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