SEBASTIAN VETTEL CLAIMED his first pole position in 2012 after grabbing top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
The dual Formula One world champion had struggled in qualifying this year but the Red Bull ace returned to form in front of virtually empty grandstands in light of the unrest in the Middle East.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was forced to settle for second, just 0.098 seconds behind Vettel’s pole lap of one minute 32.422secs, with Mark Webber and Jenson Button on the second row in third and fourth.
Last weekend’s polesitter and debut race winner Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes was fifth while the surprise performer was Toro Rosso’s rookie Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo, who managed to be sixth fastest.
Lotus’ Romain Grosjean starts seventh, followed by the Sauber of Sergio Perez, Ferrari’s two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Force India’s Paul di Resta. Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher will start towards the back of the grid after failing to make it out of the first qualifying session because of a mechanical problem.
“It feels great, which I owe to the team. It’s not been an easy start to the season, but what we have done here is what we expect from ourselves,” Vettel said. ”We’ve been busy working on the car, trying to find the right solution, with the boys hardly getting any sleep over the last four race weekends.
“They’ve certainly not had much here, but the car is much better and it’s great to have just beaten Lewis for pole.”
