The Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying Highlights Formula 1

Track temperature still at 51 degrees in the sultry heat and

humidity of Malaysian. It's going to be a roasting start, lights out,

good start from Hamilton, Vettel squeezes Rosberg against the pit

wall. Ferrari has got a problem. Lewis, two tenths faster last lap.

This is great stuff! We are going to turn it down a little bit. A shake

of the head, what has happened? It goes from bad to worse, Ricciardo

limping. OK, he is racing faster than you. Overtake him, you are

faster than Massa, overtake him. Massa not interested in listening to

that team instruction. Lewis Hamilton wins in Malaysia,

congratulations to a team that has come into the team better prepared

than any other team out there. Well, that is certainly true, two

wins from two races, one for each driver. This week, it is the tenth

anniversary of F1 racing in Bahrain, and as the sunsets in the desert, we

will be under lights for the first time, 5000 of them. Thanks very much

for tuning into our highlights of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix.

This is round three of 19 events, the paddock will make a return to

Austria in June.... David Coulthard, welcome to a balmy

evening in the desert as we wait for darkness to fall, how does it change

things for the drivers? Actually, it makes things easier, because

temperature is the biggest enemy for racing drivers in the car, it is bad

for your tyres, your brakes and the efficiency of the engine. For all of

those reasons, they enjoy the cooler temperatures. It is great for the

fans as well, you have got clear visors, you can see the race face,

the concentration. Or not, as the case may be! Long straights,

heartbreaking, who will it suit? It is all about Mercedes, they have

stolen a march with the new regulations, they have an advantage

over the other runners, McLaren, Williams and Force India, but it is

all going to be about Mercedes powered cars this weekend. Turn four

was changed overnight because of this incident with Pastor Maldonado

in free practice 2. You can see the orange curve, and as he ran wide, he

was launched up into the air and pulled a wheelie. That has been

removed and we will not be seeing any more of it this weekend. We

probably will not see any more of the Lotus either. As you know,

Michael Schumacher is still fighting for his life in a coma after the

skiing accident three months ago, everyone thinking about him here and

you can see signs on the track, this is turn one, which has been named

after Michael Schumacher. Years a friend of the country, he won the

first Grand Prix ten years ago, a fantastic gesture. We offer the

first good news from a long time from his manager, Sabine Kehm.

It is those moments of consciousness and awakening that we felt was quite

exciting. It is fantastic news, they have played their cards very close

to their chest in terms of giving information to the public, but it is

significant they are starting to see signs of recovery, and we send our

best to his family. Let's catch up with Lee and Lewis, she saw him on

Thursday to talk about his second year with the silver arrows.

I would like to think that, in Bahrain, we will improve a little

bit. I could never have trained that it would be such a good thing coming

to this team. Everything came together. No-one had an answer for

Lewis Hamilton today. Are you surprised at the commanding

performance you were able to put in? Yeah, the cool thing about

raising is that it is different every weekend and you cannot predict

what was going to happen. Nico was a little bit quicker last weekend, but

I went away and studied under Saul where I was weaker, and I applied it

on the next day, and it worked. And it doesn't always happen that way!

You have said you feel this is the best F1 car that you have ever

driven, when did you realise that? This year I am a lot more

comfortable in the car, it is one I can call my own. Last year, we had

trouble all year. But we spent a lot of time in the winter really pushing

the guys to change certain things, to make it feel right. It wasn't

until the first race that it actually felt right. It took all the

test sessions, and I could never have dreams that it would be such a

good thing, coming to this team. I could never have hoped or imagined I

would be as happy as I am here. 2008 Formula One world champion Lewis

Hamilton! How different you think you are to the Lewis who won the

championship? I feel like now I am much more

comfortable in my own skin. I am 29 now, I am on May eight year of

Formula One. It is crazy to think that so many years have gone by. --

my eighth year. I would like to think I have met you do a little

bit, hopefully it will only get better and I will only mature more.

It is a fine line! Hopefully, yeah! I think, generally, the ups and

downs I have had, I am hoping I have learned from all of those and I am

just generally feeling in a better place this year. Out and out, I am

still a racer, and I love the wheel to wheel racing, racing on a single

lap, it is so much fun. Did I do enough? That is P1.

Were you always focused on 2014? A lot of people said that was when

Mercedes would come into their own. That is the exact reason I came

here, that belief that I was given. We had such a great year last year,

still able to compete and perform, and this year, who would have

imagined we would be so competitive? Who do you think, at this date, your

main rivals are? Naturally, your team-mate is your biggest rival in

the same car, particularly when you have got a good car, he has the same

as you have. Does he see your data from Sunday? Is that how it works?

It is incredible, they give you some info, and what happens is there is

tonnes of data drawn from the car, and you come to the next race, and

whatever advantage you may have out in the previous one, your team-mate

is able to understand what that is. So every weekend, if you are in the

lead, you have got to keep moving forward, which is really hard to do.

Or some race, Lewis, awesome race! It is a special feeling when you go

to a track like Malaysia where I have never won, to think there are

still races where I have not won, so the great thing is that I have still

got challenges ahead of me. Interesting that he was excited

about the win in Malaysia, he still has five tracks to Congo, two

brand-new, but Brazil, Barcelona and here is. -- Congo. He has got the

package and the skills, but it is not just about wins, he wants wins,

but he wants to take every box, he wants to know that he is the man who

can conquer every season challenge. This is how the championship looks

after two races. These are subject to the court

hearing over Ricciardo's this qualification in Melbourne. -- this

qualification. We have grown, two have become

three, we welcome Allan McNish, after two rounds, what can we

conclude from the championship apart from the fact that Mercedes are very

good? They are dominant, but it is not just about the team, it is about

the engines, and we have put together a graphic to explain a bit

more about it. This is from the Bahrain Grand Prix, free practice

this afternoon. It is the maximum speed at the end of the straight.

There are a couple of Renault teams up there, Toro Rosso and Caterham,

but they do not have the downforce, so they are punching above their

weight on the straight line speeds. The majority of Mercedes runners are

at the top. This graphic will show a small detail, this is at the

start-finish line, the acceleration out of the slow last corner, and it

is very clear, Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes. The difference is quite

dramatic. And that extra speed they carry from the beginning of the

straights they will carry all the way down. What does it mean for this

particular circuit? We will see the racetrack as red points, braking and

cornering. The green is where we are flat out, so it is very much an

acceleration and straight-line speed circuit. In my opinion, it is going

to be a Mercedes dominated track. However, it is going to be pretty

tough for the others to catch up, and they will have to do it one way

or the other. A difficult day for Sebastian Vettel, an unusual

incident we saw just a couple of hours ago in free practice 3. This

is down into turn one, he manages to do the apex no problem, turn 2, he

has some oversteer, runs onto the kerb, and with the amount of torque

these engines are developing, this is one of their key difficulties

with the Renault power plant. It is inconsistent, and it is catching

them out. We have never seen Sebastian Vettel spin like that, and

I do not recall another racing car in that gravel. Fascinating stuff,

hard work for Red Bull in between that session and qualifying. It may

have only been a week since the last race, but there is plenty to talk

about. There was a sense of deja vu in

Malaysia with this radio message over the airwaves. OK, Felipe,

Valtteri is faster than you, do not hold him up. We heard something

similar before at Hockenheim in 2010. So Fernando is faster than

you. Can you confirm you understood that message? That was the voice of

Rob Smedley, who finally joined Williams this weekend as their head

of vehicle performance. The difference at sea bang was that

Felipe refused to play ball. One way gone, he is adamant he did the right

thing. Another situation like this, I am always ready to do the best I

can for the team, the best I can for myself as well. So for sure, it was

not the right call, definitely, but I would say everybody knows 100% now

as well, and I do not think it will happen again. Fernando Alonso has

won this race three times, more than any other current driver, but a

repeat performance is unlikely this weekend as the pressure starts to

build at Ferrari. Obviously I worry, you know, even if we have a

difficult preseason, we knew that Red Bull was the favourite anyway,

because they saw great potential last year. In two weeks, they solve

all their problems, so we need to do the same. You have to wonder how

many ladders Daniel Ricciardo has walked and in recent weeks. After

two impressive drives, he still has no points, and after the pitch rock

drummers he has an unusual request for his crew this weekend. -- pit

stop dramas. The team have the quickest pit stop in history, so it

could be a case of just, instead of being 100%, taper it off to 98%,

just keep it going, and the time loss will be minimal compared to

what we saw. Has Formula one taken the right road with the 2014 rules?

That is a question being asked by the Formula one bosses at a summit

this weekend. It is one that the tech boss has some strong views on.

We have gone down this route of making the sport road relevant.

Efficiency and simplicity am I like that. These revelations have credit

cards that are exceptionally, dated. -- complicated. It'd bring

something, that is fantastic but I believe that should be debated.

There will be those who believe that is just sour grapes but it is Adrian

There will be those who believe that is just sour grapes but it Newey,

and that is how he feels. Think you are right. He is an original thinker

and that is what we have seen in his designs over the years. Think is

heartfelt and genuine and to be fair, he said something similar to

ask at the Belgian Grand Prix last year when he was expressing doubts

about the new revelations. So it is genuine and it raises some good

points map but let's celebrate Formula one, which is fantastic this

year. Let's wait to see what happens with the Red Bulls story. Moving

forward to qualifying, what have you got for us? First of all, Sebastian

Vettel, the guys have been taking the gravel out of his car after his

shunt this morning, after that spin. This is a huge moment for him

because he has not done a light run at all around this racetrack. He is

going in blind and he cannot rely on his team-mate because Daniel

Ricciardo will get a penalty tomorrow. It is a big session for

Sebastian Vettel. Fantastic. David and then in the commentary box. Here

is Q1. -- then. And always has light in the darkness

of the desert. Qualifying begins on the 3.3 mile, 5.4 colour matter

trek. Lewis Hamilton has never won here and he has never been on pole

position. -- kilometre. His best position was second place. And in

2012, he lined up on the front row. He finished second in the past, but

in Malaysia, we know he was able to take his first win on that track,

and he is hoping to do the same one week later on another track. So

doctors around the lap. -- taught us. Turn to, building speed. It is a

short apex but quite a one corner. Five is a kink before entering one

of only two high-speed corners on this track. A nice corner, dropping

downhill. Heavy on the brakes. A classic here then. The camera does

not sure the rise over nine, having to brake as the car commonly locks

up. It does not do a lot of damage to the inside tire. That front wheel

is relatively unladen. Ten, a fast corner. And the speed grows through

11. One of the best corners for the driver is through 12 in terms of a

Yahoo moment. There are no theatres or grandstands. 13 is medium speed.

And then already we are on the back straight towards the last turn.

Linking 14 and 15 together. But really, it is one turn, a very short

apex. You will hang out on the exit her. -- exit curb. 102 miles an hour

because of the increased torque and reduced driver of the 2014 rules.

Let's watch Daniel Ricciardo in turn 12. A fast corner. Turn 13. The

right-hand side of the screen, the gear display shows the six. That

would suggest he is looking at a one: 37 opening lap. It could be a

36.7. 36.6. So he goes fastest for the moment. We can see on board than

the engine is changing gear at about 12,000 revs. Popping it into eight

dear towards turn 14. He would not necessarily expect that. Eriksson

had a big lock-up. Look at that. Let's see what Fernando Alonso has

been doing. That is a classic lock-up. What you're looking for,

does the driver end up missing the apex if you inches is enough to

really affected their ability to get on. As we have been talking earlier

in the show, this is all very much a point circuit. The previous Grand

Prix was cyst winning the corners. But this is about accelerating mass.

If they can get away into the 36 the remark, they can save the soft tyres

for later in this is qualifying session. I'm sure it is something

that they will wish to do. We expect those drivers, Hamilton and

Rosberg, to be fighting for pole position. Hamilton has taken two

pole positions so far. However split times looking? Hamilton is slightly

quicker. -- how hard the split times. There is no real concern

about making it through into the next part of qualifying. 35.44 was

broke and 35.34 Hamilton. -- 35.4 four Rosberg. RADIO: I am struggling

with the front locking. Kevin Magnussen, he has been quite

impressive so far. Ninth fastest this morning in the Toro Rosso.

Currently he will have to go again. On board with Sebastian Vettel.

Let's see how he gets on. Mentioning about struggling with the front

locking, his options are to reduce the balance of the front axle. If

you want to be annoying, you could tell him not to push the brake pedal

so hard. Interesting listening to him on the radio. There are quite a

few moments when he sends he sounds stressed. A lot to think about.

Vettel goes the seventh fastest with that. What have you got for us? But

notices went out on the soft tyre for this session. Everyone else did

a medium run first. -- the notices. Lewis Hamilton, if you assumed he

can go a couple of seconds quicker, it shows you how much that team is

struggling. Romain Grosjean is currently sitting eighth. Lewis

Hamilton, still fastest. Motors have been struggling this weekend. --

Lotus. Adrian Sutil has been struggling against his team-mate.

Let's see how he gets on the session. Gutierrez is only 17. It

could be an interesting drop zone, maybe a chance to drag them out.

Bianchi was also very quick. You might see some surprises in this

drop zone. Don't expect it to be the standard two Marussias. We know that

this card is overweight. Sauber have admitted as much. They are expecting

to deliver a lightweight version in Europe. Sutil, he has had more of a

disadvantage. That is one thing you can accurately model in Formula one,

with so many commented aspects. Wheat is one that you can put an

accurate handle on. -- weight. Ten kilograms is over three tenths of a

second. It appears that that package is overweight. Gutierrez going

quicker. This figure will still be in the ballpark. It will not be

comfortable. We gather that Maldonado has had a bit of an off at

turn four. Currently second-fastest. Rosberg does not need to do another

lap. Maybe this would be useful for the team. A great opportunity to

look at the dashboard in the darkness. They really show up very

clearly. You have the gear indicator. Some of the dashboard is,

on the Saubers, be sure the speed and then you can scroll through to

another setting. It is down to the individual team as to whether they

have a steering wheel mounted dashboard with that display, or in

the case of the red Bull racing car, they still have the original

design, a small dashboard that tells them the gear and lap time. They can

call confirmation if they make an adjustment. Very little information

on the student wheel. It is down to engineering choices. -- steering

wheel. The information on the steering column, you have to be able

to click that into place and send that message to the dashboard. How

much weight do you want to be on there? Different engineering

solutions to the same problem. The Williams are coming out. We expect

them to be major challengers in this qualifying session. Potentially

second row qualifiers. Let's see if they can deliver on that promise. We

are currently waiting for a fewer drivers to come back on circuit and

use the softer tyre. Mercedes look comfortable on the harder of the two

tyres. Most others are likely to put the soft tyre on. Mercedes will have

more tyres available to them. It will change for Kevin Magnussen,

preparing to send him on his way. It is going to be tight. The Williams,

we will expect them to move up out of the drop zone. That will put

Perez and Bianchi into danger along with Vergne. Rob Smedley, who has

moved to Williams from Ferrari. This is his first event with them. He

looks very different in those colours. What have you got, Tom?

Mercedes, looking confident. However, Sebastian Vettel has gone

past on the soft tyre. That's not forget that in practice he did not

get to do a soft tyre run because he had a spin at the second turn.

Interesting to see his lap time now. And the fact that he is going on to

the soft tyre shows you that Red Bull do not have the confidence that

we have seen in the past. They have often managed to get through the

first part of qualifying with harder tyres, Red Bull are not in that kind

of shape. Bottas, it is good to watch. He has great car control.

Working the talk of these hybrid power units. The first clips, pretty

impressive. Have they got the speed in the middle part of the lap? It

will drop back down. A tricky braking area. That is pretty tidy. A

little bit of overseers through the apex but the car is light. --

oversteer. No fuel samples needed at this stage in qualifying. Up through

the fast right turn. Here comes, anchoring in for the 13th curtain. A

bit of movement into the apex. It looks like he drifted into the apex

which is nice to see but that will have cost and time. -- cost him

time. It is looking good for him. He is fastest in the middle sector. On

the soft tyre, compared to the Mercedes. He should be quicker. I

think he is going to be. Bottas, fastest at the 234.9. In half an

hour. Goodbye. 34.9. Comfortably into Q2. No risks being taken by

Williams. It might have been a gamble but they have gone straight

out and done one run on the soft tyre. Let's see how Hulkenberg

compares. Is that on the pace? Absolutely. And here comes fully

paymaster, only recently quick lap. He goes third, behind Hulkenberg. --

Felipe Massa. Incredibly close between the Williams and Force

Indias. All of the cars, different designs and drivers, but going

around within a 10th of a second of each other. Short in terms of

distances. Jenson Button, we can see him on his lap. Not as quick as the

Williams or the Force Indias. Much was expected of McLaren in testing

before the season began. This is his first run on his tyres. He is

seventh, straightaway. 35.5, half a second slower than Felipe Massa,

Bottas and Perez. And most of that is in the power unit. Given ion the

Toro Rossos, because there was a danger that Red Bull could be shown

up by their sister team. The Toro Rosso has been going quickly through

practice. Vergne, on a lap, in comparison with 16th place... We

will keep an eye on him. In the drop zone at the moment, Kimi Raikkonen,

Bianchi, Vergne, Maldonado and Ericsson. But Raikkonen is on a lap

that should see him improve. Vergne goes ninth. Not quite as quick as

that but not far off. -- as Vettel. Leaving it very late with 40 seconds

to go. It was as if he was powering back into turn 14, very quiet.

Anyway, good enough to secure his place in the next part of

qualifying. Kyvat has gone faster than Vettel again, a great lap

bidirectional. What about the Lotus? We saw Alonso doing the same on his

lap through turn nine? Romain Grosjean has a car and head, which

does move out of the way. That could be the lap for him to squeeze into

Q2. Difficult times for Lotus, struggling to make it into the

second part of qualifying. We were not expecting that, but he has done

it, he has pushed his team-mate out. Let's see what happened to Sutil and

Grosjean, I wonder if there was some impeding, this will lead to some

arguments afterwards, my goodness, look at that! That was into turn

13, so they will be visiting Derek Warwick after this session.

Maldonado is out, Sutil is outqualified by his team-mate,

Gutierrez. We thought Kobe as she might do better. -- Kobayashi.

Adrian Sutil not making it through to Q2, and of course there was a

very close relationship with Romain Grosjean Ontrack which is now being

looked at by the stewards. We can get his thoughts. We know you will

be taking a trip to the stewards, tell us about it from your position.

There is not too much to say, I was on my warm up lap, I think the same

for him, he was warming up the tyres, and he was trying to push me

a long, trying to pass on the last straight, where you need to have

clear track, otherwise there's no point to open your lap. He managed

to get past. I tried to, of course, to defend, and I was inside, but

nothing unusual. So we got me and I had to abort my lap, that is it.

Nothing so spectacular. Frustrating to be standing here while cars are

on track, what about your pace for tomorrow? As that given you anything

to smile about? No, not really. The pace is very similar to qualifying,

that is where we are. At the moment we would need a miracle. But we are

planning more to the future and to the races from Europe on words,

step-by-step we will improve our car, but right now there is no

upgrade, from the lazy to here is the same car.

-- from Malaysia. No points scored by Sauber this

year, they will still be struggling this weekend. Jenson Button, looking

to see what he can do, a winner for the Brawn team in his championship

winning year of 2009. There has never been a British pole-sitter

here in Bahrain in the past, a chance to correct that perhaps if

Lewis Hamilton gets it all together here today. OK, just a reminder,

this has the potential to be your race starts tyre. Yes, that is a new

regulation, they get an extra set of tyres for Q3, but you have to stop

the race on the tyres on which you set your fastest time. Tom, what

sort of cut-off time are we looking at? To get into the top 16, middle

1:36, and I think we can shave another second of that to get into

the top ten, that is what my engineering friends are telling me,

made 1:30 fives. We will keep a close eye on that, the car scraping

the ground as Nico Hulkenberg heads down to the end of the straight.

This is where Vettel went off earlier. Interesting that you

mention the scraping on the ground, we are hearing more of that feedback

as they turn up the audio on the feed that we get to try and help

compensate for the much quieter power units that we have this year,

and it gives us a lot more of the noises, as Hulkenberg gives it two

big stabs of oversteer. That will have got his attention. Exciting!

You can see the gear change indicator in the middle of the

steering wheel, telling us what here he is in. They have a new eight

speed gearbox this year. Nicely out of turn ten. It looks as if he is

half a second slower than his previous best lap. The quickest in

the last session was 34.8, this could well be 35.2 to start off

with, depending on how the rest of the lap goes. He is an used tyres. A

slight lift through turn 12. Ricciardo got through the first

session on medium tyres, but this is a set that Hulkenberg has already

used to try to get a bank lap in. Then he will use another set of used

tyres for the second part of this session. Lewis Hamilton is on a

brown set of soft tyres already, because he did not use them in the

first part. -- a brand-new set. Hulkenberg is faster than Bottas,

who crossed the line head of him. Interesting, the times are a little

bit off what they were doing. The second lap on a set of tyres has

cost Hulkenberg about a second. The big between new tyres and used ones

is that you lose traction, and this is very much a traction circuit, and

that is why the Mercedes cars have such a speed advantage, as Kimi

Raikkonen opens his account with a 34.9. Quicker than he managed

earlier in the previous session. It would put him up amongst the

Mercedes engined cars that will be fighting behind what we think will

be the battle for pole, as Lewis Hamilton goes fastest, 1:33.8, very

much the fastest time we have seen so far. A little bit of a lock-up,

no major drama. Yes, you can see that tyre lifting off the ground, so

little load as they drop through the rise there at turn nine down into

the apex. Riding on board with the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

Different indicators on the dashboard on his car, brake balance

figures coming up, I think, that 59.0? That is what I was saying, the

numbers tend to be shouting at the drivers, visually assaulting them!

We will look at the in-car footage for Kimi, they are all very small.

Great opening lap from Rosberg. It has gone his way this time by a

tenth of a second, a fraction faster this time than Hamilton. We are in

for a great grandstand finish to qualifying between the two of them.

No time set by Sebastian Vettel, or by Magnussen, could be at, Button.

-- to the art. Vettel is the only one who has not set a time on track.

Grosjean scraped into this session, presumably they will give him a run

on the new said of tyres. -- set. Jenson Button micro, we will see how

he is getting on. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen is about to put in his

first time, fifth in the session, something for Jenson to aim for,

over one second slower than the Mercedes Grand Prix car. Yeah, he

has lost out a bit on the opening sectors, about six tenths off in the

middle sector to the Mercedes of Rosberg, about four tenths in the

first sector, just a little bit everywhere that the McLaren loses to

the Mercedes at this stage. We will watch as he comes out on the final

turn, flashes across the line. Let's see where this puts him, behind

Ricciardo, another good lap by Ricciardo, 1:34.5 by the Australian,

still looking for his first points after being disqualified from race

one and then suffering problems with the front wing in a pit stop in

Malaysia last week. Daniel Ricciardo still looking for his first points,

but he will have a ten place penalty, wherever he qualifies, he

will be ten places further back on the grid. Felipe Massa prepares to

come out for Williams, a former pole winner here for Ferrari back in

2007. And Daniel Ricciardo is just in the car at the moment, will we

see Vettel out soon? No, he is still in the adjacent pit box. Mercedes

working on the car out in the... They are pushing it back, I thought

they were going to work on it outside. Normally you will see it

worked on the garage in qualifying. Five and a half minutes to go in

this second part of qualifying, the battle for the top ten, we are yet

to see Vettel or Grosjean said any time at all. Mercedes taking their

time to read as a pit stop procedure, not changing the wheels.

-- rehearse. They have such a Martin right now, it is difficult to

imagine that they need to run again in this session. -- a margin. That

is why they told Lewis Hamilton those might be the tyres he would

start the race one. Jenson Button moves into fourth place ahead of

Alonso, a good lap for the Ferrari, mixing it with the Mercedes powered

cars. He is ahead of Magnussen and Hulkenberg, too. Kvyat still in the

hunt, ninth fastest. I think we will see the Toro Rosso do more. Finally,

Sebastian Vettel, this could well be his one and only run in this

session. It looks like it, a different strategy, just going for

that one run, as you mentioned. Struggling on this circuit to get

the power down. That power unit, for whatever reason, not satisfying the

drivers, we heard a radio message from Ricciardo, even though he is

sitting reasonably comfortably right now, saying that he just cannot get

the power down, especially in that first sector. That is what happened

to Sebastian Vettel earlier. Lewis Hamilton out of the car, I think

they are very happy with what they have done, exactly as you said, they

are not going to run in the second part of this session, with four

minutes to go. Of course, he will be getting ready for the final part of

qualifying to see who gets pole position. Valtteri Bottas did not

score points here last day, but he didn't qualify his team-mate, Pastor

Maldonado. 12 months ago, the Williams was a very difficult car to

drive, not delivering any downforce that they could do some thing with.

This year it looks like they have a very different car, much more

competitive. Still waiting for Grosjean to head out in the Lotus,

and in the meantime the tyre blankets are removed and away he

goes. The engineer listening to your broadcast, on demand they released

the car! Good timing, wasn't it? I wonder who was going to come out on

top, because it is to be in the top ten that matters. At the moment,

errors, Bottas, Vergne, Gutierrez, Vettel and Grosjean are in the drop

zone. -- Perez. Onto his lap goes Sebastian Vettel,

Tom. This is the calm before the storm, quite quiet, quite chilled

out in the pit lane. The Williams, incredibly complicated, what a sea

change, both Bottas and Massa went out on the medium tyre, something

that was unheard of last year, maybe doing a bit of work for the race.

They are going to put the soft tyre one, utterly confident. Better

Together that is not misplaced. Vettel getting to the first sector

point. -- let's hope that not misplaced. How is Vettel going to

get on in the confrontation with his team-mate, Ricciardo, I wonder?

Ricciardo did 30.0, two tenths faster. He looked a bit cautious

through turn two, using a lot of the kerb on exit, affecting acceleration

all the way down to turn four. He has not got a lot of confidence, but

marginally quicker than his best lap so far. You can see what the second

split is like, down by a second or so. Interestingly, he is reporting

that the downshifts are significantly worse than on the

previous run, and that is a software issue that they have been trying to

sort out earlier today. About half a second up on his best lap through

the last turn, a lot of gear use, that unsettles the car. -- a lot of

kerb use. Tenth place is not that safe, Ricciardo could be faster,

there are quick guys still behind him to put in a second run in this

session. Vettel only eight currently, Hulkenberg ninth, Felipe

Massa is likely to improve, so is the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, he

is crossing the line first, and he goes six, just behind Alonso,

pushing Vettel down to ninth now. Massa fighting the wheel, coming out

of the last corner, and he still should be on target, I think, to

move up into the top ten, yes, seventh, the same time as his

team-mate, how about that?! Felipe Massa and about Valtteri Bottas, to

the 1000th of a second. What can Ferrari do here? Raikkonen is only

ninth, Alonso is fifth, so Raikkonen is in danger. Vettel has been pushed

down and out of the top ten as Perez improves to sixth position. What an

amazing story, Ricciardo looks relatively safely in the top ten,

but Sebastian Vettel has been pushed down to 11th, and Hulkenberg could

well improve on this lap. He has crossed the line and is only 12.

There is a surprise, I am not sure he will improve on that, Hulkenberg.

And manages to displacing Vergne and Gutierrez. -- displaced Vergne. That

explains why Sebastian Vettel was not able to run a competitive lap.

It looks as though Sebastian Vettel is out of the battle for Q3. After

all the dominance of last season, that is a big story. Indeed. It is

unlikely to be hardware. The gears are all monitored in terms of the

weight and thickness. That will be a software issue, which is not just

about the downshift, it is about the recovery phase, through the motor

generator unit. Vergne, 13th with that lap. Gutierrez, quicker than

his team-mate so far. Can he do anything to surprise? He beat city

made but it is not enough to get into the top ten. An outstanding

performance from Daniel Ricciardo, really impressive. He qualified

sixth in 2012, with genuine pace. In the end, he drops down. Ricciardo

has shown that pace before. Vettel, clearly having some problem with his

car. On this occasion, Vettel is out. He was out in Australia as well

of course in Q1. But there is, more of a surprise. Ricciardo was through

and Hulkenberg, is he coming in? He was quickest in the previous

session, fastest overall. And he has ended up four tenths slower than his

team-mate. TRANSLATION: Became out of it today. -- I think I am out of

it today. The race engineer trying to give a positive spin to what has

been a bad weekend for Lotus so far. Hulkenberg comedy was three

tenths slower than the previous session. Look forward to seeing what

the issue was. -- Hulkenberg, was three tenths. This is during

Vettel's lap. Looking at the Slo Mo, Daniil Kvyat and Jean Eric Vergne.

Gutierrez and Grosjean two. Things are going from bad to worse for Red

Bull. Sebastian Vettel does not make it

through to Q3, or Nico Hulkenberg. We certainly did not expect to see

use bending here at this time in the evening. Our surprised? Yes. But I

feel that the work ended in the car was not good enough. I'd made a

mistake into turn 11, and hid the execrable. It screwed the lap and

lost a couple of tenths. I am a bit disappointed. You have looked good

weekend, hopes for tomorrow night? All the chances are still there. At

two good new sets of tyres. That makes me optimistic for tomorrow. --

I have two new sets of tyres. Sebastian, it was at Saturday for

you what was the problem? Not quick enough. As simple as that? Exactly.

Was it throughout the entire lap or the entire weekend so far? I was

pretty happy yesterday. This morning did not help us, the fact that I've

spun off. I think we added some damage to the car. Hard to say a big

that impact was. Once you start qualifying, you try to get the

best. It was tight, with Kimi Raikkonen. Not a lot missing to get

to Q3. But that is how it goes. We get an extra set for tomorrow. I

think in the race, things will come down and we will be able to be more

consistent. Hopefully we will be able to get some points. The top ten

shoot out is underway here in Bahrain. Daniel Ricciardo has been

impressive so far. shoot out is underway here in

Bahrain. Daniel Ricciardo has He will have a penalty but if he can do

what he did in the previous session, he will end up starting only two

places behind Sebastian Vettel on the grid. On board with Nico

Rosberg, the winner 12 months ago. But in the race, the car was

struggling. Rosberg was not able to deliver, but he certainly showed a

good qualifying pace. Battery Bottas, plunging towards turn one.

Convert has been the fastest so far. -- Valtteri Bottas. -- Rosberg.

Climbing up the short straight towards turn four. Jenson Button,

making his way down the pit lane. It is starting to get busier out there.

Bottas, moving in, from one side to the other. They have the confidence

to know they can take everything out of these tyres. They do not need to

make it last. As you mentioned earlier, they used to have to start

the Grand Prix on their best set of tyres from the previous session. We

are coming towards the tricky turn 11. Let's watch him.

That looks pretty neat. On the power early. Seventh gear through turn 12.

A little bit of oversteer on the back straight. It looks to me as if

he was half a second up on his previous best, which was 34.8.

Valtteri Bottas, what can he achieve your? An exciting time for the then

after such a struggle with the Williams car last year. -- the Finn.

That was a good start to the session indeed,1: 37.4. It will not be

enough to beat Mercedes, but the best qualifying performance we have

seen with those tricky conditions in Canada last year. He has not been

anywhere near that recently. Let's see what he can do today. Rosberg,

taking to the tracks. He took pole here last year, but can he give it

back to back in Bahrain? 14 and 15, those corners are grouped together.

Nice and tidy. Clean acceleration. Hamilton is also fast. Rosberg set

the pace. One: 33.1. Has he done enough? And do not think he has.

One: 33.1 is the time to beat. Canny move underneath that? Not this time.

They have another set of tyres to use. Think we will see them coming

out for their final attempt. Paddy Lowe looking after things on the

technical side at Mercedes. Look at their advantage over Bottas. It is a

second between Rosberg, fastest at this stage, and Bottas in third.

They have the same power unit which shows you when you get that

integrated within the machine, it can be separated. It is a team

effort. At the moment, this is dominance, in a way that we have not

seen for many years. Ricciardo, Magnussen and Alonso watching Jenson

Button here. You wonder if he is going to be doing the one run in

this session or if he will go back in and put on another set of tyres.

What kind of exit will he get here? Not bad. Using on the exit. That is

allowable. -- using the curb on the exit. Seeing that lap from Nico

Rosberg, it reminds me of something that Christian Horner said to me

last weekend. He said that Mercedes have a greater advantage than Red

Bull ever did. On that evidence, had to disagree. They are looking

supreme at the moment. David, it looks as though McLaren do not have

the pace of Force India and Williams. Look at the gaps.

Magnussen and Button have done a lap and there are big gaps. Difficult to

understand. The important part of the weekend is what happens in the

race, at a team like Force India, with a fraction of the budget, they

have been using the facilities at McLaren, the wind tunnel and the

simulator. So it does beg the question, what is going on? Let us

see what Ricciardo did a moment ago. That was the last corner. Once you

go beyond the curb, it gets incredibly dusty. A huge amount of

time lost in that last sector. He was one second down on the fastest.

And that was a short sector. Sergio Perez is still in the hunt. An

impressive qualifying performance so far. Currently fourth. Canny hang

onto that? -- canny. It looks like it is a change of plan. Force India

are going to sit with that position. They will accept what they have. It

is the first time he has been in the top ten shoot out this year. The

first time Hulkenberg has failed. He has qualified seventh on both

occasions this year. Kimi Raikkonen comes out. Alonso, currently ninth.

Kimi Raikkonen has not set a time. Perhaps Alonso is going to be doing

two opportunities here to try to set a time. The rows is being released

from the garage. -- Perez. There's a lot to look forward to hear.

Hamilton loves to save the best for last. Let's see whether he can

snatch pole position. For third and fourth, Bottas and Perez are evenly

matched. Williams is there as well. It looks as though they have the

edge over the McLarens. The parade is struggling. But maybe they can

pull something out of the bag with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

Two minutes to go. Important to get the wrap right. What they are doing

is harvesting electrical energy. They have to try to fill the battery

up as much as possible so that they can get a double charge as they come

out of the last corner. And then the FIA reset happens when they cross

the line. They will have the full amount if they have been able to

replenish that, to build during the form delete that first -- during the

first lap. Kimi Raikkonen, just building up on that lap. Coming

through, setting the pace. The pace that he said earlier on should be

enough to get them up to the top ten. But we will have to see. Look

at the dashboard, has small Kimi Raikkonen's numbers are. The

Mercedes dashboard, it is shouting at you more than speaking. Who will

it be that sets the pace? Into turn one, and already he is white. He

avoided locking up the front wheel by allowing the car to go straight

for longer. Again, that affected his speed as he ran into four. Not bad

on the apex. Having to use the curb on the exit. There was a lot of

under Speer -- understeer in the first phase. Having to use more road

than he would like. This does not look like Kimi Raikkonen is

comfortable in this car. Bottas, he has been struggling beer with corner

entry. The Ferrari car, my son does not call it a curare, he calls it a

curare car. -- struggling bear. -- Ferraris. It is locking up for

Rosberg but he gets it into the apex. Waiting to see what Hamilton

does in the first sector. The chequered flag is out now. Rosberg

has done his first sector, no quicker than he did previously.

Ricciardo has done a reasonably good first sector. It is going to be so

close between these different cars. Except for the battle between the

top two. Which of them is it going to be? Rosberg or Hamilton? Hamilton

has done a slow first sector. He has thrown in the towel on this lap. It

is enough for Rosberg. Nico Rosberg will take pole unless somebody

really does pull out a huge surprise. Let's wait and see. Daniel

Ricciardo goes third for the moment, six tenths slower than

Hamilton. Can anybody beat that time? Button, 34.3, seven. Fernando

Alonso, only ninth, only ninth. There is no real pace in that

Ferrari to challenge the Mercedes powered cars. It is pole position,

it is a 1-2 for Mercedes, Nico Rosberg takes his first pole

position of 2014. Magnussen crosses the line and takes ninth, a place

two behind his team-mate. The row, Daniel Ricciardo has put that Red

Bull once again, an astonishing effort by him, on the front row in

Australia, remember, a good effort in Malaysia, where Vettel bordered

on the front row, and you can never discount Red Bull Racing, they have

got a car ahead of the Mercedes powered machines. But Mercedes have

a 1-2 on the grid, and you know what, that is the first this year

they have managed it, the first since the British Grand Prix of last

year, and there was the mistake from Lewis Hamilton that saw him back

out. Lewis has gone off, your position is safe, well done, pole

position. On board with Hamilton in to turn one, the front right locks

up. He knows he does not need to worry about starting on these

tyres, massively wide. So Rosberg ends Hamilton's chances of a

hat-trick to start the season, and it is Rosberg or dates back to back

pole positions, and once again this Bahrain circuit is denied a pole

position for Lewis Hamilton. We will run through the times, Rosberg

fastest from team-mate Hamilton. Pole-sitter Nico Rosberg, his fifth

career pole, tricky conditions with the temperatures dropping. Out of

was it? Yeah, quite a unique weekend, we do most of our

practising in hot lunchtime conditions, which in the desert is

very hot, and then into night time for qualifying. You have to guess a

little bit what the balance will be like, what the car will do. And it

is tough, because it is three completely different set up

parameters, mechanical, aerodynamic and electronic, which has a huge

impact as well. Which one of the three, to get them all going to get

there, it is quite difficult, and today I found my way, so I was able

to push in the end, very excited. Shall we have a look at the lap?

Talk us through those three elements, which one of them could

you have improved on in this lap? This looked like you really worked

hard to get pole position today. We have so much torque from the

engines now, it is more demanding to put down the power cleanly, and the

problem with the tyres is when you get oversteer, the tyres ramp up

immediately and you lose out for the next three corners. You have to try

to keep it smooth. And I managed more or less, it is always difficult

in qualifying to be super-smooth. Which parameter, I think I had a bit

too much oversteer from the Electronics, a bit too much

handbrake, I call it, in the car. From this point of view, lots of

small corrections when you are going towards the apex, is that just your

driving style for this circuit? Or because the car was on the nose?

That is exactly the thing, it is a compromise, because if I have

oversteer going in, I can get around the corner quicker. Understeer is

the biggest killer, you have to wait and wait and wait. Understeer is

when I turn but the car keeps going straight. If I get that, it is a lap

time killer. Always better to have a bit of oversteer going in to

overcome that. What is it about this track? It seems to be a special

place for you, even going back to your GP two days, the fast lap with

Williams. Do you like this circuit? It is a great track, definitely, I

like it, it suits my car well, and engine power, it is an engine power

track with a lot of long straights, and with the Mercedes power, that is

a good thing to have. Don't sell the driver short! Talking about the

driver, what can the driver do tomorrow, does he think? He can do a

lot, but it is going to be a different world again, yes, because

a lot of new challenges, tyre degradation is the main one, tyres

dropping away quite a lot. But I am confident, I practised well on

Friday, we always practice on Friday with a lot of people to prepare for

the race, and that went well. I am looking good for tomorrow. We wish

you the best for the race, let's here is from your team-mate.

I know what high standard you have, how is second sitting with you? It

is OK, I am happy for Nico, he has worked hard all weekend, and he did

a better job, he was a little bit more comfortable in the car going

through the weekend. Maybe it will be the opposite way for me, but

still we are on the front row, and still an interesting race tomorrow.

It will be a big battle tomorrow, do you have to get him at the start to

win? I don't really know, that would help! He has got great pace, so a

little bit different, small differences in our setups, so I

don't know. I will do what I can tomorrow, and he has learned a lot

from what I did in the last race, so that gap may be a bit smaller. If

there is any at all, I will try to find something else tomorrow. I was

really happy with qualifying. I think all through the runs, both

tyres as well, I was pretty pleased with my performance. We got through

to duty with just the crimes, so we may have saved one set compared to

the others. -- we got through to Q2 with just the primes. I will needed

to come through the pack, I did the best I could, so I am pleased. When

I spoke to Sebastian Vettel, he said the ball is not quick enough, but

you would doubt that, is there any difference between your cars? -- the

Red Bulls. When he is talking, he is probably talking about the silver

cars in front of us. He has been in a different position to me in the

past, fighting for championships, and obviously Red Bull has been

pretty dominant the last few years. It is new territory for him, and I

guess we want to catch them, so that is probably what he is talking

about. Obviously, I want to close the gap to them, but today I seemed

to get it right. Personally, I do not know if he had other issues or

not. But with my performance, I was pleased, and I think we are both

going to charge had tomorrow. Obviously, he's not pleased with his

qualifying, and I am not pleased with my penalty, but we will both

put on a good race. Daniel Ricciardo, a superstar in the

making, Vettel not ready for this race, but there was an issue with

his car. He had a spin in free practice, affecting censors

apparently, and these cars are so complex they could not change them

before qualifying. All things considered, he is happy to have got

to P11. Daniel knew he had the penalty, so a great qualifying lap.

We did not see much of it because we were geared up to see the battle

between Hamilton and Rosberg. Valtteri Bottas, you qualified

fourth and will move up to third on the grid tomorrow, equalling your

best qualifying, dry qualifying, that must mean even more. Yeah, we

know it is much better, the chances for the race, and in Canada. So it

is different, I think this was really the maximum result we could

get, and we know that we have good pace in the race as well, so it will

be a nice day tomorrow. Not only is it dry, it is under the lights, tell

us about Bahrain in the semi-darkness, what with the

challenges and benefits? Well, I like it more, mainly because it's

just looks cool! As a driver, you know, there is some markers that you

are using as a break point or something, they could be some

shadows that you have not seen before, but that is just a question

of driving one or two laps and finding them. Other than that it is

not that different. It looked very cool from Williams, all the

sessions, you went out very late in Q1, you seemed to know what you are

doing, the team seems to have a very positive vibe, tell us about that.

Yes, I mean, obviously, we had a really good test here, two tests, we

did a lot of milage, the pace was pretty good, so we were confident it

should be better than Malaysia for us. We did not see a big point of

running too much milage, we thought it would be better just to do the

things that were most important, you know, collecting data, fine tuning

the setup. Hopefully we will save the car a bit for the race.

Hopefully it is nice and fresh for tomorrow. Congratulations, we wish

you the best. Jenson, tougher than expected today?

It was fun, actually, pretty close after the two Mercedes. Everyone

else was pretty close in the top ten. It was enjoyable. I don't feel

like I left anything out there in Q3, disappointed to be where I am,

but I feel like I got everything out of it. I think Q2, people did not

get the best out of their cars, and we did. We continued to do that in

Q3, but other people found their feet. I surprised to have a Force

India and a Williams in front of you? No, if you have watched the

first two raises! Jenson Button will start sixth, I think he would have

been happier with fourth, but he is ahead of his team-mate, which is

important. That battle is always very significant, especially when

you have such an age gap, you cannot recognise that, Jenson is in his

250th Grand Prix. And I think that is why he felt he had to say he got

everything out of the car. I am getting disappointment from Jenson

that McLaren has not delivered a championship winning car. He wants

upgrades. You need a huge chunk of performance gains, they'll almost a

second off the pace of Mercedes Grand Prix. Let's have a look at how

the grid will line up for the race with Ben Edwards.

Mercedes have a 1-2, Perez and Bottas are on the second row, button

and Raikkonen on the third. Massa was seventh, Magnussen aids, but

Alonso and Vettel find themselves sharing row five. Hulkenberg is

11th, Daniil Kvyat is 12. Ricciardo will start 13th head of Jean-Eric

Vergne. Grosjean and Gutierrez are ahead of Maldonado and Kobayashi.

Ericsson is 20th from Max Chilton, Sutil is last following his five

place penalty. That is how the grid lines up for tomorrow's race, I

thought would be talking about Nico Hulkenberg, but Sergio Perez was the

star for Force India, qualifying fifth, going from the second row,

glorious for him. Much-needed, because after two races it was

looking like Hulkenberg was going to steal a march on him, and we know

how good Hulkenberg is. Perez had his brightest time with McLaren here

last year, running wheel to wheel with Jenson Button, then it faded

out as the year went on. There is a theme, he goes well on this track,

but we will expected team-mates to meet him tomorrow. Clearly Nico had

a problem in qualifying, Kimi outqualified Fernando Nava first

time since his return to Ferrari, but they are struggling for pace.

Neither of the drivers are comfortable with that car, and it is

significant that Fernando was so far away from Kimi. He is another one I

would expect to be moving forward. Look out for Fernando moving

forward, Nico Hulkenberg moving forward, can Perez stay in a good

position? What can Red Bull do? Daniel Ricciardo, he will have to

take his penalty, but look for them making their way into the top ten.

Where they will struggle is on top speed. Back tomorrow with all the

highlights on BBC Two at ten o'clock. It is Nico Rosberg who was

in the spotlight today, he won the Mercedes deserts jewel, but it is

all about the race. Thanks for watching. -- desert duel.