Qualy: An all Toyota front row for Bahrain
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock locked out the front row of the grid for the Bahrain GP while for only the second time this season both Ferraris made it into the top ten.
Jarno Trulli put in a flying 1:33.431 to take pole position away from his team-mate Timo Glock as the Toyota duo dominated the afternoon session under the blazing Bahrain sun.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel continued his run of top-three grid slots as the Red Bull racer claimed his fourth of the season, edging out the Brawn GP of Jenson Button.
Lewis Hamilton was next in line ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa finally registering in the top ten for the first time since Australia as he claimed eighth place on the grid.
Qualifying 1
The sun was beating down on the Sakhir circuit as Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India got the first 20-minute session underway. The ambient temperature was at 38C with the track at a scorching 51C.
Fidichella set P1 at 1:35.931, Heikki Kovalainen, out unusually early for McLaren on what was a dusty circuit, hardly went faster at 1:35.542, Nelson Piquet edged ahead with a 1:35.455. Bourdais took almost a second off that with a 1:34.514 while Jarno Trulli then claimed it for Toyota with two timed laps and a 1:34.117 on the second.
Trulli's lap had been set on the harder tyre, but the Ferraris came out with the green-walled super-softs and Kimi Raikkonen took P1 with a 1:33.648 which was bettered by Felipe Massa with a 1:33.512. McLaren had the same idea for Lewis Hamilton who duly took P1 with a 1:33.290
Going into the final three minutes the danger positions were: 12.Vettel, 13.Button, 14.Trulli, 15.Barrichello, 16.Fisichella, 17.Alonso, 18.Bourdais, 19.Webber, 20.Glock
There were a lot of people out of position thanks to running the harder tyre first time round and trying to get away without running a set of new super-softs. They had to accept the inevitable or face the drop. Such was the rapid rate of improvement that even P1 Lewis Hamilton went out again.
The two Toyotas looked quickest of all and Glock took P1 with a 1:33.165 while Jarno Trulli dipped into the 1:32 second lap time with a 1:32.779.
Behind him Vettel came across the line in P2, Barrichello P3, Button P3 and then Sebastien Vettel's second timed lap took the P1 place off Trulli with a 1:32.680.
Buemi could only manage P13, Rosberg P10, Alonso a worrying P13, Sutil an endangered P15, which Nakajima instantly converted to P16 by leapfrogging him up the grid to P8.
Mark Webber had been looking to follow up his P2 gridslot in China but was blocked by Adrian Sutil coming into the final corner after the German mistook his lap for an outlap. Webber got past but lost so much time he couldn't improve. Sutil was suitably contrite afterwards although the Force India team should have kept him informed.
So out went:
16.Sutil
17.Buemi
18.Fisichella
19.Webber
20.Bourdais
Qualifying 2
Yet again it was Heikki Kovalainen out on track early in the session and he set a P1 time of 1:33.273 which Rubens Barrichello only just undercut with a 1:33.250.
With teams mindful of keeping a set of new super-soft tyres for Q3 there was a mixture of new and scrubbed sets hitting the 51C track. Jenson Button took P1 down to 1:33.109, Trulli reduced it to 1:32.911 and then Kimi Raikkonen grabbed the P1 slot with a 1:32.827.
Lewis Hamilton's first lap had been good enough for only P7 at the time following a disastrous middle sector. Vettel then grabbed a decisive P1 again with a 1:32.474 thatw ould mean he would not have to go out again.
As we hit the three minute mark, the danger positions were: 8.Barrichello, 9.Kovalainen, 10.Nakajima, 11.Hamilton, 12.Massa, 13.Kubica, 14.Heidfeld, 15.Piquet.
Kovalainen, out of sequence with the rest, jumped to a less-than-convincing P8, Massa crossed the line in P5, Barrichello edged past into P3, Button took P4, Hamilton made himself safe in P6, while the two Toyotas took P2 in close succession, Glock being marginally quicker this time round.
Kubica stayed in P13, Heidfeld remained in P14 and Piquet never looked like threatening the top 10. So out went:
11.Kovalainen
12.Nakajima
13.Kubica
14.Heidfeld
15.Piquet
The continuing under-performance of the BMW cars at the circuit they tested on over winter was the big story of Q2. Their winter testing had been done at 20C; now with the air almost at 40C it was 7% less dense, making the grip of the back end significantly worse than they'd enjoyed in January.
Qualifying 3
Ferrari were back with a shout and both cars into Q3 at the track they always do well at. Timo Glock set the first provisional pole time with a 1:34.366, while team-mate Jarno Trulli immediately stole his thunder with a 1:34.297.
Button could only manage P3 on his first run with an encouraging P4 from Hamilton which was taken off him by Sebastian Vettel.
After the first runs, the order was: Trulli, Glock, Button, Vettel, Barrichello, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen and Rosberg. Both Ferraris looked to have loaded up with fuel and were a long way off the pace of the cars in front of them.
Into the second runs and Jenson Button cranked up the pressure on the Toyota team with a 1:34.044, followed home by Lewis Hamilton on a new set of super-softs this time for P2.
Timo Glock soon disavowed any notion of an all-British front row with a significantly quicker P1 at 1:33.712, Sebastian Vettel took P2 and then Jarno Trulli set the timing screens to purple with a sensational pole time of 1:33.431. It was almost too big a margin.
For a top 10 that is covered by 0.6 of second with the same fuel level, to be 0.3 in front of your team-mate and 0.6 ahead of the third and fourth-placed men shows that the Toyota team could have stuck a couple of extra laps of fuel in the tank. No surprise to learn that the Toyota top brass are visiting this weekend and a positive qualifying result was required - their best since 2005.
Given their potential race pace Timo Glock could win his debut race, but Vettel and Button are handily placed. The Brawn GP driver will be starting from the dusty side of the grid and doesn't expect to be P4 heading into Turn 1 given that he is sitting alongside the KERS-equipped Lewis Hamilton.
It could be an interesting first-lap shake-out in Bahrain with all those on the inside of the grid likely to be slow away, with Vettel not the greatest starter in the world, a nervous Jarno Trulli and a combative Lewis Hamilton in P5.
FH
Times
01 J. Trulli Toyota 1:33.431
02 T. Glock Toyota 1:33.712
03 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:34.045
04 J. Button Brawn GP 1:34.044
05 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:34.196
06 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:34.239
07 F. Alonso Renault 1:34.578
08 F. Massa Ferrari 1:34.818
09 N. Rosberg Williams 1:35.134
10 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:35.380
11 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:33.242
12 K. Nakajima Williams 1:33.348
13 R. Kubica BMW 1:33.487
14 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:33.562
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:33.941
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:33.722
17 S. Buemi Toro Rosso 1:33.753
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:33.910
19 M. Webber Red Bull 1:34.038
20 S. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:34.159
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