Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix with a stunning late lap in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.
Mercedes were not looking like the team to beat during the practice session but Rosberg stormed to pole shocking his rivals with a 1.32.330. Sebastian Vettel took second spot for Red Bull with a 1.32.584s, just ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in third.
This comes just a week after his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, secured pole in China to give Mercedes their first consecutive poles since their return to F1.
The second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton qualified in fourth position, but will faces a five-place grid penalty after the team changes his gearbox following this morning’s free practice session.
Mark Webber who qualified in 5th position will start in 8th after the stewards awarded him a three-place drop following a collision in China last weekend.
Felipe Massa, the only driver to qualify on hard tyres will be starting alongside Alonso on the second row of the grid.
Here is the full time sheet for the session:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.330s 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.584s + 0.254s 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m32.667s + 0.337s 4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.762s + 0.432s 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m33.078s + 0.748s 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.207s + 0.877s 7. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.235s + 0.905s 8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.246s + 0.916s 9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m33.327s + 0.997s 10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes Q2 cut-off time: 1m33.702s Gap ** 11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.762s + 1.016s 12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.914s + 1.168s 13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.974s + 1.228s 14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.976s + 1.230s 15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m34.105s + 1.359s 16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.284s + 1.538s Q1 cut-off time: 1m34.425s Gap * 17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m34.425s + 1.547s 18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.730s + 1.852s 19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m35.283s + 2.405s 20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.178s + 3.300s 21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m36.304s + 3.426s 22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.476s + 3.598s 107% time: 1m39.379s * Gap to quickest in Q1 ** Gap to quickest in Q2