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Michael Schumacher might have been fastest around the streets of Monte Carlo but it will be Mark Webber who starts the Monaco Grand Prix in pole position with the German receiving his five-place grid penalty for crashing into Bruno Senna in Spain.

The seven-time world champion vaulted his Mercedes from a provisional fifth after his first Q3 run to the top grid slot with a time of one minute, 14.301 seconds at the end of an exciting qualifying session.

But the penalty for his Barcelona incident means Schumacher will not be able to claim the first pole position since making his Formula One comeback. Instead Red Bull driver Webber – who was only 0.08 seconds slower – will head the Monte Carlo grid for the second time in his Formula One career.

Nico Rosberg held provisional pole for most of Q3, before slipping down to third. The Chinese Grand Prix winner will start the race on the front row following his Mercedes team-mate’s penalty.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was fourth quickest, ahead of Romain Grosjean. The Lotus driver was a likely contender for the top spot but a poor middle sector on his final lap left him fifth.

Ferrari could not manage the pole challenge it had been tipped for, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa sixth and seventh, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado made it to Q3 and was ninth, but his Williams will also be moved down the order due to the ten-place penalty for his incident with Sergio Perez in final practice.

As for the championship leader Sebastian Vettel, the defending world champion elected not to run in Q3 despite making it through into the top-ten shootout.

For the second successive weekend Jenson Button failed to get beyond Q2. The McLaren driver could not improve on his time of one minute, 15.536 seconds and he will start the race down in a disappointing P13.

Twelve months on from his dramatic crash at the Nouvelle Chicane, Sergio Perez was in trouble in Monaco qualifying again as he slid into the Swimming Pool barrier early in Q1.

Television replays showed his front-left wheel was not pointing in the correct direction before he hit the barrier. It’s possible that this was damaged following his collision with Pastor Maldonado at Portier during the final practice session.

The Mexican tried to drag his broken Sauber back to the pits but succeeded only in causing a red flag when he shed a wheel and had to park at La Rascasse.

Perez’s team-mate Kamui Kobayashi also had a brush with the wall on the approach to St. Devote, but continued intact and qualified P12.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was the other driver to crash, losing control under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane and clouting the barriers, causing wing and suspension damage. That left him P17 on the grid – but this was just one position behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Neither Force India made into Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg P11 and Paul di Resta P15.

Bruno Senna again failed to match Williams team-mate Maldonado’s pace and was only P14.

While at the back, Heikki Kovalainen came within a tenth of getting his Caterham into Q2. The Finn did beat his team-mate Vitaly Petrov by nearly a second.

Pedro de la Rosa in the HRT managed to split the Marussias and was only a tenth off Timo Glock.

So an impressive lap by both Schumacher and Webber. If only Michael didn’t hit the Williams at the last race in Spain… Can Mark become the sixth winner in Formula One? We will find out on race day.

Qualifying positions for the Monaco Grand Prix:

1. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m14.381s
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.448s
3. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m14.583s
4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m14.639s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m14.948s
6. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m14.301s*
7. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m15.049s
8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m15.199s
9.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     no time
10. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m15.421s
11. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m15.508s
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m15.536s
13. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m15.709s
14. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m15.718s
15. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m15.878s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m16.885s
17. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m16.538s
18. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m17.404s
19. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m15.245s**
20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m17.947s
21. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m18.096s
22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m18.476s
23. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m19.310s
24. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       no time

107 per cent time: 1m20.697s

*Five-place grid penalty
**Ten-place grid penalty

Pastor Maldonado becomes the fifth driver in five races to win in Formula One with an incredible drive in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan resisted huge pressure from home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in the late stages of the race to take his maiden victory and return Williams back to the top step of the podium since 2004.

Despite making the better getaway at the start and leading the early stages of the race, Alonso had to settle with second for Ferrari.

Completing the podium is Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus. Team-mate Romain Grosjean finished in fourth position ahead of Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber and defending world champion Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull.

Alonso had taken the lead at the start by beating Maldonado into the first corner, and then inched into a three-second lead during the first stint, as they pulled clear of the rest of the field.

But the combination of a stunning out-lap by Maldonado and Alonso getting stuck behind Charles Pic’s Marussia on his in-lap saw the Williams leapfrog the Ferrari at the second pit-stops, and then storm away for a few laps until seven seconds clear.

Alonso then started coming back at Maldonado, getting the gap down to 4.2 seconds before the Williams had a slightly slow final pit-stop with a left-rear issue.

A few laps behind Raikkonen, who was running much further before his final pit-stop, meant the leaders were absolutely nose-to-tail going into the closing laps as both tried to keep their tyres intact.

For a while it looked inevitable that Maldonado would succumb to Alonso’s pressure, but it was the Ferrari that started to lose pace in the final stages, and the lead gap began to increase again – allowing Maldonado to take a very unexpected victory by 3.1 seconds.

Raikkonen’s fresher tyres allowed him to gain on the leaders at a ferocious rate as the race neared its end, but he ran out of laps to catch Alonso, finishing six tenths of a second adrift.

Romain Grosjean finished fourth in Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi producing some bold passes on the way to fifth for Sauber.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel produced a late charge to take sixth after losing ground with a drive-through penalty for not slowing down under the yellow flags and requiring a new front wing at his final pit-stop.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and both McLarens fell victim to Vettel’s surge up the order, with Rosberg then resisted last-place starter Lewis Hamilton for seventh as he managed to make a two-stop strategy work against expectations. His team-mate Jenson Button struggled for speed all day and finished in a disappointing ninth.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg resisted strong pressure from Mark Webber, who lost ground on the opening lap and needed an out-of-sequence pit-stop for a new Red Bull front wing.

Behind the Toro Rossos and the Force India of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa had another difficult race for Ferrari. Penalised for a yellow flag infringement, the Brazilian finished only in P15.

Retirements included Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna – who tangled at the first corner when the fresh-tyre-shod Mercedes ran into the back of the yet-to-pit Williams – and Sergio Perez.

The Sauber picked up a puncture while trying to attack the Lotus pair at the first corner, and later parked just after a messy pit-stop.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are now joint leaders in the world championship with 61 points. The next race is the most glamorous, the Monaco Grand Prix. Will we see a new winner once again?

Spanish Grand Prix race results, 66 laps:

1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145
2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +3.195
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +3.884
4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +14.799
5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:14.641
6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +1:17.576
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +1:27.919
8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +1:28.100
9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1:25.200
10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
19.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements:

Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38 laps
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36 laps
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23 laps
Senna         Williams-Renault             13 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     13 laps

World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        61
2.  Alonso        61
3.  Hamilton      53
4.  Raikkonen     49
5.  Webber        48
6.  Button        45
7.  Rosberg       41
8.  Grosjean      35
9.  Maldonado     29
10.  Perez         22
11.  Kobayashi     19
12.  Di Resta      15
13.  Senna         14
14.  Vergne         4
15.  Hulkenberg     3
16.  Schumacher     2
17.  Massa          2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
2.  McLaren-Mercedes           98
3.  Lotus-Renault              84
4.  Ferrari                    63
5.  Williams-Renault           43
6.  Mercedes                   43
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41
8.  Force India-Mercedes       18
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo. May 24-27.

Pastor Maldonado will start Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in pole position after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his timed lap.

McLaren instructed Hamilton to stop as he had too little fuel in the car and needed to retain enough to provide a sample to the sport’s governing body for testing.

Although the regulations allow a car to be stopped on its return to the pits if needed, a shortage of fuel is not considered an acceptable reason.

As a result, the stewards ruled that Hamilton be excluded from qualifying, but would be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

A statement from the stewards reads:

“The stewards received a report from the race director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car four, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

“The stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

“As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

“The stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.”

Article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations states:

“Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event.

“Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.”

Yes, the penalty does seem harsh but the team made the error in not fuelling the car. So to penalise the driver doesn’t seem fair but that is how the sport is governed. Break the rules and you will suffer the consequences.

It’s going to be fascinating how Lewis Hamilton will perform in the race started from the back.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya. The 2008 world champion will share the front row with the surprisingly quick Pastor Maldonado in the Williams.

Home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso will start third in the revised Ferrari, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez.

In a qualifying session full of surprises, Hamilton was half-a-second quicker than Maldonado, who had been fast in final practice, setting the quickest time in Q2, and then held provisional pole for a moment.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial lap time stood until crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in the much-improved Ferrari went faster, followed by the incredible Maldonado.

But Lewis held the advantage and produced a lap time of one minute, 21.707 seconds to give McLaren their 150th pole position in Formula One. He then stopped on track (possibly due to insufficient fuel) on the slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held third ahead of the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez taking sixth while Kamui Kobayashi is in tenth. But a hydraulic problem forced the Japanese driver to stop at turn three on his way back to the pits.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher elated to save tyres and not do any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth for Red Bull and Mercedes respectively.

The biggest shock in qualifying was the elimination of both Jenson Button and Mark Webber in Q2.

Button complained of understeer in the McLaren while Webber believed a single run was enough to make it through into the top ten shootout. Sadly, this was not the case for the Red Bull driver. The pair will start the Spanish Grand Prix on row six.

It was also a bad session for Felipe Massa as well, with the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season with P17. The Brazilian lines up behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos on Sunday’s grid.

With Maldonado setting impressive times at the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna tried too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1.

While at the back, Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time. Charles Pic was quicker than his Marussia team-mate Timo Glock. As for HRT, Narain Karthikeyan hopes the race stewards can grant him permission to race following an apparent mechanical issues.

UPDATE: Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his best lap.

Hamilton’s McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the rules that demand a car returns to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA. He will start the race from the back of the grid.

Revised grid positions – Circuit de Catalunya:

1.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s
2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s
3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s
5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s
6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s
7.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s
24.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s*

107 per cent time: 1m28.363s

*Sent to back of grid for not having enough fuel after Q3

The familiar sight of Sebastian Vettel winning a race made a reappearance following a faultless drive from the reigning world champion in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The German held off the challenge from Lotus to get his title defence back on track with his twenty-second career Grand Prix victory – his first this season – and he now leads the world championship for Red Bull Racing.

The pace of the Lotus was impressive, with both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean able to match the leading Red Bull on lap times.

To finish in second and third is a great result for Lotus. For Raikkonen, this drive to the runner-up spot has silence his critics that he still has the desire to go racing in Formula One.

While Grosjean should be immensely proud by recording a podium result in only his fourth race since making his Formula One comeback.

Mark Webber took fourth for Red Bull Racing, while pit-stop problems consigned front row starter Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to eighth. Nico Rosberg completed the top five after an eventual race for Mercedes.

It soon became clear that the Lotus duo had stunning race pace. Although Vettel stormed away from initial pursuers Hamilton and Webber, Grosjean and Raikkonen were making quick progress up the order.

Grosjean had moved into fourth at the start, and then picked off Webber and Hamilton on laps four and seven.

While Raikkonen vaulted from P11 to seventh off the line, had a quick wheel-banging battle with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, then got up to third by the time the first pit-stops were done – by virtue of a string of passes and a long first stint.

The Iceman then closed on Grosjean, passing his Lotus team-mate on lap 24, just before their second pit-stops, and started hunting down race leader Vettel.

As they approached the final tyre changes, Raikkonen was on Vettel’s rear wing and was able to take several looks at passing the Red Bull.

The tension eased after the final pit-stops, with Vettel able to rebuild a slight gap over the Lotus and held it to the flag.

Mark Webber finished in an unchallenged fourth position, but there was plenty of action behind the Australian.

Rosberg slipped back to ninth on a scrappy opening lap, before recovering to fifth – although he attracted the stewards’ attention along the way after some aggressive defensive moves against Hamilton and Alonso.

The way Rosberg defended his race position by forcing Hamilton way off the track was over the top and against the sport’s governing body code of leaving a car’s width. As for the incident involving Alonso, yes, he made his one move but it was still quite marginal to edge the Ferrari off the track.

Both incidents were investigated after the race and after a few hours, the stewards decided no action was needed.

Paul di Resta did a great job on a unique two-stop strategy for Force India. At one point, he was leading the Grand Prix. To finish in sixth is a fantastic achievement for himself and the team.

Hamilton’s race went awry in the pits, as a wheel nut issue with his left-rear cost him a lot of time at both his first and second pit-stops. The McLaren driver had to settle for eighth chasing di Resta and Alonso to the flag.

In fact, it was a miserable race for McLaren. As Jenson Button spent much of the race on the fringes of the top six before a late pit-stop with a left-rear puncture, and then a mechanical problem that left his sick-sounding car heading for the garage on the penultimate lap.

Alonso had got up to fifth with an assertive start, but did not have the pace to stay there. Felipe Massa was respectably close to his team-mate’s pace on the way to ninth, while Michael Schumacher was able to come through from P22 on the grid to tenth in the Mercedes.

Two stars of qualifying saw their race hopes rapidly dashed. Daniel Ricciardo tumbled down the order on the opening lap with damage on the Toro Rosso’s nose. He was able to recover to finish in P15 though. While Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen picked up a puncture on lap one but made it to the end in P17.

So despite the political drama off-track dominating the news leading up to the Grand Prix, the racing at the Bahrain International Circuit was trouble free.

Red Bull’s first success of the season, which made Vettel the fourth different winner in four races, puts the champion back on top of the points table too, with 53 to the unhappy Hamilton’s 49. Webber is third with 48, followed by Button and Alonso on 43 apiece, Rosberg on 35 and Raikkonen on 34.

Red Bull also jumped ahead in the constructors’ rankings, with 101 points to McLaren’s 92, while the other big mover was Lotus who jumped up to third with 57 ahead of Ferrari on 45, Mercedes on 37 and Sauber on 31.

Race result at Bahrain, 57 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h35:10.990
2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +3.333
3.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +10.194
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +38.788
5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +55.460
6.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +57.543
7.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +57.803
8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +58.984
9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:04.999
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1:11.490
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +1:12.702
12.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +1:16.539
13.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:30.334
14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:33.723
15.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
20.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
22.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:36.379

Not classified/retirements:

Maldonado     Williams-Renault             26 laps
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            25 laps

World Championship standings, round 4:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        53
2.  Hamilton      49
3.  Webber        48
4.  Button        43
5.  Alonso        43
6.  Rosberg       35
7.  Raikkonen     34
8.  Grosjean      23
9.  Perez         22
10.  Di Resta      15
11.  Senna         14
12.  Kobayashi      9
13.  Vergne         4
14.  Maldonado      4
15.  Hulkenberg     2
16.  Schumacher     2
17.  Massa          2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          101
2.  McLaren-Mercedes           92
3.  Lotus-Renault              57
4.  Ferrari                    45
5.  Mercedes                   37
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
7.  Williams-Renault           18
8.  Force India-Mercedes       17
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona. May 11-13.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel returned to the front with his first pole position of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Vettel’s lap of one minute, 32.422 seconds earned the Red Bull Racing driver his thirty-first pole in Formula One. The German edged out championship leader Lewis Hamilton by a margin of under a tenth of a second.

Mark Webber lines up in third ahead of Jenson Button, while Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had to settle for fifth.

Despite setting the practice pace, Mercedes had a disappointing qualifying session. Rosberg elated to do a single Q3 run that was only good enough for fifth fastest. As for Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion was eliminated in Q1 with an issue with the DRS.

Daniel Ricciardo gave Toro Rosso huge encouragement with his career-best sixth on the grid, in front of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and Sergio Perez’s Sauber.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard choosing not to do a Q3 flying lap in the Ferrari, saving a set of Pirellis for the race.

Paul di Resta was likewise and even though Force India missed out on Friday afternoon practice session, di Resta was able to deliver the result needed in qualifying.

The pair will share row five, with Alonso five positions ahead of his Scuderia team-mate Felipe Massa.

Schumacher’s exit in Q1 was the biggest shock in qualifying. It came down to an issue with the Mercedes adjustable rear wing and a supreme lap from Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen.

With track conditions rapidly improving, early Q1 times did not prove sufficient. Both Red Bulls were on the edge of elimination, as did Sergio Perez, but in the end it was Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne – for a third straight race – and Schumacher who ended up on the wrong side of the cut-off.

Vergne may face further trouble after the qualifying as television replays suggested he missed a call to the weighbridge in Q1.

Schumacher was not the only world champion making an early departure from qualifying, as Grosjean’s progress into Q3 came at the expense of Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who will start in P11.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India could not match their team-mates’ form and will line up in P12 and P13 respectively.

It was a tough session for Williams too, with Bruno Senna only P15 while a KERS issue preventing Pastor Maldonado – who was already facing a five-place gearbox change penalty – from running in Q2.

While at the back, Marussia was nearly three seconds off Kovalainen’s pace, as Charles Pic outqualified team-mate Timo Glock for the first time – the German ending up behind Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT as well in P23.

Qualifying times from Bahrain:

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

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent time: 1m40.380s

After competing in 111 races, Nico Rosberg has finally claimed his maiden Formula One race victory with a commanding drive in a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.

This result means Rosberg becomes the first new winner in the sport since Heikki Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, 64 races ago.

Rosberg also joins the elusive list of father and son succeeding in Formula One. Both Keke and Nico are the third combination of winners after Graham and Damon Hill, and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.

As for Mercedes, their last triumph was back in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix with Juan Manuel Fangio.

McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

At a track where he had led only to fade in each of the last two years, Rosberg ensured he stayed at the head of an absorbing race in which variants of tyre strategies played out throughout the 56-lap race.

Not only did drivers vary between two and three pit-stops, but also there were huge differences in stint length.

Despite the Mercedes team’s tyre difficulties in the opening two races, this time the team handled the Pirelli issue perfectly – allowing Rosberg to deploy a textbook two-stop strategy and keep himself ahead of most of the action.

The German pulled away from his team-mate Michael Schumacher in the opening laps, soon establishing a four-second lead. Schumacher’s opportunity to feature in the lead battle then ended when he retired with an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel immediately after his first pit-stop.

Button was Rosberg’s main challenger thereafter. A great start immediately took Jenson to third, and he was catching Rosberg on a three-stop plan for a while, but victory was dashed following a slow final pit-stop with a left-rear wheel issue.

Kimi Raikkonen’s two-stopping Lotus held second position going into the closing stages, but trying to do half the Chinese Grand Prix on his third set of tyres proved too optimistic, and the Iceman tumbled from second to P14 in just a handful of laps.

Vettel, following a similar strategy, was first to pass Raikkonen, and looked like he might salvage second from his qualifying disaster.

The reigning world champion could not hold off the McLarens or team-mate Webber with their fresher tyres from a three-stop strategy, with Button getting through five laps from the end.

Hamilton and Webber doing likewise amid a thrilling tussle over the last two laps.

Webber took fourth despite his first pit-stop coming as early as lap six, and two trips off the track – one of which featured a wild flight over the Turn 13 kerbs.

While Raikkonen fell back, his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean did a two-stop plan with a very long middle stint and was able to battle to sixth, ahead of the Williams duo of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Sepang winner was only ninth for Ferrari having lost a little ground running off-track trying to pass Maldonado.

Sauber was a factor in this pack but could not repeat its Malaysian Grand Prix heroics. Kamui Kobayashi fell back with a poor start and finished in tenth, just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, who led for a while on a two-stop strategy.

Thus, after the race of the season, Hamilton leads the world championship with 45 points to Button’s 43, with Fernando Alonso third on 37. In the constructors’ stakes, McLaren still lead with 88 points to Red Bull’s 64, Ferrari’s 37, Sauber’s 31, Mercedes’ 26 and Lotus’s 24.

The next race is in Bahrain and despite the political unrest; the sport’s governing body has safely ensured the event will take place.

Chinese Grand Prix race results, after 56 laps:

1.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   1h36:26.929
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +20.626
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +26.012
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +27.924
5.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +30.483
6.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +31.491
7.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +34.597
8.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +35.643
9.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +37.256
10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +38.720
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +41.066
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +42.273
13.  Massa         Ferrari                    +42.779
14.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +50.573
15.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +51.213
16.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +51.756
17.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:03.156
18.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
21.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
22.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
23.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +3 laps

Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1:39.960

Not classified/retirement:

Schumacher    Mercedes                     16 laps

World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton      45
2.  Button        43
3.  Alonso        37
4.  Webber        36
5.  Vettel        28
6.  Rosberg       25
7.  Perez         22
8.  Raikkonen     16
9.  Senna         14
10.  Kobayashi      9
11.  Grosjean       8
12.  Di Resta       7
13.  Vergne         4
14.  Maldonado      4
15.  Ricciardo      2
16.  Hulkenberg     2
17.  Schumacher     1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes           88
2.  Red Bull-Renault           64
3.  Ferrari                    37
4.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
5.  Mercedes                   26
6.  Lotus-Renault              24
7.  Williams-Renault           18
8.  Force India-Mercedes        9
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir. April 20-22.

Nico Rosberg achieved his maiden Formula One pole position in an exciting and dramatic qualifying session in Shanghai.

The German put Mercedes at the front of the grid for the first time since Juan Manuel Fangio led the field at Monza in 1955.

Rosberg was a full half a second quicker over second-fastest Lewis Hamilton. But due to the gearbox penalty applied to the McLaren driver, Michael Schumacher is promoted to P2 forming an all-Mercedes front row.

While Rosberg celebrated his first ever pole, it was a disastrous day for reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. Not only beaten by his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in qualifying for the third time this season, Vettel will start the Chinese Grand Prix down in eleventh.

Rosberg had led a Mercedes one-two in Q2, and then blitzed his rivals early in Q3 with an unbeatable time of one minute, 35.121 seconds.

So confident was Rosberg that the time would hold for pole, he got out of his car and walked off to the weighing area while the rest of the top ten tried in vain to improve their times.

Hamilton managed to get between the Silver Arrows on lap times, although on the starting grid he will line up in seventh.

His penalty means Kamui Kobayashi is promoted to an amazing third, as the Japanese driver emphasised Sauber’s progress by setting the fourth quickest time.

Thanks to the high level of competition this season, Vettel faced a difficult task for a fourth consecutive Shanghai pole and with the failure to make the top ten shootout for the first time since Brazil 2009 was a major shock.

The double world champion, running a different exhaust specification on the RB8 to Mark Webber, was only three tenths of a second slower than his pacesetting team-mate in Q2.

But that was the difference between first and eleventh in the extraordinarily close session. Vettel had been gradually edged down the top ten and ultimately pushed out by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

His Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button and Mark Webber in the Red Bull.

Malaysia combatants Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso were together again as they led the way in Q1 after going for softs tyres, and qualified in close company once more in eighth and ninth.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was closer to his team-mate pace, but will start in P12.

The second half of the grid will line up in neat team formation. With the two Williams sharing row seven ahead of the Force Indias, and while Jean-Eric Vergne did not get beyond Q1, he will still start alongside Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Meanwhile at the back, Caterham led Marussia and HRT, with all drivers comfortably within the 107 per cent qualifying margin.

Qualifying times from Shanghai:

1.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m35.121s
2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m35.691s
3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m35.784s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m35.898s
5.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.191s
6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.290s
7.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.626s*
8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.524s
9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m36.622s
10.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        No time
11.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.031s
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.255s
13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m36.283s
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m36.289s
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m36.317s
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m36.745s
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m36.956s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.714s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m38.463s
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m38.677s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.282s
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.717s
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m40.411s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m41.000s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent time: 1m42.931s