2012 Bahrain Grand Prix grid

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Row 11. Sebastian Vettel 1’32.422
Red Bull
2. Lewis Hamilton 1’32.52
McLaren
Row 23. Mark Webber 1’32.637
Red Bull
4. Jenson Button 1’32.711
McLaren
Row 35. Nico Rosberg 1’32.821
Mercedes
6. Daniel Ricciardo 1’32.912
Toro Rosso
Row 47. Romain Grosjean 1’33.008
Lotus
8. Sergio Perez 1’33.394
Sauber
Row 59. Fernando Alonso No time
Ferrari
10. Paul di Resta No time
Force India
Row 611. Kimi Raikkonen 1’33.789
Lotus
12. Kamui Kobayashi 1’33.806
Sauber
Row 713. Nico Hulkenberg 1’33.807
Force India
14. Felipe Massa 1’33.912
Ferrari
Row 815. Bruno Senna 1’34.017
Williams
16. Heikki Kovalainen 1’36.132
Caterham
Row 917. Jean-Eric Vergne No time
Toro Rosso
18. Vitaly Petrov 1’35.823
Caterham
Row 1019. Charles Pic 1’37.683
Marussia
20. Pedro de la Rosa 1’37.883
HRT
Row 1121. Pastor Maldonado* No time
Williams
22. Michael Schumacher* 1’34.865
Mercedes
Row 1223. Timo Glock 1’37.905
Marussia
24. Narain Karthikeyan 1’38.314
HRT

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change.

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix


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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    42 comments on “2012 Bahrain Grand Prix grid”

    1. I missed half of quali, what happened to MSC?

      1. Technical problems with the DRS, so he couldn’t go back out again towards the end of Q1 when the lap times started falling rapidly.

        1. He did set a time though didn’t he @keith-collantine?

      2. Didn’t go for another run at the end of Q1, Kovalainen went 13/1000 faster. In german tv he said there was an issue with their AFA (Merc DRS?).

    2. Amazing lap from Vettel, really, didn’t see that coming. And how Ricciardo managed to be just four tenths slower than “pole” time? Just amazing! Pitty for Schumacher and Raikkonen, because they could be much higher than that.

      1. Agree. I thought Rosberg’s pole lap was awesome last weekend, but I’m sure Ricciardo’s lap must have been something else! 0.4s off pole in a Toro Rosso that rarely makes Q3.

        Was just thinking of when Jenson last took a pole position. I think it was early 2009.. Monaco maybe? I doubt Jenson remembers how to pull off a flying a lap. He gets hammered by Lewis almost every Saturday.

        1. Don’t mention it though, otherwise you might start a riot. Jenson’s fans simply refuse to acknowledge it!

          1. Im a fan of both of them, and I happily say Lewis is faster in qualy, but not mutch, Jenson is getting closer to Lewis in qualy, at the first 4 races he was only 1-2 tenths away, but this year it could mean 3-4 grid positions (as it should). On sunday thats a different kind of ball-game they, are both quick, but I think Jenson is a bit better on racedays.

    3. Why is Force India being boycotted on TV coverage?!

      1. If it was intentional then I can guess why. I doubt it was though, simply because I don’t see how they could get away with it. I guess we’ll see tomorrow.

      2. It must be just a coincidence… Hulk’s comments and the team not finishing the second practice.

      3. Disgusting. There’s no other word that can describe this.

        1. rUN_FOR_IT_SCOOBY
          21st April 2012, 13:30

          I agree, I mean they went to Bahrain, they didn’t have to, it’s all or nothing.

    4. I wasn’t expecting Vettel to take the pole this weekend and Nico to be so far behind. Great qualifying session. Looking at the way Red Bulls started this season there is a good chance Lewis and Jenson could take them at the start. Cannot wait.

      1. Replay showed that everybody locked the front left, in the double lefthander except Vettel, thats why he was faster.

        About the start I think Jenson could easily jump Webber even with a slow start, not sure about Lewis. I wonder if Lewis would lift off if Vettel closes the door, like in Suzuka (2011).

        1. The replay of Vettel’s qualifying lap was just stunning to watch. However, I honestly don’t want this to become a Saturday feature like last year :)

        2. Well, we will see. McLarens tend to be quicker than Red Bulls at the start. I think there is a good chance.
          Fernando will the one to watch tomorrow. His tyres are practically new and I am not sure if they are the option or medium compound (?). He is certainly aiming high and that can only bring some excitement to the race.

          1. @zicasso Fernando made all of his laps on the option tyres, so he will have 3 brand new medium tomorrow. The problem with his strategy is, he might have brand new mediums, but he has 3 crappy softs, and he will have to use them in the race.

          2. Will see. Red bull tend to be faster than mclaren on the race

    5. Vettel, disappointing I hope he does not run away with it.
      Great Heikki made it through, he deserves it.

      1. How did de la Rosa out qualify Glock?

    6. kenneth Ntulume
      21st April 2012, 13:15

      Finger boy! we missed that finger

    7. Surely, this ought to keep the Vettel doomsayers silenced for a bit. Hoping for a race win tomorrow!

      Damn shame for Kimi, Felipe and Michael, but mighty impressed with Ricciardo. .4s slower than pole time in a Toro freaking Rosso when his teammate failed to make it out of Q3.

      1. You’re a vettel fan??? Wow,i thought i was the only one around!!!!

        1. You’re not the only one :)

          Also a Schumacher/Ferrari fan

    8. So Vettel only clears pole by .1s? That’s not great by his standard last year, but it’s a tribute to just how close the competition is this year.

      Surprised by this to be honest and surprised Rosberg could only stick it 5th, I would have expected 2nd row at the absolute least.

      Couple of other surprises in the way of Ricciardo and Schumacher. Crazy!

      1. It is great, looking how the red bulls started the season. On the other hand, this is the debacle for mclaren. They not longer have the fastest car. I would say that the redbull and the mclaren are pretty even. Hamilton did not win a race having the best car and now he might not even finished 2nd with webber behind him.

    9. I hope Vettel gets his maiden win of the season, but fantastic qualifying from Ricciardo, big gap between him and Vergne

    10. Great stuff from Vettel, but very impressed with Ricciardo. I already see more potential in the current STR duo than the last.

    11. Helmut Marko’s judgement is looking a bit skew-whiff. I can’t remember a time Jaime or Buemi qualified consistently badly.

      1. Jaime seemed to be the Q1 dropout several times last year, including 4 of his points finishing weekends.

    12. The grid looks the way it should be with the 2 most talented guys at front.

      Also, great persformance from Ricciardo!

      1. Yeah right, the 2 most talented? The most talented is Alonso. Just wait for the Ferrari b spec. I will see hamilton’s Nd vettel’s fans $’l@ing their pants

    13. Hoping for a RBR 1 & 2 finish. Nice to see RBR back to form.

      1. Yeah … I’m hoping for that too. It will close up the points table at the top, and will keep drivers such as Alonso and Rosberg in striking distance as well.

        1. @todfod Exactly. The greater the amount of different race winners the better. I enjoyed watching Red Bull dominate last year but I wouldn’t want that every year. Variety being the spice of life and all.

    14. Tyres are going to be important tomorow and MSC has a lot of them! If he gets a blitz start like last years he’s in for quite a ride.

    15. Great effort from Pic and Kovalainen and of course, Ricciardo.

    16. I’m going for Vettel, Button, Hamilton and Webber as the top 4 for tomorrow. Mostly because Hamilton and Webber have owned P3 and P4 so far this season lol.

    17. Does anyone else think that Kimi is going to have a rough ride at Lotus? It seems that Renault is doing it again. They did it with Alonso and Truli, now they are doing it with Kimi and Romain. This time it is Gerard Lopez and Eric Boullier who are doing Kimi, last time it was Briatore who did Jarno. Deja vu. Can anyone explain why Kimi was late for the second run in Q1 in Australia? It is not the driver who decies when he goes out in qualifications. Ok, the gearbox in Malaysia was just bad luck I guess, otherwise team Lotus would have invented something. In China they saw Kimi was stuck behind Massa and yet they kept him there until the guys who had three stops caught up with them, so that there was no more sense to change tyres, as he would have dropped from P2 to P9 perhaps. He was left on one set of tires for 29 laps, the whole race is 56 laps. Romain did 22 laps on one set he did not have fast cars behind. Now he was prevented, TEAM DECISION, from second run in Q2. Why? So that he can save tyres that he will never use in the race because Team Lotus wants him to have less stops than the other teams. Romain used 3 sets of softs and Kimi used only one. I say: TEAM LOTUS ARE EITHER DUMMIES OR THEY ARE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! Cast your vote!

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