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Session over!

Rosberg (1:33.339) fastest ahead of Alonso (+0.191) and Trulli. Vettel, Webber, Button, Sutil, Glock, Barrichello and Nakajima (+.560) make the top 10.

Hamilton, Fisichella, Buemi (+0.788), Bourdais, Piquet, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Kovalainen and Heidfeld (+1.451) make the rest of the field.

Thanks for the reporting Ed.

Sutil 's pace is impressive. Don't know what is going on at Renault, even with more fuel is 3.5 seconds off expected?

Superb qualifying from TOYOTA. Possibly they are heavier than some people might think but it is still likely SEBASTIAN will pit some 3 laps later with JENSON even later. LEWIS did well to bring the car to 5th while FELIPE did at least some damage control...

NICO was much slower than I thought, 1 stop?

If there is a constant to the 2009 Formula 1 season, it is that of unpredictability..........from Brawn GP's wins in Melbourne and Sepang to Sebastien Vettel's win in Shanghai, the only certainty in 2009 has been to expect the unexpected. Today's qualifying in Bahrain was no exception as the Toyotas' of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock locked out the front row for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, using what Toyota' John Howlett called a combination of aggressive fuel strategy and blistering race pace, or he put it,

I don't think we're excessively light but it's fairly aggressive.

Here's a brief summary of what happened today during qualifying...........


Q1 Summary.........first out on track in Q1 were the Force India cars of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, followed closely behind by the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and the Renault of Nelson Piquet. For a few moments the top time was held by Fisichella, then Piquet and then by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais. It wouldn't last as Trulli pipped the Frenchman for P1 in the session, but that wouldn't last as the big dogs of Ferrari and McLaren, a/k/a Raikkonen and Hamilton, began moving up towards the sharp end of the spear. However, when the first qualifying session ended, it wasn't the Scuderia or the Silver Arrows in front but the Toyotas' of Glock and Trulli. There was controversy at the end of the session, as Red Bull's Mark Webber, a pre-qualifying favorite for pole, complained about being blocked by Force India's Adrian Sutil; stewards are investigating and a penalty is possible for the German Sutil.
-----P16 to P20

• 16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:33.722
  17. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:33.753
  18. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:33.910
  19. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:34.038
  20. Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.159

Q2 Summary..................after a short break, the second round of knockout qualifying began. Going into Q2, all eyes were on the Brawn entries of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello; did they still have the pace from Melbourne and Sepang, or had the competition caught up to them? Straight out of the pits came the Silver Arrows of Kovalainen and Hamilton; Kovalainen would set the early mark to beat with a 1:33.273, only to see Red Bull's Vettel match it a few moments later. A minute or so later, Raikkonen and Vettel swapped P1, only to have, as in Q1, the Toyotas' take the front row. However, at the end of Q2, it was Vettel demonstrating why in some circles he is indeed a rising star in the F1 world as he would set the fastest time in Q2, followed by Glock and Raikkonen. Rounding out the top-10 were: Barrichello, Button, Alonso, Hamilton, Trulli, Massa and Rosberg.
-----P11 to P15

• 11. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.242
  12. Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:33.348
  13. Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:33.487
  14. Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:33.562
  15. Nelson Piquet Renault 1:33.941

The run for pole............Q3. With all the marbles on the table, the session begins as both Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock head out on track almost as soon as the session began. By the halfway mark of the session, it was apparent that the drivers to beat were Glock and Trulli, as they went on absolute flyers in Q3. The last minute of the session saw, in rapid succession, Button and Hamilton P1-P2, then Glock and Button P1-P2, then Glock and Vettel on the front row, and then Trulli and Glock on the front row, as Trulli laid down the pole-winning time of 1:33.431, bumping teammate Glock to P2 and giving the Cologne, Germany-based Panasonic Toyota Racing team its' first 1-2 qualifying effort.


Bahrain Grand Prix Starting Grid................
1 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:33.431
2 Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:33.712

3 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1:34.015
4 Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes) 1:34.044

5 Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren Mercedes) 1:34.196
6 Rubens Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes) 1:34.239

7 Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:34.578
8 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:34.818

9 Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota) 1:35.134
10 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:35.380

11. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:33.242
12. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) 1:33.348

13. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) 1:33.487
14. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) 1:33.562

15. Nelson Piquet (Renault) 1:33.941
16. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:33.722

17. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:33.753
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:33.910

19. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:34.038
20. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:34.159

Thanks mlittle for the qualiying report.

Apologies to everyone as we just couldn't manage to cover the sessions on Saturday.

Here are the pre-race weights

1. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 648.5 kg
2. Timo Glock, Toyota, 643
3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 659
4. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 652.5
5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 652.5
6. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649
7. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 650.5
8. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 664.5
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 670.5
10. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 671.5
11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 678.5
12. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 680.9
13. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 698.6
14. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 696.3
15. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.6
16. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678.5
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 652
18. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 656
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 679
20. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 667.5

Note that Adrian Sutil dropped 3 places due to blocking Webber in Q1

Pre-race activities continuing.........Speed's Peter Windsor, as always, is doing his traditional grid-walk, followed by the ever-present cameraman Jean-Michel

Quick shout-out to those serving in the U.S. military in/around Bahrain; the nearby city of Manama is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and I'd like to send a thank you to all who serve.....hopefully, they're watching today's grand prix on Speed or following the race coverage here on NewsOnF1.

Race starting in 15 minutes, all the drivers have made it onto the track.

Weather is dry but windy

Air temperature is at 37 degree, track temperature is at 51 degrees

Interesting commentary on Speed by Brawn engineer Jock Clear on some of the changes to the cars this year, including the front wings, and how the driver can adjust the front wings to help in overtaking

And the cars begin their sighting lap!

Formation lap underway. All the cars are on the super soft

Glock is the lightest car on the grid. He is expected to pit 2 laps earlier than Trulli

Cars reach the starting grid

They're away!

Both Toyotas' lead, followed by Hamilton

Hamilton and Button fighting for 3rd