Bahrain Grand Prix: Rampant Red Bull Charges
Practice The was a little rain but no storm as racing commenced in the desert on Friday, with Ferrari taking a 1-2 headed by Massa in FP1, Raikkonen going fastest from the Red Bulls in FP2 and Alonso going fastest in FP3 despite a spin. The green track gave all the teams varied problems with understeer and oversteer as people slithered off the track, and the option proved unpredictable and not as fast as expected. Ferrari and Lotus looked consistently strong on longer runs, with Red Bull and Mercedes in close company, whilst McLaren and Force India appeared to have more outright pace as they topped the speed traps with Lotus and Mercedes. Sauber seemed to struggle for pace and Torro Rosso didnt look comfortable or as competitive as they did in China. Williams seemed a bit more competitive in simulated race pace, whilst Caterhams upgrade package seemed to have stepped them forward ahead of the Marussia cars. At the end of FP3 the rear left corner of Hamiltons Mercedes collapsed on the straight, due to a suspected tyre delamination. Qualifying Nico Rosberg appeared somewhat unexpectedly on pole position in Bahrain with a scintillating lap that gave Mercedes their first back-to-back poles since Fangio and Moss in 1955. Hamilton also stepped up and took fourth after practice suggested their pace wasnt as competitive as it had been in Shanghai, though he received a five-place grid penalty after the mornings tyre failure ended in a gearbox change. Vettel came close in second and Alonso took third, abandoning his last attempt to save tyres. Strategy was evident as Massa opted to run on hard tyres, taking sixth, which became fourth behind his teammate after demotion of penalised runners, such as Webber, who took fifth whilst looking a little twitchy, but will start seventh due to his penalty from China. Force Indias confidence was well placed as they took a strong seventh and eighth, promoted to fifth and sixth for the starting grid, but Raikkonen was never really a threat, not looking particularly comfortable throughout qualifying and eventually ending up ninth, promoted to eighth. Jenson Button elatedly snatched tenth place, but then opted not to set a competitive time in the final shootout. Grosjean simply wasnt quick enough for the top ten, ending 11th but with a good strategic position, ahead of Perez in the second McLaren. After a last-gasp lap to get into Q2, Ricciardo took 13th place with partner Vergne in 16th, unable to show the kind of pace they demonstrated in China. Hulkenberg struggled in his Sauber, especially at the rear end, and could only take 14th, with under-pressure teammate Gutierrez eliminated in Q1, taking 18th. After identical times in Q1 that got Bottas through, Williams went little further as they only managed 15th, with Maldonado languishing in 17th. With a shift in dynamic at the back of the grid facilitated by an upgrade package on the Caterham, Pic took 19th ahead of Jules Bianchis Marussia, which hasnt looked as strong here compared to the last two races, evident as Chilton was beaten into last place by Van der Gardes Caterham despite its lack of the updated parts.