2012 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying
Sebastian Vettel claims pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel has claimed his first pole position of the season for the Bahrain Grand Prix. He starts ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.
Jenson Button will start fourth, ahead of last week's winner Nico Rosberg who will start fifth despite being fastest in practice. Rosberg chose to do a single run in the final qualifying session but made a mistake at the last corner.
Daniel Ricciardo had a superb qualifying for Toro Rosso with strong performances in Q2 and Q3, despite his rookie teammate going out in Q1. He ended the session sixth, and starts ahead of Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez.
Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta elected not to set a time in the final qualifying session, so will start ninth and 10th respectively.
The first qualifying session caught out several drivers, including Michael Schumacher who had a problem with his DRS which prevented him from going out for a second run. He will start the race in 17th.
Heikki Kovalainen's last-minute lap was enough to put him in Q2 by just 0.013 seconds. A strong performance for Caterham.
2012 Bahrain Grand Prix grid
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'32.422 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'32.520 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1'32.637 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1'32.711 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'32.821 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1'32.912 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1'33.008 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'33.394 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | No time |
| 10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | No time |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1'33.789 |
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1'33.806 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1'33.807 |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'33.912 |
| 15 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1'34.017 |
| 16 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1'36.132 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1'35.014 |
| 18 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1'35.823 |
| 19 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1'37.683 |
| 20 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1'37.883 |
| 21 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | No time * |
| 22 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | No time * |
| 23 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’37.905 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1'38.314 |
* Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
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