soon.

[Ferry_vO]

Triple strike by Vettel and Red Bull, winning and leading both championships now, but an equally impressive job by Lotus, Raikkonen and Grosjean!

Best Bahrein GP ever! (Not that it was hard to improve on that mind you...)

Eighteen drivers have scored points, and eight drivers have been on the podium so far (One nore than in the entire 2011 season!), nothing's predictable so far.

[Wing_Z]

Best Bahrein GP ever!

Totally agree... So far this season's F1 has an excellent blend of strategy, tactics, car and driver skills.
This will surely ebb and flow as they move from track to track.

Lotus looked really strong here, superb effort from Grosjean I thought.
Massa woke up and by his recent standards, drove the wheels off the Ferrari!