The Finger is back as Vettel takes pole in Bahrain.

Sebastian Vettel: “Obviously it feels great and this one I will give to the team and the guys

It wasn’t an easy start to the season for us – surely a lot of expectations but more than anything it was what we expect from ourselves. It did not match our expectation.

We worked hard on the car, trimming here and there to find the right way forward. The boys did not have much sleep the last few races – a tough race in China and here a serious lack of sleep, so I’m happy to be on pole.

Both of us owe the result to the team. The car felt better all weekend. I did not have the best early part of qualifying in Q1 and Q2, but knew when I got lap in we could nail it – so I am very happy.

The balance I had in particular in the first two races, I was not happy [with], so we decided in China to go back and see where we were, and Mark wanted to carry on [with the newer package.

It was good to get a straight comparison. We found the new car and new package, and old package has its advantages. We ended up with the new car. I think it helped us going into this weekend, trying to set up the car, working with the tyres – which seems to be tricky this year.

So we have felt a bit happier all around.

I think it is always tough, the race here is long and a lot of things can happen. We are pretty aggressive and we should be better off in the race.

Race pace has proven to be pretty consistent in the last couple of races. At this one I am definitely happier with how the car feels.”

Pos Driver Team Time 
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m32.422s  
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.520s  +  0.098
 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m32.637s  +  0.215
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.711s  +  0.289
 5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m32.821s  +  0.399
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m32.912s  +  0.490
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m33.008s  +  0.586
 8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.394s  +  0.972
 9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                No time
10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   No time
11.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m33.789s  +  1.367
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.806s  +  1.384
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m33.807s  +  1.385
14.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m33.912s  +  1.490
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m34.017s  +  1.595
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m36.132s  +  3.710
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m34.865s  +  2.443
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.014s  +  2.592
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m35.823s  +  3.401
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.683s  +  5.261
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m37.883s  +  5.461
22.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       No time
23.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.905s  +  5.483
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m38.314s  +  5.892