Can Mercedes make it 2 in a row? Practice says so, but Red Bull are pushing them. McLaren have stalled a little since their early season form. Ferrari, well, they need a new car. Will it be a case of drag it through the season on damage limitation? Lotus, Williams and Sauber will be looking to carry on doing their business of getting into the Top 10. Force India haven't met expectation, they were meant to be the top mid-class team but they have been poor, will that missed practice session have any effect? And first out in Q1 is Force India, obviously getting as much running as possible. Massa joins the lower runners out early, best thing to do for him as he's struggled putting together quick single laps. Straight away we're seeing the cars sliding rear tyres, this sand that blows across the track is causing havoc for rear grip. Alonso heads out straight on the soft which shows how poor that car is, he can normally drag it through. Button is the first into the 1:34's going to the top of the pile. Alonso can only near enough match that on the Soft tyres, he takes top. Grosjean and Raikkonen set laps on the soft tyres, and they go top respectively. 5 minutes to go and it's two of the low teams (HRT, Marussia) with both drivers in the drop zone, Petrov (Caterham), Senna (Williams) and Vergne (Toro Rosso). Massa comes out on softs and sticks it 2nd, he should be safe.
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Boom, a lot of people go a lot faster, Schumacher on the bubble and he's in the garage. Button just in front of him, and he was warned by his team that his lap may not have been enough. Kovalainen knocks Schumi out!!! Thats Q1 done with and the people out are; 24th Karthikeyan (HRT) 23rd Glock (Marussia) 22nd de la Rosa (HRT) 21st Pic (Marussia) 20th Petrov (Caterham) 19th Vergne (Toro Rosso) 18th Schumacher (Mercedes) So, the track really evolved during that session and caught a lot of people out. Both McLarens were just above Kovalainen and Perez (Sauber) finished top followed by Ricciardo (Toro Rosso). I've got a feeling they won't sit back in the garage expecting to get through anymore! Vergne is under investigation for missing the weighbridge at the end of the session, could be a grid penalty or even exclusion from the race. And after all of that excitement, we begin Q2. And thats most people out there straight onto the soft tyres, a wise decision after the last session! Rosberg can't match what seems to be a good lap by Hamilton. Massa still hasn't got into Q3 this season, and he still doesn't look like he's going to do it, but out he goes on another set of soft tyres. Maldonado, with his 5 place grid penalty (changing gearbox) has a KERS issue and doesn't go out. Massa sticks it 9th dropping Alonso to 10th. A smile from Rob Smedley (Massa's race engineer) as they don't usually find themselves above Alonso.
The track seems to be evolving again as Di Resta (Force India) puts his lap in for 5th, and almighty jump for that car. Alonso is now 11th. Ricciardo gets 7th, Massa out as he's in the pits. Alonso still out there trying to get a lap in and he does and goes 4th. Raikkonen is out, knocked out by his team-mate Grosjean who goes 3rd. Out in this session; 17th Maldonado (Williams) 16th Kovalainen (Caterham) 15th Senna (Williams) 14th Massa (Ferrari) 13th Hulkenberg (Force India) 12th Kobayashi (Sauber) 11th Raikkonen (Lotus) We're down to the Top Ten shootout. Do you go out or wait till the dying seconds to start your lap? Most decide to get a banker in, probably with a second lap on a new set of tyres later in the session. Rosberg is not one of those, staying in the garage. Out there is Webber, Hamilton, Button, Vettel. They all get in the 1:32's Hamilton leading from Button, Webber, Vettel. All of them come back to the pits for a new set of boots. Ricciardo goes out as does Grosjean and Rosberg. Alonso is already out, but looks like he's just setting sector times to get ahead of the other non-lappers. Di Resta out on hard tyre. So, can Rosberg do it, he's the first to start this final lap. He's slightly faster in the first sector, Webber flying as well. Rosberg loses time in the middle sector. No! P4 so far. Vettel is on fire, Webber goes fastest until Vettel takes it away from him. Hamilton a tenth down on Vettel. So Vettel starts on Pole for the Bahrain GP. Top Ten line up; 1st Vettel (Red Bull) 2nd Hamilton (McLaren) 3rd Webber (Red Bull) 4th Button (McLaren) 5th Rosberg (Mercedes) 6th Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 7th Grosjean (Lotus) 8th Perez (Sauber) 9th Alonso (Ferrari) 10th Di Resta (Force India) Are the Bulls back? They both look very quick and we'll have to see how they perform in the race, but they haven't disappointed in races so far, only qualifying. McLaren will give them a fight and I'm sure Rosberg won't be a one race wonder. A Good result for Toro Rosso with Ricciardo in 6th and Sauber will be happy with Perez beating the parent team of Ferrari with Alonso. After all of the goings on at Force India this weekend it's a top result to see Di Resta in the Top Ten. Should be a good race tomorrow once there has been another night of sand blowing over the track. They do 'hoover' it up but it still affects the grip on the track.