2012 Bahrain GP Qualifying results: Vettel pips Hamilton to pole!

In a what was a nerve-wracking qualifying session, World Champion Sebastian Vettel shocked the F1 paddock with a last minute pole position, relegating rival Lewis Hamilton, who had provisional pole, to 2nd.

Mark Webber took 3rd position, continuing Red Bull’s strong showing in Bahrain, ahead of McLaren driver Jenson Button.

Nico Rosberg couldn’t maintain Mercedes’ advantage as he qualified 5th after a mistake in sector 3 on his last lap. Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified an impressive 6th position, with Romain Grosjean behind him in 7th.

Sergio Perez put his Sauber in 8th place, with Fernando Alonso and Paul Di Resta in 9th and 10th respectively.

Michael Schumacher couldn’t make it into Q2 and is starting tomorrow’s race in 18th, after being pushed down the grid by Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen at the end of Q1.

Tune in for tomorrow’s hopefully exciting race at 15:00 (Beirut time)


Pos  Driver                Team                   Time 
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m32.422s  
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.520s  +  0.098
 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m32.637s  +  0.215
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.711s  +  0.289
 5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m32.821s  +  0.399
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m32.912s  +  0.490
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m33.008s  +  0.586
 8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.394s  +  0.972
 9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                No time
10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   No time
11.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m33.789s  +  1.367
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.806s  +  1.384
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m33.807s  +  1.385
14.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m33.912s  +  1.490
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m34.017s  +  1.595
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m36.132s  +  3.710
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m34.865s  +  2.443
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.014s  +  2.592
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m35.823s  +  3.401
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.683s  +  5.261
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m37.883s  +  5.461
22.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       No time
23.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.905s  +  5.483
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m38.314s  +  5.892