Sebastian Vettel claims Bahrain GP pole position

Reuters

POLE: Germany's Sebastian Vettel has won pole position for Red Bull at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

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Germany's Sebastian Vettel put returning compatriot Michael Schumacher in the shade on Saturday with pole position for Red Bull at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Schumacher, the seven times world champion making a comeback at the age of 41 after a three-year absence, qualified seventh for Mercedes, exactly where he qualified on his Formula One debut in 1991.

With Red Bull and Ferrari looking the teams to beat, Britain's world champion Jenson Button put his McLaren alongside Schumacher in eighth place after just sneaking into the final phase of qualifying, with all cars on the same low fuel loads.

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, returning for his first race since his serious head injury last July, qualified second and one place ahead of new Spanish team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, the fourth world champion on the starting grid, starts fourth.

Vettel, who came into Formula One with the nickname 'Baby Schumi' the year after Schumacher retired in 2006, finished overall runner-up last season while his Renault-powered team won the last three races of 2009.

"It's a big surprise," said the 22-year-old, who had brake problems in practice on Friday. "In winter testing, no one really knew where everyone was. Of course it was clear that four teams were pretty strong."

"Tomorrow is going to be a long race, the first of 19, and it's not going to be a sprint. It will be an endurance event."

MCLAREN HOPING

Vettel congratulated Massa, a double winner in Bahrain in the past, for his strong comeback from life-threatening injuries sustained in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last year.

"Big respect for what he has achieved," he said. "First race, he's back and bang, bang, bang. It's good to have him back."

Massa returned the compliment with a grin: "It's just fantastic to hear that. I want to be in your place but I'm happy for you," he replied.

Germany's Nico Rosberg qualified fifth, ahead of team mate Schumacher, with Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber sixth.

"It's not unrealistic (to aim for the podium) but it's going to be tough," Schumacher told reporters. ut there's lot of potential to improve the car and that's the main focus at the moment, to just steadily get up there.

"It's going to take a couple of races before we sort out all our issues that we are still facing."

McLaren were surprised by their lack of pace, with Hamilton more than a second slower than Vettel, but still hopeful for the race itself when the only pitstops will be for tyre changes now that refuelling is banned.

"A second in qualifying is a large chunk," said Button. "But I doubt we are going to get the same result in the race...it's not over yet and I think we can have a very exciting race tomorrow."

Towards the back, Virgin Racing were the best of the new teams with Germany's Timo Glock qualifying 19th. Lotus pair Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen were 20th and 21st while Hispania (HRT) filled the back row.

Indian Karun Chandhok finally made his debut for Hispania, after missing all three practice sessions, and qualified last alongside Brazilian team mate Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late triple champion Ayrton.

- Reuters