Bahrain Grand Prix 2014: Rosberg pips Hamilton to pole position
Bahrain Grand Prix 2014: Nico Rosberg takes pole position ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg pipped Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Mercedes duo dominated qualifying as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took third, 0.866 seconds behind Hamilton.
The challenge waiting us is tyre degradation but I’m confident
Nico Rosberg
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas will start from fourth ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Jenson Button.
“I am not disappointed, congratulations to Nico and he has done a great job this weekend, he is improving and picking up the pace,” said Hamilton.
“I locked up in the last lap but you can’t always get it right and generally I’m happy.”
Rosberg, who won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last month, insisted that there is plenty more work to do on Sunday.
“Starting from pole is a great thing but it’s a whole different story tomorrow,” said Rosberg.
“The challenge waiting us is tyre degradation but I’m confident. I had some good runs yesterday so I’m confident I can stay ahead in tomorrow’s race.”
Williams’ Felipe Massa was eighth, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen finished ninth, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
“We are nearly out of the points already in ninth – we have nothing to lose,” said Alonso.
“We know the Mercedes engines are good here and we have a threat from behind from Vettel and Hulkenberg, so it will not be easy.”
Bahrain Grand Prix 2014: Qualifying times
1. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 33.185s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 33.464s
3. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 34.051s*
4. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1m 34.247s
5. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 1m 34.346s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.368s
7. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 34.387s
8. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1m 34.511s
9. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 1m 34.712s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 34.992s
11. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 34.985s
12. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 35.116s
13. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 35.145s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 35.286s
15. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 35.981s
16. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1m 35.908s
17. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault 1m 36.663s
18. Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1m 36.840s
19. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault 1m 37.085s
20. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari 1m 37.310s
21. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 1m 37.875s
22. Max Chilton Briton Marussia-Ferrari 1m 37.913s
