Vettel takes Pole as the new season begins

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Sebastian Vettel showed that Red Bull have the fastest Formula One car at the moment after the fight for pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso ended in his favour by 0.141s.

Vettel was in excellent form, and used Bridgestone’s softer tyre to record 1m 54.101s in the final, Q3, session. Massa, also on the softer tyre, got closest with 1m 54.242s, with his new Ferrari team mate Alonso third on 1m 54.608s.

It was an interesting session, which suggested that McLaren are a long way off the ultimate pace as Lewis Hamilton’s fourth best time was 1m 55.217s. It was also a disappointment for Mercedes GP, after Nico Rosberg had been so quick thus far, to see him only fifth on 1m 55.241s. The young German has had the upper hand over returnee Michael Schumacher all weekend, the multiple champion lining up seventh on 1m 55.524s. Mark Webber slipped his Red Bull between them, with 1m 55.284s.

Jenson Button starts his first race for McLaren eighth, thanks to a lap of 1m 55.672s, and Renault’s Robert Kubica shares the fifth row with Force India’s Adrian Sutil, 1m 55.885s to 1m 56.309s.

Rubens Barrichello came to life on Saturday after working yesterday to get his Williams to his liking, and just missed out on Q3 with 1m 55.330s, which put him ahead of Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi who failed to improve on his 1m 55.653s lap from his first run in Q2.

Then came Nico Hulkenberg in the second Williams on 1m 55.857s, Pedro de la Rosa in the disappointing BMW Sauber on 1m 56.237s, Sebastien Buemi in the lead Toro Rosso on 1m 56.265s, BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on 1m 56.270s and Vitaly Petrov who will make his Grand Prix debut from 17th on the grid in the second Renault, which he took round in 1m 56.619s.

Having run well thus far this weekend, Jaime Alguersuari was the first man to lose out in Q1, when he lapped his Toro Rosso in 1m 57.071s for 18th fastest time, ahead of all the new teams. Timo Glock’s Virgin was the best of them, with 1m 59.728s, ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Lotus on 1m 59.852s, so things were very close here.

Then came Heikki Kovalainen in 2m 00.313s in the other Lotus and Lucas di Grassi on 2m 00.587s for Virgin. At the back Bruno Senna took his HRT round in 2m 03.240s, while Karun Chandhok finally got a run and in the circumstances did an excellent job for 2m 04.904s in only seven laps.

McLaren chief looking forward to Di Resta's carrier

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McLAREN boss Martin Whitmarsh has revealed Bathgate's Paul Di Resta will go head-to-head with established Force India racers, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi, when his new role as reserve driver for the Formula One team is confirmed next week.
While the 23-year-old continues to finalise the last few details on the contract which will propel him closer to a place on the grand prix grid, McLaren team principal Whitmarsh has confirmed the Scot will play a pivotal role for Force India. "Paul will be running, I believe, in the majority of the Friday sessions at grand prix weekends for Force India, so it's a great opportunity for him," Whitmarsh said.

"I'm happy for him. He's going to push like hell to make his case to have a race drive at Force India during the course of this year."

Di Resta, who worked with Whitmarsh when he tested with McLaren in 2008, has already impressed team bosses at Force India. During his three-day test at Jerez last month, the Scot lapped a full second faster than the team's established drivers.

"Since the test, for sure we have been in talks," the Scot said. "We are in the final stages of finishing off the programme they have set and hopefully we can build a very long and strong relationship."

Schumi may continue after 2012

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Michael Schumacher has said he may choose to continue to race beyond his three-year contract with Mercedes.

He will make his return to Formula One this year, after signing a deal to race until the end of 2012 with the German team. He has admitted that it might take some time before he is back at his best, and told German newspaper Bild that he might stay in F1 beyond the length of his current contract.

"It doesn't have to be the end after three years - the three-year deal was Mercedes' idea and it was a sign of confidence. I thought about everything very carefully: Am I just spontaneously high or will my enthusiasm last? I have been excited for quite some time and can imagine doing this for a few years."

Schumacher will be partnered by Nico Rosberg during his comeback year and team principal Ross Brawn believes the pair will work well together, with Rosberg learning from his more experienced team-mate.

"We signed Nico first and have tried to sign Nico for several years," Brawn told Formula1.com. "We see Nico as a great talent, but it needs finishing and maturing. He has not won a race yet, although he came very close, and I think it is a wonderful partnership between him and Michael.

"They work well together and I see Michael helping Nico develop his career. Michael has come out of retirement but we have to accept that there will come a day when he has to stop forever and then we will have Nico. They must both try the hardest to beat each other but if it is done with the right spirit, with the right approach, then both will gain enormously."

The team will unveil and test its 2010 car next Monday at Valencia.