Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock claimed Toyota’s first-ever front row in Formula One, after dominating the final qualifying session in Bahrain.
Initially it was championship leader Jenson Button who topped the time sheets in Q3 with a lap time of one minute, 34. 044 seconds in the Brawn GP. World champion Lewis Hamilton pushed his McLaren up into second position with one minute, 34. 196 seconds thereby making it an all-British front row.
But moments later, Glock responding with a quicker lap that pushed them both back with a time of one minute, 33.712 seconds. Only to be beaten by the sister Toyota of Trulli was one minute, 33.431 seconds. It was the Italian’s first pole since Indianapolis 2005 (his fourth in his career) and the team’s since Suzuka in the same year.
To qualify in first and second position is a fantastic achievement and it showcase the improve performance by the Japanese manufacturer following the first three races this season. That maiden victory could be on the cards providing it has the right strategy and pace in the race. Judging by winter testing, the TF109 has the speed necessary to win this Bahrain Grand Prix.
Two-time Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel will start in third position, continuing his excellent qualifying form with Red Bull Racing. As for his team-mate Mark Webber, the Australian was furious to be knocked out in Q1, after being held-up by Adrian Sutil in the Force India.
Series leader Button will start in fourth, ahead of Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn GP. I believe the Brawn cars are running a heavier fuel load compare to its rivals.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso will start in seventh place for Renault, with the Ferraris in eighth and tenth – Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen split by Nico Rosberg in the Williams.
The red cars are still struggling and with the lack of pace, this is a serious concern. Both Massa and Raikkonen have yet to record a points finish and with the Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo attending Sunday’s race, the drivers and team really need to step up their game in order to have any chance in winning the title.
Another team seeking for improvement is BMW Sauber. Robert Kubica and team-mate Nick Heidfeld will start the race down in a disappointing row seven. The F1.09 is simply now fast enough and even the brief flash fire for Kubica during qualifying fail to ignite any speed in the car.
So can Jarno Trulli lead Toyota to its maiden victory on Sunday? What about Vettel? Can the young German chalk up another race win for Red Bull? Or will Button lead the way in his dominant Brawn GP? We find out on Sunday afternoon.
Qualifying times from Bahrain:
1. Trulli Toyota 1:33.431
2. Glock Toyota 1:33.712
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:34.015
4. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:34.044
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.196
6. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:34.239
7. Alonso Renault 1:34.578
8. Massa Ferrari 1:34.818
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:35.134
10. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.380
11. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.242
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:33.348
13. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:33.487
14. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:33.562
15. Piquet Renault 1:33.941
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.753
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:33.910
18. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:34.038
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:33.722*
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.159
* Three-place grid penalty for impending Mark Webber in Q1
Let’s hear the viewpoints from the top three drivers, taken from Autosport.com:
Jarno Trulli says he was surprised to be able to qualify on pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix after suffering from brake problems throughout Saturday.
The Italian headed team-mate Timo Glock in Toyota’s first ever sweep of the front row after securing his fourth F1 pole position.
It was Toyota’s first pole since the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix.
Trulli, aiming to win his second F1 grand prix, admitted he fears a repeat of his braking issues in Sunday’s race.
“It wasn’t an easy qualifying, things were quite difficult,” he said. “I had some trouble with my car, the brake pedal was getting longer and longer.
“To be honest I didn’t feel very comfortable for the qualifying lap, I felt more competitive with the race pace.
“But I knew I had a good car and could fight for pole so it was nice to end up with first and second, for the team especially it is great to show what a great result this is.
“But we need to analyse the data to see if we have a problem with the brakes, because I’ve had a problem so it is a bit of a worry.”
Timo Glock admitted he would have been unable to beat Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli to pole position in Bahrain even if he hadn’t made a mistake during his final run.
Glock occupied the top spot in the dying seconds of the session, but Trulli moved ahead to secure pole just moments later.
It was the Italian’s fourth pole of his career and only the third for Toyota.
German driver Glock admitted Trulli was unreachable.
“It was not too bad,” said Glock. “We found quite a thing overnight. We struggled yesterday with the brakes quite a lot but we made good changes to the car.
“I was surprised I was quickest at the end. I was quite happy with qualifying but the wind changes, it made the car nervous, so it was quite difficult in Q3. Jarno is good at qualifying, I made one mistake and lost a little bit of time, but without that it would not have been good enough for pole.”
Despite not managing to clinch his maiden pole, Glock was delighted with his team’s first front row lock-out.
“We had problems yesterday with the car already and was far away from the test pace, so we had a lot of stuff to change,” he said. “I was pretty happy with the car but in qualifying the wind changed and I struggled a bit in Q1, but I was happy in Q2 and Q3.
“It didn’t work out for the pole, but we have to be happy with the first row. Thanks for the team and mechanics because they did a lot of hard work in the past weeks.”
Sebastian Vettel believes the Toyota drivers were lighter than him in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, after the Japanese squad secured a front row lock-out.
Vettel, winner of the previous race in China, will start from third position, but the Red Bull Racing driver reckons he has a stronger race strategy, as he thinks Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock have lighter cars.
“I think it was a good session for us,” said Vettel. “I think we could see already in Q1 that it was already quite tight. The whole field is close together.
“It was a smooth qualifying session for us, no problems. We had a very quick cars, in Q2 we did just one run and could stay quickest, and in Q3 the Toyotas were just too quick but I am looking forward to tomorrow.
“I think they will pull in a bit earlier but we will see. I am looking forward to it.”
The German admitted the brakes will be one of the main worries in tomorrow’s race.
“Bahrain is well known as a heavy braking circuit, and also in the race with these temperatures it will be difficult to cool them, but it is a problem everyone will face,” he added.
More on the world of Formula One. With Jenson Button and Mark Webber’s view of qualifying:
Jenson Button has admitted that Brawn no longer has the performance advantage that it enjoyed in the first two races of the season after qualifying fourth for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Although in previous races the Brawns have qualified on a heavier fuel load than the Red Bulls and Toyotas in Q3, Button believes that the front-runners will all start the race on similar weights.
“We’ve struggled compared to the whole field and we don’t have the pace we had in the first few races,” Button told the BBC’s F1 coverage. “It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow – it’s not a walk in the park.
“At the moment, we don’t have the pace of the Red Bulls and the Toyota. Our race pace was good yesterday when we were doing long runs,but the problem is when you are in fourth place it’s difficult.
“We’ll do the best job with what we have. If it’s hot like this tomorrow, our pace will be good.”
Button believes that on single-lap pace the Brawn has slipped behind some of its rivals. Despite the car’s strength on long runs, he is not certain that he and team-mate Rubens Barrichello will be able to get to the front in tomorrow’s grand prix.
“We’re starting fourth and fuel-corrected we’ll be fourth,” he said. “We’re not quick. Our pace is good over long runs, but our one lap pace is not competitive.
“In Q2, where we do struggle more with low fuel, we were sixth. We were a little bit quicker with high fuel, but we’re not long and I think that the guys at the front are [pitting] around the same lap that we are.”
Mark Webber says his Bahrain Grand Prix is ruined after what he labelled as a disastrous qualifying on Saturday.
The Australian was slowed by Force India’s Adrian Sutil in his final run in Q1, meaning he was unable to make the cut.
Sutil was given a three-place penalty for the incident, but Webber will start the race from 18th position.
The Red Bull driver admitted he had no hopes for tomorrow.
“I had traffic on the last corner and therefore wasn’t quick enough to go through,” said Webber “I don’t usually get caught out with that problem and that was the worst place to get nailed, as it wrecked both my flying laps.
“I had nowhere to go in the last corner of my first lap and then Sutil slip-streamed past me for the start of my second, so it was a disaster.
“Q1 is the worst session to have had that problem, as now we’re at the back for tomorrow – my race is screwed.”
Source: Autosport.com
I feel really sorry for Webber. After the highs of China in which he recorded his best ever result with second, to come to the next race and start right at the back is a major setback. Of course he is furious with Adrian Sutil and even the race stewards agree by placing a grid penalty on the Force India driver. But it still does nothing to improve Webber’s prospect in the race. Like the Aussie said, his race is effectively screwed. A real shame.