Red Bull Racing's 2010 Formula One campaign got off to the perfect start in Bahrain as Sebastian Vettel took the first pole position of the season, seeing off strong opposition from Ferrari.
The German took the top spot in the customary last minute rush of Q3, recording a fastest lap of 1:54.101, over tenth faster than Felipe Massa, who will line up alongside him for tomorrow's race.
“It's a big surprise to get pole; we didn't know where we were with performance during the winter testing. Yesterday was a tough day for us, as we didn't do as much running as we would have liked,” said Vettel after the session.
“It was a long night for the mechanics and there were some tired faces this morning, but everyone was still so keen. I knew we had a good car, Qualifying went smoothly and I'm very happy to be on pole. Thanks to the team, they have been so busy during the last month with a lot of testing – to be on top now is a nice feeling.”
Things did not go so well on the other side of garage, as Mark Webber explains. “I did my worst lap at the most important time today. It was going well until Turn 16, but it wasn't so good from there on. Seb did a good job for pole position; there was more in the car than sixth today. It's disappointing, but all is not lost and it's a long race tomorrow.”
Webber will start from sixth on the grid for tomorrow's race thanks to a 1:55.284 lap in the sister RB6 chassis.
“A brilliant job today,” exclaimed Christian Horner. “It's great to be starting the new season in pole position. Sebastian drove faultlessly through all three sessions and delivered three laps that were good enough for pole; it's testimony to all the hard work that's gone in over the winter. The guys have worked wonders within Red Bull Racing and first on the grid is a great place to be starting the new race format tomorrow.”
