Mercedes GP Bahrain Qualifying

Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix got underway at 14:00 this afternoon to begin the competitive track action for the nineteen-race 2010 Formula One season.

The MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pairing of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher progressed through the first two sessions of qualifying before taking to the track again for a highly-competitive final session.

Force India Bahrain GP Qualifying

The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with both cars in the top 12. Tonio Liuzzi will start from 12th position, his best starting slot since the Italian GP 2009, while Adrian Sutil will line up in tenth after entering into Q3. With a view to the race strategy tomorrow, in which drivers starting in the top ten must start the race on the tyres on which they qualified, Adrian made his final run of the last session on the harder tyre compound, the only driver in Q3 to do so.

Lotus Bahrain GP Qualifying

Saturday in Bahrain saw Lotus Racing compete for the first time in qualifying with a host of famous faces dropping by and watching the action from the team’s pit and hospitality suite, among them former Lotus stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell. Qualifying itself was much as the team had anticipated, with Jarno Trulli finishing 20th on 1.59.852 and Heikki Kovalainen 21st on 2.00.313.

Both drivers gave their thoughts after the session, with Jarno saying: “All in all not too bad considering the amount of running we had this morning. We had some bad luck this weekend but the team has operated very well, in a very professional way, and we just need a bit more time to make the step forward we need in terms of performance. Tomorrow we need to try and finish the race, collect some useful data to find out more about what is right and wrong with the way the car behaves, and make that our main aim – finishing.”

Williams Bahrain GP Qualifying

It was a solid if unspectacular start to the AT&T Williams team 2010 season today, with both Rubens and Nico progressing into the second qualifying session, but failing to meet their ambitions to finish the day inside the top ten. Both drivers remain confident of a strong performance tomorrow in a race to be run to new and significantly different regulations.

Mercedes GP 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice

The first practice sessions for the 2010 Formula One season got underway today in the searing heat of the desert at the Bahrain International Circuit. Taking to the track in the new Silver Arrows cars, the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pairing of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher began their preparations for the first Grand Prix of the season.

The ninety-minute morning session gave both drivers the opportunity to try out the revised circuit layout with its eight new corners for the first time as they completed initial installation and set-up work on the MGP W01 cars. With both drivers experiencing some balance issues, the team worked hard on the solutions during the break and enjoyed a more positive second session, focusing on further set-up developments and tyre comparisons over runs of varying length.

Williams 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice

Sam Michael, Technical Director
“It was a very busy day with the usual teething problems. We lost some track time due to an electrics problem in the garage in the morning and we also had minor technical issues to resolve on the cars. We then had a much more productive afternoon looking at race set-ups and qualifying preparation. We have more work to do, but nothing that looks unachievable. It has been a marathon effort from everyone at Williams and Cosworth to get us to this stage and soon the hard work will start to pay off."

Lotus Racing 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice

Friday at the Bahrain Grand Prix marked an historic day for Lotus Racing, exactly six months to the day since the team's entry into the 2010 Formula One™ World Championship was confirmed. Jarno Trulli was first car on track as the pit lane lights turned green, followed closely by Heikki Kovalainen as the team saw their incredible efforts since September 12th 2009 come to fruition in the desert heat.

The morning session saw the team complete 36 laps in total, with both Heikki (21 laps) and Jarno (15 laps) completing their planned programs and stepping out of their respective cars satisfied with their morning’s work. As track temperatures climbed to nearly 50° after lunch they both returned to work, Jarno notching up another 14 laps and Heikki 23 more and testing aero upgrades that had been fitted over the lunch break. Heikki’s best time of the afternoon session was 2.00.873 and Jarno 2.00.990.