Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel has taken his first pole position of the 2012 Formula One season in Bahrain after beating McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by eight hundredths of a second in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Third place went to Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, two tenths of a second behind the German, while McLaren’s Jenson Button will start alongside him in fourth.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won in China on Sunday, and will start fifth, four tenths of a second off Vettel’s pole time.
Sixth place went to Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo in his best-ever qualifying performance, followed by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Sergio Perez.
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and Force India’s Paul di Resta did not set times in the top-ten shootout and will start ninth and tenth respectively.
Qualifying was full of surprises as the track’s properties altered dramatically, leaving seven-time champion Michael Schumacher stranded in 17th place, while another former champion, Kimi Raikkonen, will start 11th.
Russian driver Vitaly Petrov will start in 19th place after he and Schumacher both benefited from a five-place grid penalty for Williams driver Pastor Maldonado for an illegal gearbox change.
French rookie Charles Pic took 20th place for the Russian-owned Marussia team, with his teammate Timo Glock two places behind him.
