Nico rosberg on pole Bahrain

MERCEDES ON POLE FOR THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX. 

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, finishing ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

It is only the second pole of Rosberg’s career but the second in a row for Mercedes. He timed 1:32.330 to finish 0.254 in front of Vettel — the three-time defending Formula One champion — and 0.337 ahead of Alonso, who won last week’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Rosberg screamed into the radio: “Yes! Come on guys, that’s how it’s done.”

Rosberg’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was fourth but will start ninth because of a five-grid penalty for a gear box change. Mark Webber of Red Bull, who was fifth but was given a three-grid penalty last week in China, will start seventh.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m32.330s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m32.584s  + 0.254s
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m32.667s  + 0.337s
 4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m32.762s  + 0.432s
 5.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m33.078s  + 0.748s
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m33.207s  + 0.877s
 7.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.235s  + 0.905s
 8.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m33.246s  + 0.916s
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m33.327s  + 0.997s
10.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes
Q2 cut-off time: 1m33.702s                                      Gap **
11.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m33.762s  + 1.016s
12.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.914s  + 1.168s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.974s  + 1.228s
14.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.976s  + 1.230s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m34.105s  + 1.359s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.284s  + 1.538s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m34.425s                                      Gap *
17.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m34.425s  + 1.547s
18.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.730s  + 1.852s
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m35.283s  + 2.405s
20.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.178s  + 3.300s
21.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m36.304s  + 3.426s
22.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.476s  + 3.598s