Vettel claims Bahrain pole

Defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel grabbed his first pole position of 2012 yesterday when he planted his Red Bull car at the top of the times in qualifying for today’s controversial Bahrain Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old German outpaced McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by just 0.098 seconds to take the 31st pole of his career following a relatively lacklustre start to the season.

The second Red Bull of Mark Webber and Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button will start on the second row.

This speedy top four were able to push last weekend’s maiden F1 victor Nico Rosberg down to fifth with a thrilling final flurry of laps in the closing seconds that left the Mercedes driver, who chose to run only once in Q3, slightly off the pace.

His Mercedes team-mate, Michael Schumacher, was dumped out of qualifying in Q1 when he also was restricted to one run only by a technical problem with his Drag Reduction System (DRS).

Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo was sixth for Toro Rosso ahead of Romain Grosjean of Lotus, Sergio Perez, of Sauber, Fernando Alonso, of Ferrari, and Paul Di Resta, of Force India, who was 10th.

“Yes, that feels great,” said a relieved Vettel, who had scraped unconvincingly through both Q1 and Q2 before shining in the top-ten shootout.

“We are back at the front and I owe it to the guys in the team. They have worked so hard, put in the hours and not had much sleep in these first four weekends this year.”

Hamilton said he was content with second, splitting the Red Bulls and bringing to an end a trio of front row lockouts by a single team – McLaren in both Australia and Malaysia and then Mercedes in China.

“Definitely, that was good for me and I am happy with the job that we have done,” said the 2008 champion who leads the 2012 drivers’ standings.

On another steaming hot day at the Sakhir circuit, where the heat and dust, made worse by sandstorms, produced much slipping and sliding, the air temperature was 32 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was 43 degrees.

The first mini-session Q1 saw the shock exit of Schumacher after his team chose to sit out the second part of the action.

A glum and frustrated Schumacher was left sitting in his car in the garage due to a team strategic error, in contrast to his rivals, many of whom chose to run again just to ensure they made the cut.

Q2 also delivered a few shocks with the eliminations of Kimi Raikkonen, of Lotus, and Felipe Massa, of Ferrari, who failed to make the top ten for the fourth time in four races this year.

Today’s grid

1. S. Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:32.422
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren) - 1:32.520
3. M. Webber (Red Bull) - 1:32.637
4. J. Button (McLaren) - 1:32.711
5. N. Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1:32.821
6. D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) - 1:32.912
7. R. Grosjean (Lotus) - 1:33.008
8. S. Perez (Sauber) - 1:33.394
9. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
10. P. di Resta (Force India)
11. K. Raikkonen (Lotus) - 1:33.789
12. K. Kobayashi (Sauber) - 1:33.806
13. N. Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1:33.807
14. F. Massa (Ferrari) - 1:33.912
15. B. Senna (Williams) - 1:34.017
16. H. Kovalainen (Caterham) - 1:36.132
17. P. Maldonado (Williams)
18. M. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1:34.865
19. J.E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) - 1:35.014
20. V. Petrov (Caterham) - 1:35.823
21. C. Pic (Marussia) - 1:37.683
22. P. de la Rosa (HRT) - 1:37.883
23. T. Glock (Marussia) - 1:37.905
24. N. Karthikeyan (HRT) - 1:38.314

Drivers standings
1. Hamilton (GBR) 45 pts, 2. Button (GBR) 43, 3. Alonso (ESP) 37, 4. Webber (AUS) 36, 5. Vettel (GER) 28, 6. Rosberg (GER) 25, 7. Perez (MEX) 22, 8. Raikkonen (FIN) 16, 9. Senna (BRA) 14, 10. Kobayashi (JPN) 9, 11. Grosjean (FRA) 8, 12. Di Resta (SCO) 7, 13. Vergne (FRA) 4, 14. Maldonado (VEN) 4, 15. Ricciardo (AUS) 2, 16. Hulkenberg (GER) 20, 17. Schumacher (GER) 1.