Nico Rosberg snatched Mercedes’ second pole position in a row in Bahrain on Saturday, when his lap of 1m 32.330s beat Sebastian Vettel’s best of 1m 32.584s in the Red Bull. Several grid penalties were applied which meant Hamilton gets a five-place grid drop for changing gearboxes prior to qualifying, Webber drops three places for his clash with Vergne in China, and finally Gutierrez five for his incident there with Sutil.

Starting grid on Sunday: 1. Rosberg 2. Vettel 3. Alonso 4. Massa 5. Di Resta 6. Sutil 7. Webber 8. Raikkonen 9. Hamilton 10. Button.