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2012 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying

Sebastian Vettel claims pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel has claimed his first pole position of the season for the Bahrain Grand Prix. He starts ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.

 

Jenson Button will start fourth, ahead of last week's winner Nico Rosberg who will start fifth despite being fastest in practice. Rosberg chose to do a single run in the final qualifying session but made a mistake at the last corner.

 

Daniel Ricciardo had a superb qualifying for Toro Rosso with strong performances in Q2 and Q3, despite his rookie teammate going out in Q1. He ended the session sixth, and starts ahead of Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez.

 

Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta elected not to set a time in the final qualifying session, so will start ninth and 10th respectively.

 

The first qualifying session caught out several drivers, including Michael Schumacher who had a problem with his DRS which prevented him from going out for a second run. He will start the race in 17th.

 

Heikki Kovalainen's last-minute lap was enough to put him in Q2 by just 0.013 seconds. A strong performance for Caterham.

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2012 Bahrain Grand Prix grid

PositionDriverTeamTime
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1'32.422
2Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1'32.520
3Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1'32.637
4Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1'32.711
5Nico RosbergMercedes1'32.821
6Daniel RicciardoSTR-Ferrari1'32.912
7Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1'33.008
8Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1'33.394
9Fernando AlonsoFerrariNo time
10Paul di RestaForce India-MercedesNo time
11Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1'33.789
12Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1'33.806
13Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1'33.807
14Felipe MassaFerrari1'33.912
15Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1'34.017
16Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1'36.132
17Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Ferrari1'35.014
18Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1'35.823
19Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1'37.683
20Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1'37.883
21Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-RenaultNo time *
22Michael SchumacherMercedesNo time *
23Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1’37.905
24Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1'38.314

* Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

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