Trulli and Glock confirm all-Toyota front row
25 April 2009


Jarno Trulli has taken pole position in Bahrain as the Toyota team locks out the front row for the first time in their history. Chinese Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel will start third ahead of British contenders Button and Hamilton. Both Ferraris qualified in the top ten, with eighth and tenth for Massa and Räikkönen.

The hottest temperatures of the season warmed up both cars and drivers at Sakhir, with air temperatures reaching highs of 38°C (100°F). With Glock's fastest time of the morning practice session having beaten the pole position lap of 2008, timing would always be critical to ensure a strong lap time.

Something Mark Webber wasn't expecting, however, was being held up by Adrian Sutil in the dying stages of Q1. The Australian, who finished second in China last weekend, passed the Force India before the last corner - ruining one lap - only to be overtaken again at the start of his final attempt. The German apologised soon after for Webber's 'screwed' qualifying session, as the Red Bull starts the race a provisional 19th on the grid. He will be joined on the back row by Sébastien Bourdais, who struggled again with his Toro Rosso. Sutil qualified in 16th place, missing out on the Q2 by one tenth, ahead of Buemi and Fisichella.

There were no major surprises in the second phase of the hour, although Heikki Kovalainen was disappointed to find himself eliminated from qualifying and starting 11th, although the Finn is the first car on the grid with the ability to refuel before the race. Kazuki Nakajima lines up 12th with the BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld, who ran on the Super Soft Bridgestone tyres all session, on rows six and seven after Kubica took pole last year. Nelson Piquet Jr. was 'sorry' to his team for qualifying 15th after running wide at the final corner, and is aiming for points tomorrow.

Heading into the final stages of the session, these would be the first results of a dry qualifying hour since Australia and any one of at least five cars looked to be in with a chance of the top spot. The Ferraris made no threat for pole, with Räikkönen tenth fastest, two places behind his team-mate, as the red cars sandwich Rosberg's Williams which was fastest on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton exceeded his expectations of seventh place by making the top five with no upgrades on the car this weekend, and is just behind compatriot and championship leader Button. Rubens Barrichello could be on a heavier fuel load than his English team-mate and starts sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso.Sebastian Vettel was pleased with third position having won last weekend, proving that team-mate Webber should be charging through the field from the tail end of the grid in the race. At the top, Glock was looking for pole in the last seconds of the session before Jarno Trulli produced a fantastic lap by setting fastest sector times on all parts of the circuit, taking his first pole since Indianapolis 2005 - a race in which he never started after the withdrawal of Michelin.

It is the first Toyota pole position since Ralf Schumacher in Japan that same year, but the first time the Japanese cars have dominated the top two places on the grid. You can join GPUpdate.net's live report during the race on Sunday, which gets underway at 3pm in Bahrain (GMT+2).

Weights
01. Trulli Toyota 648.5
02. Glock Toyota 643.0
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 659.0
04. Button Brawn-Mercedes 652.5
05. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 652.5
06. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 649.0
07. Alonso Renault 650.5
08. Massa Ferrari 664.5
09. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 670.5
10. Raikkonen Ferrari 671.5
11. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 678.5
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 680.9
13. Kubica BMW-Sauber 698.6
14. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 696.3
15. Piquet Renault 677.6
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 679.0
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 678.5
18. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 652.0
19. Webber Red Bull-Renault 656.0
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 667.5