Bahrain Qualifying: You wanted a bicycle? Now pedal.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG F1 photo)

Team Axis was at the track yesterday so please excuse the lack of updates on Bahrain Quali.

Quickly:

Mercedes.   Big deal for Rosberg because most of the (British) media had already assigned the championship to Hamilton.  The only reason Nico was ahead of Lewis,  was the narration,  was because of the retirement in Australia.  Not so here, Nico forced Hamilton into a mistake and beat him by a large margin.



Red Bull.  After those odious comments by Helmut Marko directed at Mark Webber,  Ricciardo's P3 must feel like a giant Australian FU towards the Austrians.   But it always works out for Vettel somehow as Ricciardo has that 10 grid spot penalty carried over from Malaysia.
Vettel did not make Q3 but will start 10th.

Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari)

Ferrari.    Big day for Kimi Raikkonen who out qualified Alonso for the first time.  Big missed opportunity for Ferrari with the RedRulls so far back but they simply don't have the pace at this point.

Williams,  Bottas was faster then Massa

Lots of complaining about the formula and how F1 is terrible.   Big mistake by the series: at this point they should be promoting what they have done, not undermining their own product for political reasons.

There is not much credibility when complaints come from Red Bull, Renault and Ferrari, teams that are off the pace.
OK, Ferrari was never much for the new engine formula but Red Bull and Renault wanted their "eco-turbos".  

As they say in Italy "You wanted a bicycle? Now pedal"

Pos Driver                Team                 Time          Gap   
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m33.185s
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m33.464s  +0.279s
 3. Daniel Ricciardo***   Red Bull-Renault     1m34.051s  +0.866s
 4. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes    1m34.247s  +1.062s
 5. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes 1m34.346s  +1.161s
 6. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari              1m34.368s  +1.183s
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.387s  +1.202s
 8. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes    1m34.511s  +1.326s
 9. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.712s  +1.527s
10. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m34.992s  +1.807s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m34.925s                                 Gap **
11. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.985s  +1.277s
12. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m35.116s  +1.408s
13. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault   1m35.145s  +1.437s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault   1m35.286s  +1.578s
15. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m35.891s  +2.183s
16. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m35.908s  +2.200s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m36.654s                                  Gap *
17. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault        1m36.663s  +1.789s
18. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.840s  +1.966s
19. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault     1m37.085s  +2.211s
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari     1m37.310s  +2.436s
21. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault     1m37.875s  +3.001s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari     1m37.913s  +3.039s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

*** Has to serve 10-place grid penalty