Nico Rosberg on Pole in Bahrain Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg on Pole in Bahrain Grand Prix 2013

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes scored the second pole of his career as well as the second with Mercedes in Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2013. Sebastian Vettel of RedBull was close second. Alonso of Ferrari made a mistake in the final lap and  scores the third position. Lewis Hamilton, who was not satisfied with the balance of his car yesterday and today, scored the 4 th position. However, since his gear box has been changed, he gets a 5 place penalty and accordingly drops down to 9th position.

Webber finished at 5th and hence will start at 7th position, as he was slapped with a three place grid position by the Chinese stewards. He should have started on 8th, however due to Lewis Hamilton's 5 place grid penalty, Webber gets bumped up by one position. It should be noted that the grid penalties are applied in the order they were issued.

Felipe Massa who finished sixth now moves to 4th position due to the grid penalties of Hamilton and Webber. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil of Force India who finished on 7th and 8th now move up to 5th and 6th positions on the starting grid. Kimi Raikkonen moves up to 8th position from his 9th place. Jenson Button who didn't set a time will start on 10th position.

In the Q2, drivers opted for the softer medium compound tyres. Initially some of them drove with the used medium tyres and then later on had to shift to new ones.
Out in the Q2:
Romain Grosjean, despite using a new chassis could not qualify for the Q3 ie. top 10. He qualified in 11th place. He was followed by Sergio Perez in 12 position. McLaren has perhaps realised their mistake in hiring a rookie like Sergio Perez instead of Hamilton and the team principal have even publicly reprimanded Perez. It appears Sergio Perez is destined to meet the same fact as Heikki Kovalainen who later had to shift to Caterham.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso came in 13th position as opposed to his team mate Jean-Eric Vergne who came in 16th. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber came in 14th and Valeri Bottas of Williams scored the 15th position.


Pastor Maldonado of Williams must be a dissapointed driver, as he clocked the same time as his team mate Valeri Bottas, but since he posted the time later than Bottas, Maldonado was judged as 17th and hence couldn't qualify to Q2. Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber came in 18th. Gutierrez gets a 5 place grid penalty from Chinese Grand Prix and hence goes to the back of the grid.

Heikki Kovalainen coming back to the Caterham team, albeit as a test driver, seems to have paid off as for the first time in four F1 races, atleast one Caterham driver is faster than both the Marussia drivers. Charles Pic of Caterham was faster than Jules Bianchi of Marussia with the drivers qualifying at 19 and 20. They were followed by Van der Garde of Caterham and Max Chilton of Marussia in 21st and 22nd positions.

Final Starting Grid positions in F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2013

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel Redbull
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
4. Felipe Massa Ferarri
5. Paul di Resta Force India
6. Adrian Sutil Force India
7. Mark Webber RedBull
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
10. Jenson Button McLaren
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus
12. Sergio Perez McLaren
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
15. Valeri Bottas Williams
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams
18. Charles Pic Caterham
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia
20. Van der Garde Caterham
21. Max Chilton Marussia
22. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber