Alonso rues ‘two unlucky moments in four races’

Fernando Alonso said he had been “very unlucky” for the second time this year in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Alonso finished eighth after his DRS failed and stuck open early in the race.

“It was very difficult,” said Alonso. “We stopped two times in two laps so you are at the back of the group and with no DRS to use to pass. So the race becomes very, very difficult.”

“It’s the way it went today, he added. “Very, very unlucky race again. So in four races two very unlucky moments.”

However Alonso expects his fortune will balance out over the course of the season: “It will come for the others and we will take the opportunity in that moment.”

Team principal Stefano Domencali admitted, “it’s a big disappointment because today we could have done a great race.”

“Obviously the pace was there,” he added. “Not a good day for us because also Felipe [Massa] obviously had contact at the beginning then two problems with the tyres that we need to understand.”

“Not a good day for us. Let’s move ahead, big shame but that’s racing.”

Jenson Button says Sergio Perez was too aggressive in Bahrain duel

Jenson Button believes his McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez was too aggressive in battling with him during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The two McLarens made contact on more than one occasion as they battled for points.

One of the incidents left Perez with a damaged front wing, as he clipped the rear of Button's car on the exit of Turn 4.

Button urged the team to make Perez 'calm down' over the radio, but the battle continued and more contact followed.

"I was very vocal on the radio, emotions were running high, but I would say exactly the same again," Button said.

"The racing was great out there. The only person that wasn't was Checo [Perez].

"He was too aggressive, I would say. At 300 km/h, you don't expect your team-mate to come alongside you and bang wheels with you.

"It was a bit of a surprise, and I'm probably not the only one that feels like that."

Perez felt Button had been just as uncompromising with him.

"I think I was as aggressive as he was with me," said the Mexican.

"It was probably too much. We could both have ended our races."

Perez ultimately finished sixth after his best performance for McLaren so far.

Button had to make a fourth pitstop and ended up 10th.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2013: Vettel wins for Red Bull

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel wins the 2013 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix after a dominant performance.

Vettel, who started from second, took the lead from pole sitter, Nico Rosberg on lap 3 and the then lead throughout, bar for when he briefly relinquished top spot after his first stop. The three-time F1 world Champion eventually won and took his 28th career victory by 9.1 seconds.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen meanwhile battled through from eighth on the grid and made his two-stop strategy work to claim the runners-up spot, with team-mate, Romain Grosjean third, the Frenchman passing the Force India of Paul di Resta and demoting the Scot to fourth in the latter stages.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five for Mercedes, with Sergio Perez sixth and Mark Webber seventh, the Aussie losing two places on the final lap. Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button complete the points' scorers.

Raikkonen on top for Lotus in second practice

Kimi Raikkonen was quickest for Lotus in second practice and seemed to have more performance in the car.

The Ferrari drivers picked up where they left off at the end of the first session, leading the times after the first runs.

Half an hour into the session the Red Bull drivers switched to the medium compound tyres andMark Webber took over the fastest time. Sebastian Vettel, who’d made a mistake at the final corner earlier in the session, crossed the line a tenth of a second slower than his team mate.

Fernando Alonso looked on course to beat the benchmark time but he caught Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in the middle of the lap, losing a few tenths of a second. His team mate was two tenths of a second slower and Paul di Resta inserted his Force India into the gap between the two.

That remained the order until halfway through the session when Raikkonen did his first run on mediums. He was substantially quicker through the first two sectors and despite understeering in the final two corners he took the quickest time, albeit by just three hundredths of a second.

Esteban Gutierrez, who already has a five-place penalty for this weekend after his crash in China, had another run-in with a rival during the session. Charles Pic moved wide to let him past at turn eight but the Sauber ran wide into the Caterham and Gutierrez hobbled back to the pits with a punctured front-left tyre.

Massa on top as Ferrari lead Bahrain GP practice

 Ferrari dominated Friday morning's opening free practice for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, with Brazilian Felipe Massa topping the times ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso of Spain.

In typically hot conditions, with a track temperature of 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and an air temperature of 34C at the Sakhir circuit, the Ferrari duo took command in the final half hour of the 90-minute session.

Less than a week after Alonso's commanding triumph in last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, it was a clear demonstration of the Ferrari outfit's speed and strength as they seek to end Red Bull's run of world championship successes.

The main title contender teams delayed their entry into the fray at the dusty, sand-swept circuit 25km (15.5 miles) outside Manama until well into the session and Ferrari were the last team out to show their speed with an hour gone -- but they immediately rose to the top.

After Alonso had initially set the pace, Massa took over and clocked the fastest lap in 1min 34.487secs, his time beating Alonso by 0.077secs at the end of a session mostly devoted to testing tyres with high fuel loads.

German Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes ahead of compatriot and defending triple world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, Briton Paul di Resta of Force India and Briton Jenson Button in the improving McLaren.

Australian Mark Webber was seventh for Red Bull ahead of German Adrian Sutil in the second Force India, Finn Kimi Raikkonen and his Lotus team-mate Frenchman Romain Grosjean.

Briton Lewis Hamilton, who took pole position last weekend in Shanghai, was down in 13th place in the second Mercedes, an unexpected spot but presumed to be due to his running a different programme in the session to his team-mate Rosberg.

Meanwhile Bahrain's Shiite opposition plans huge protests on Friday to coincide with the practice sessions in the run-up to Sunday's Grand Prix, in a bid to seize world attention for pro-reform demands.

On Thursday night, thousands demonstrated in several areas across Bahrain in yet another day of protests, witnesses said.

"No Formula on Bahrain's occupied land," chanted the protesters. "No, no blood Formula."

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades.

F1: Hamilton Happy With Third From Pole In China

Lewis Hamilton insisted that he was satisfied to secure third place in China, despite having started from pole.

Hamilton lost out to Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, but did at least just manage to hold off World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who ran a different strategy and was on the soft tires at the end.

“It was a good race for me, I’m quite happy with third,” said Hamilton. “Of course I would have liked to have won but congratulations to Fernando, he did a great job and so did Kimi. They were both a little bit too fast for us during the race. 

“I was seemingly able to apply a little bit of pressure to Kimi but not enough to get close to him and overtake. My tires were shot at the end and there was nothing I could do really to hold off Sebastian. A little bit unlucky with some traffic. Still, to get on the podium, I’m really happy, and really happy with the points as well.”

Asked where Mercedes needed to improve, Hamilton said: “I’m not really sure where we’re losing out. Today, overall pace was just not there and there’s definitely a couple of areas that we can focus on on the car. We’ve got to bring some more updates and keep on improving but the team is working on that. But at least, after this I will go and analyze a little bit and try to figure out whereabouts we’re losing the time and see if we can zone in on that and try to improve there.”

Fernando Alonso wins Formula One Chinese Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso's win at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday announced the Ferrari driver as a strong contender for the Formula One championship after a comfortable victory in which he claimed to have plenty to spare.

Alonso took the lead for good with 13 laps to go and won by 10 seconds from Lotus' Kimi Räikkönen, with pole sitter Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finishing third, just two tenths of a second ahead the hard-finishing Sebastian Vettel.

Red Bull's Vettel retains the championship lead after three of 19 races, but his advantage is now just three points over Räikkönen, with Alonso moving up to third, ahead of Hamilton.

So authoritative was Alonso's performance that his team was cautioning him in the closing stages not to push too hard, only for the Spaniard to reply that he wasn't. After the race he likely put a chill through his rivals by saying he won while retaining "some pace in the pocket."

"It was a fantastic race for us from the start," Alonso said. "There were no big problems and the tire degradation was better than expected.

"In the two races we've finished we have got second place and victory, so our start of the 2013 season is very good. We are very optimistic for the rest of the season."

The victory was Alonso's 31st career win, moving him equal with Nigel Mansell on the all-time list, behind only Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

In a race dominated by tire strategy, the front three runners all used their strong early pace on the softer tires to establish an early advantage and all pitted inside six laps.

While the likes of Vettel, McLaren's Jenson Button and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg -- who all started on the harder tires -- profited initially by moving to the front of the field, the early leaders used fresher rubber to reclaim the advantage and fought out the latter half of the race.

Button finished fifth ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo put in a strong performance for a career-best seventh place, finishing ahead of Force India's Paul di Resta, Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Hulkenberg.

Raikkonen's effort in finishing second was made more creditable by the fact he drove most of the race with a damaged front nose and wing after crashing into the back of McLaren's Sergio Perez, who put the squeeze on the Finn, forcing him off the track, and then into the back of the Mexican's car.

"What the hell is he doing?" the furious Räikkönen shouted on his radio.

"That didn't help but luckily it didn't affect too much the handling," Raikkonen said after the race. "Without the damage I would have been quite a bit faster."

Hamilton carried little expectation of victory into the race despite his pole position because the Mercedes cars had quickly degraded their tires all weekend, so the Briton was thankful to finish on the podium.

"They were a little bit too fast for us," Hamilton said. "My tires were shot at the end."

The two main casualties of the race were last year's winner Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and the luckless Mark Webber of Red Bull.

Rosberg came into the pits four times and was forced to retire before reaching the halfway point of the race due to a problem with his rear anti-roll bar.

Webber, who started from the pitlane after his car ran out of fuel in qualifying, charged up to 11th before crashing into Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, pitting, then emerging with a poorly connected right rear wheel that came off before the lap was through.

Webber was penalized for causing the collision, with stewards relegating him three grid places at next weekend's Bahrain GP.

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez received a five-place grid penalty for crashing into the back of Adrian Sutil's Force India on the fifth lap, ending the race for both drivers.

If not for a premature retirement in the Malaysian GP, Alonso would be the championship leader, but the Spaniard was not yet ready to claim he is the title favorite.

"It's a little bit too early to say," Alonso said. "We maybe need to wait 'till after the summer break to see the clear contenders.

"Lotus, Red Bull and Mercedes are in the same position as us -- I don't see anyone has an advantage."

F1 Chinese Grand Prix

Results of Sunday's Formula One Chinese Grand Prix at the 5.451-kilometer Shanghai International Circuit (with name, nationality, team, laps, race time).

1. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Ferrari, 56 laps, 1 hour, 36 minutes, 26.945 seconds.

2. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Lotus, 56, 1:36:37.113.

3. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, Mercedes, 56, 1:36:39.267.

4. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 56, 1:36:39.470.

5. Jenson Button, Britain, McLaren, 56, 1:37:02.230.

6. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 56, 1:37:07.772.

7. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Toro Rosso, 56, 1:37:09.636.

8. Paul di Resta, Britain, Force India, 56, 1:37:18.029.

9. Romain Grosjean, France, Lotus, 56, 1:37:20.368.

10. Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Sauber, 56, 1:37:23.543.

11. Sergio Perez, Mexico, McLaren, 56, 1:37:30.805.

12. Jean-Eric Vergne, France, Toro Rosso, 56, 1:37:39.549.

13. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Williams, 56, 1:38:00.806.

14. Pastor Maldonado, Venezuela, Williams, 56, 1:38:02.398.

15. Jules Bianchi, France, Marussia, 55, 1:36:38.818.

16. Charles Pic, France, Caterham, 55, 1:36:40.872.

17. Max Chilton, Britain, Marussia, 55, 1:37:16.746.

18. Giedo van der Gaarde, Netherlands, Caterham, 1:37:47.991.

Did not finish

Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes, 21.

Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 15.

Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 5.

Esteban Gutierrez, Mexico, Sauber, 4.

Drivers' championship

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 52 points.

2. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus, 49

3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 43

4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 40

5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 30

6. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 26

tie. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 12

tie. Jenson Button, McLaren, 12

9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 11

10. Paul di Resta, Force India, 8

11. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 6

11. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 6

13. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 5

14. Sergio Perez, McLaren, 2

15. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1.

Constructors' championship

1. Red Bull, 78

2. Ferrari, 73

3. Lotus, 60

4. Mercedes, 52

tie. McLaren, 14

tie. Force India, 14

7. Toro Rosso, 7

8. Sauber, 5

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - 3rd: "To end qualifying with both cars in the top five is a result that fills me with hope for the race. The F138 has been competitive all weekend and that means we have made a step forward, which is down to the work of the team.

"Some of the updates we had here worked as we had expected, but others need further work. In terms of establishing what will be the best strategy, we will be in for a long night and that will be the case for everyone, given that almost all our main competitors will start on the softs.

"I'm not concerned about Red Bull's choice and Mercedes usually has a higher degradation than ours. I'm definitely expecting an interesting race in which the biggest threat could come from Raikkonen as the Lotus has shown it manages its tyres well."

Felipe Massa - 5th: "It was a good qualifying, with the car working well and being quick. To be honest, after my performance in the second and third free practice sessions, I expected to start in the top three, but it's very likely that our competitors were running with more fuel and it's also true that strategy counts a lot more than one or two places on the grid.

"Today's qualifying featured different choices: we preferred to use the soft tyre right from the first run in Q1, because it looked complicated getting through to the next part with the medium. That has allowed us to save them for tomorrow in a race that looks like being very closely contested and where as many as three stops might be necessary.

"Today, our main competitors probably did better than us, but the race is long and anything can happen. Tyre management and tactical choices will definitely be the key factors."

Pat Fry, chassis technical director: "It emerged from yesterday's free practice that the medium would be the best tyre for the race, both in terms of its consistency and its relative degradation.

"During qualifying, it wasn't a surprise to see how all the teams had decided to save this compound for the race, opting to use the softs in all three legs.

"In Q2, after our first run, it wasn't easy to understand what time would be needed to get into Q3 and we preferred not to take any risks, doing a second lap. After this proved to be the safest choice, attention turned to possible strategies for the race and therefore whether to go with the medium or to try for another quick lap on the soft tyre to be sure of getting a better grid position. The latter option seemed the most sensible and that was confirmed when most of the teams did the same thing.

"I am expecting an unpredictable race because the cars at the front will have to stop first due to the degradation and the traffic towards the back could prove to be dangerous.

"I am extremely pleased with the performance of Fernando and Felipe and I am also optimistic for tomorrow, even if I expect a difficult race in which strategy and tyre performance could play an even more important role than ever."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel - 9th: "We're obviously on a different strategy to the cars in front, whether that works or not we will see tomorrow, but I'm confident we did the right thing based on the facts we have.

"It was a different approach to normal in today's qualifying and it all came down to the last few minutes for everyone; it was very silent and then everyone left in a queue to start the lap at the same time – but not a problem. We have the advantage of choosing the tyres for tomorrow, so we'll see."


Mark Webber – 22nd: "It's very disappointing. Q1 went okay; I was comfortable with the car and we had a good plan for the rest of the session. In Q2 we lost fuel pressure so I had to turn the car off and couldn't get it back to the pits. I had to stop on the circuit, so qualifying was over before it started really.

"We need a bit of luck now; it's not the optimum starting position, but we still have to try to get something from there."


Christian Horner, team principal: "A frustrating qualifying session for the team and for Mark. Unfortunately in Q2 the amount of fuel that was required to be put into the car from the fuel rig was not fully delivered. This was due to an error with the fuel bowser that meant it under-delivered 3kg of fuel.

"Therefore on Mark's in-lap we saw large drop-outs in the fuel tank collector and the car unfortunately ran dry of fuel, which is obviously frustrating. The fuel bowser has been immediately quarantined for further investigation. It's a shame as he would obviously have made Q3 today and the tactic with both drivers was to adopt the same strategy.

"As we've seen this weekend the soft tyre has had very good one lap performance, but very limited durability so we took a tactical decision in Q3 to run the harder tyre. That means Sebastian will have freedom of choice to start on a new set of tyres for tomorrow's race, which should be very interesting due to the different strategies involved."


Thierry Salvi, Renault: "Today was a disappointing result all round but it happens. Unfortunately due to a problem with the fuel bowser on Mark's car, the correct level of fuel was not delivered to the car. Despite trying to save fuel on the way back we came up just short. We have a long race ahead of us tomorrow."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg - 10th: "I think it was a good and successful qualifying. If someone had told us before qualifying that we are going to finish P10, I would have not believed it. As we did not try to set a lap time in Q3, maybe there would have been more on the table. It was a good effort, a good lap in Q2. The updates the team has brought to the track worked pretty well and everything went smoothly for us in qualifying. I was reasonably happy with the balance of the car, so I look forward to tomorrow. We've done everything right with our approach in Q3 not to run and instead save our tyres, which now gives us the free choice of tyres to start with, which can be an advantage. Now we have got to make the right choice."

Esteban Gutierrez - 17th: "Well, it's quite a disappointing qualifying result. It was very challenging to put a first quick lap together with only one chance. It is very critical and I was trying to push a little too hard and ended up making a small mistake, which cost us a lot. I will improve on that side and make sure everything I am doing in the car is very precise. On top of that, it is very challenging with these tyres. I feel very sorry for the team, as we had the potential to easily make it into Q2 and then to fight to get into Q3. The speed which shows the potential of the car is motivating, but we still need to put everything together, and that includes from my side."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "We are very happy about this result. During all practice sessions the team worked in a very focused way. After the last race our engineers put into place measures on the car and their effects have been seen here. This is a very important step for the team and also significant in order to exploit the potential of the car. Nico put in an outstanding lap in Q2 and showed our progress on the track. For Esteban, we hope he will get some opportunities in the race and will be able to use them."

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "It's nice to finally have a dry qualifying session to see where we stand compared to our competitors. We've been working very hard to improve the car since the start of the season. Nico put in an excellent lap in Q2. With regard to the race tomorrow, we elected to keep new tyres, and hopefully that will work out for us. Unfortunately, Esteban didn't make it through to Q2. It was very tight, and a small mistake ended up being very costly. But he will learn from that, and there are plenty opportunities for him tomorrow."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton - 1st: Pole position is a great result for us today and to achieve it in my third race for the team is such a good feeling. I had to make sure the radio was off after my engineer told me I had pole because I was so excited! None of us expected this level of performance at this stage of the season and it's a real bonus. The guys have just been working away, pushing really hard, and I'm so pleased for everyone back at the factories and here at the track that I've been able to deliver my first pole in a Silver Arrow. It would be great to convert the position in the race tomorrow but it's going to be a challenge and we're realistic about how tough the race will be. The soft tyres don't last for very long, and with a couple of quick guys starting on the mediums, it'll be interesting to see how the race plays out. I'm looking forward to it and will give it my all.

Nico Rosberg - 4th: A very good team result today and P4 is a decent grid position for me. I wasn't able to do my qualifying simulation this morning due to the hydraulic problem which was a bit unfortunate. So I needed to catch up through the qualifying sessions and find my way. I took some settings from Lewis for the initial set-up which worked out well. I made a small mistake at the last corner on my lap in Q3 which cost maybe a tenth and a couple of places. But I'm in a good position for the race and we've worked a lot on the race performance this weekend so I hope we can gain some places tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting race with some of the guys starting on the medium tyres so let's see what happens.

Ross Brawn: A great qualifying session for us today and all credit to Lewis, Nico and the team for a strong performance. It's a nice reward for all the hard work both here at the track and back at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth over the winter and in the last few weeks as we continue to develop the car. However there are no points gained on a Saturday as they say and there is a tough job ahead of us tomorrow to convert our qualifying positions. It's going to be a fascinating race from a strategy and tyre perspective so we will wait and see how it plays out. Congratulations to Lewis today on his first pole position in a Silver Arrow, and to Nico for achieving fourth place and the second row despite losing his qualifying simulation this morning.

Toto Wolff: Congratulations to Lewis and Nico. We're really happy about our pole position today at the Chinese Grand Prix, which the team achieved for the second year in a row. Lewis's performance was excellent and Nico also did a great job to qualify in fourth place following a hydraulic problem which prevented him from completing his qualifying run in practice this morning. Today's results are a nice reward for everybody at the team who have worked so hard during the winter to develop the F1 W04 into a competitive car. However we will not get ahead of ourselves with this result as we expect an interesting race which will be decided by the different tyre strategies. A few competitors have chosen to qualify on prime tyres to run a longer first stint instead of the options which we and most of the runners used in Q3.

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Force India

Paul di Resta - 11th: "I think P11 is a reasonable result considering the difficulties we had during final practice where our performance level dropped away. The changes we made ahead of qualifying improved things and in the end I just missed out on making Q3. I don't think that will make much difference tomorrow because it's going to be a race all about making the tyres last. The good news is that we've got a free choice on tyres for the start and our car has proved to be competitive over race distances, which means we can be optimistic of scoring points."

Adrian Sutil - 13th: "It's fair to say I was hoping for a better result, but for whatever reason the warmer conditions during qualifying did not work to our advantage. There was no major problem with the car and I felt happy with the balance, but I lost some performance during qualifying and didn't have the grip to go any faster. The positive is that I'm able to choose my starting tyres tomorrow and I have all new sets available for the race, which should allow us to target some points in the race."

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "It has proved difficult to gauge our true performance level during the practice sessions, but we expected to be a bit more competitive this afternoon. Paul and his crew did an excellent job to solve the set-up issues that held them back in final practice and in qualifying he was on the cusp of making Q3. Adrian's relative lack of performance compared to this morning is a little more mysterious so we need to investigate that in more detail. All considered we are in reasonable shape for the race, especially when you consider the role that tyre performance will play and the variations in strategy. We know our car is competitive over long runs and with lots of new tyres at our disposal there's every chance to move up the field and claim some points."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: McLaren

Jenson Button - 8th: "Our aim was to be the first Prime-tyre runner on the grid - even if it meant qualifying 10th – and we did that. This was the best we could do with what we have.

"Nevertheless, I think we should be very happy with our qualifying performance: we don't really have the pace of the front-running cars yet, but finishing seventh in Q2 was really satisfying. And to out-qualify both Red Bulls in Q3, and with a two-minute lap, was amazing!

"All the guys in front will be starting on grained Soft-compound tyres, and I think we're going to see the high-fuel graining on the Soft that we saw in practice yesterday, so it's going to be an extremely interesting race

"The first 10 laps tomorrow are going to be eventful; if I can get a good start, I'll hopefully be able to find some clear air in front of me, and then we'll see what happens.

Sergio Perez - 12th: "It's been a difficult weekend so far.

"I really should have been in Q3 today – but I didn't manage to find as much time as the others in Q2. That was frustrating; the warm-up of my tyres before my quick-lap wasn't ideal, and I struggled to really pull everything together on the lap.

"Still, the tyres will be difficult and unpredictable for everyone in the race tomorrow. It's going to a tough race, and a lot will depend on the strategy. I've got a great team behind me and I know they'll do a fantastic job to give me the best possible strategy for the race tomorrow.

"We can definitely do a good job and score some good points."

Martin Whitmarsh - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "This was an extremely interesting qualifying sessions – for many reasons.

"Jenson drove beautifully throughout all three sessions: his seventh positions in both Q1 and Q2 showed that there is potential in our car, and that we can close down the gap to the leaders. Additionally, he comfortably got through to Q3 and then drove a disciplined lap, with one eye on tomorrow's race strategy, to finish as the highest placed runner on the harder compound tyre.

"We believe that tyre choice in the race could be decisive, and feel that starting Jenson on the Prime gives us a very strong strategy for the race.

"Sergio was unlucky to just miss out on Q3. It's been a tough day for him, but he's a fantastic and committed racer, and I'm sure he'll be doing everything he can to get back up and score some valuable points tomorrow.

"We've seen before just what he can do, and this weekend has shown that it should be no major impediment to start outside the top 10. He can definitely race strongly into the points."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo - 7th: "It's nice to be in Q3. It's the first time since Bahrain last year that I've made it to the top ten, so that's nearly a whole year. I am definitely looking forward to having a strong race tomorrow and will give it all I've got to make the most of this seventh place on the grid. I think it will be an exciting race and today, you could see that most of us waited until the last moments in Q3 to go out, with everyone thinking about saving tyres for tomorrow, as the Options were having a hard time on a long run on Friday. This result will boost everyone's spirits, and mine as well and I really can't wait for the lights to go out tomorrow! The guys have been working so hard back at the factory and they've made the car quicker, so well done to everyone."

Jean-Eric Vergne - 16th: "That was disappointing, because I've been on the pace since Friday, something didn't feel quite right on the car this afternoon. However, I am sure we can sort things out for tomorrow and when you see where my team-mate qualified then that has to be a positive sign for tomorrow, because the car is clearly working well. There will be plenty of opportunities to do something from here in the race. The tyre situation is quite complicated and we will have to see how to make the most of them, because the right strategy will be the biggest factor tomorrow afternoon. What we can say is that the car has definitely improved compared to the first two races."

James Key (Technical Director): "We brought some relatively subtle changes here that improved on the hardware we had for the first two races which we hoped would allow us to make a good step forward and overall, they have. We didn't expect to be significantly better here, as this track has traditionally been difficult for us. However, all weekend our performance has been reasonable and we had a smoother time from Friday to Saturday than at the previous races and the car is responding well to changes. Daniel put in a fantastic effort, doing everything right and finding a huge amount of time with each new tyre set. It was a well controlled drive and he thoroughly deserves to have got to Q3 and a seventh place on the grid. It's also great news for the team, as we have all been working very hard at the track and the factory, because we knew we could do better than in the first two races. It was really unfortunate for Jev, who up until this afternoon was on the same pace as his team-mate. However, we've come from sixteenth on the grid to score points on Sunday, so we can remain optimistic. Inevitably with the spread between our cars on the grid, we will be looking at two different strategies for tomorrow. The Option tyre is something of an unknown, while Friday showed that the Prime is lasting quite well."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Caterham

Charles Pic - 21st: "We've had quite a few issues all weekend and they've hurt our ability to get the most out of the car here, particularly with the tyres. We tried a couple of different setup options in FP3 and the car balance felt better this morning than it had yesterday but between FP3 and qualifying the tyre behaviour changed again and we really couldn't get them to work. In qualifying we did both runs on the soft tyres but I had traffic on my first run which meant I didn't have a clean lap. On the second run I improved my time but I still had oversteer on the exits of most of the corners and more traffic in both sectors one and two which basically ruined that lap. Even with the package we have now we know there's more performance in the car so days like today are frustrating, but we'll just have to work harder, improve where we can and focus on putting in a good performance tomorrow."

Giedo van der Garde: - 22nd: "After two productive sessions yesterday I just couldn't get the same feeling from the car in FP3 and that carried over into qualifying. Like Charles, I've had quite a few small problems in each session and together they've held us back quite a bit. We're struggling to understand the tyre behaviour here and when the track temps went up today it was like having to start again with our understanding of how to get them working. My final position in quali is obviously disappointing, particularly as I made a mistake in turn two on my second run, pushing too hard into the corner and that cost me about four tenths. Without that I'd have finished a bit higher up the grid but now we have to focus on tomorrow's race and aim for the same sort of performance we put in at the last race in Malaysia."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Marussia

Jules Bianchi - 19th: "I am happy with where we ended up on the grid for tomorrow's race, but I am a little disappointed with my lap to be honest. I made a small mistake which cost me lap time and there was certainly more to come. I think we have struggled a little more today perhaps, but I have confidence in our race pace and so I am looking forward to tomorrow's race. It will be key to get a good start and ensure the cars behind us stay behind us, then I am sure we can continue our trend of getting closer to the cars in front and hopefully feel the full benefit of our upgrades. I think it could be an interesting race generally because of the tyres and the track conditions, and I hope we will be able to take advantage of some circumstances which might work in our favour."

Max Chilton - 20th: "It would be easy to focus on the negatives from today, but given the challenges we've faced on my side of the garage so far this weekend I'm more encouraged by what we 'have' achieved when you consider how little running we've had. The target was to stay the right side of the Caterhams, which I did, despite only having the one run of three laps. Although it has been frustrating, at least this means that we'll start ahead of them on the grid tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to make use of our strong race pace to stay there. Fingers crossed we'll get a clear run at the race, which I'm looking forward to."

John Booth, Team Principal: "Today has certainly been far from the perfect day for our Team, although on one hand it is interesting that we use different benchmarks to reach that conclusion than might have been the case last year. With both cars we are disappointed with our qualifying. There was certainly more time to come from Jules' lap, but the balance wasn't quite there on his second run. With Max, I'm disappointed to say that we experienced another issue, which unfortunately prevented him from starting his second qualifying run. We are busy analysing the data and parts on the car to fully understand the problem and we will do everything possible to make sure his car is in good order for tomorrow's race. Overall, I suppose we can be happy that we are in the positions we need to be in for the start of the race, however we can't help feeling that we missed out on quite a bit of potential today. We hope for better things tomorrow."

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Williams

Pastor Maldonado - 15th: I got everything I could out of the car today. I was hoping for a better result but we couldn't quite put it all together in Q2. It's not where we want to be so we need to work very hard. We've been working hard already but we need time to turn things around. We have a good amount of new tyres for tomorrow and the tyres are very sensitive here, so that could make the race very interesting. Anything can happen tomorrow and we will do our very best.

Valtteri Bottas - 17th: We left the run quite late in Q1 as everyone else also left it late before heading back out and we were waiting for the track conditions to improve. However, with only one lap to get everything right it was quite a difficult situation. The wind conditions made it tricky to get the perfect lap as I was trying to push hard and it's a new experience for me to have to put everything together in just one lap. The conditions were different to FP3 and I didn't make the most of qualifying. Now we are focused on getting the strategy right for the race to make the most of the new tyres we have.

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: In a close grid where you only get a single lap in qualifying, any small mistakes are punished. We feel we have a much better set-up for the race on the hard tyre rather than on the soft tyre. We are aiming to deliver a better performance tomorrow. We know we still have more laptime to find but we are working hard at it.

Chinese GP qualifying quotes: Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen - 2nd: "This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole. It's been quite a tricky weekend so far and we've had a few small issues with setup, but it's always difficult to get things exactly how you want them and the car seems to be working well now. The tyres will of course be the question mark tomorrow; some people are starting on the primes but we chose the strategy we think will work best. Hopefully we can keep managing the degradation well like we have so far this season and have a good race tomorrow."

Romain Grosjean - 6th: "Friday was difficult and we missed some time on Saturday morning so it's been a challenging weekend, but I'm finally back in business. We've been chasing some small problems here and there, but the engineers have been working hard and did a fantastic job to get the car to where it is now. My first lap on options in Q1 was actually my first of the weekend with those tyres so we had to guess a little on the set up, but I think we did pretty well. Of course you always want to do better, but overall I'm pleased. The car was much better this afternoon so let's see what we can do in the race."

Fuel sample penalty sends Webber to the back of the grid

Red Bull's Mark Webber will start Sunday's 2013 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai from the back of the grid after the stewards found that he did not have enough fuel in his car for the mandatory one-litre post-qualifying sample. 

The news compounds a miserable day for the Australian driver in which he had initially qualified in 14th place after being told over the radio to park his car midway through Q2. 

Red Bull later confirmed that the stoppage was caused by a fuel bowser problem that led to 3kg of fuel not being delivered to Webber's RB9. 

"The fuel bowser has been immediately quarantined for further investigation," said team principal Christian Horner. 

A similar problem forced Webber's team mate Sebastian Vettel to start the 2012 Abu DHabi Grand Prix from the back of the grid.

Under the regulations, any car that stops on the track during qualifying must have enough fuel for the mandatory one-litre minimum sample, plus an additional amount proportional to the amount of fuel that would have been used in returning to the pits.

Hamilton takes pole position for Chinese GP

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix after a cagey qualifying session on Saturday that set the stage for an intriguing start to Sunday's race.

Hamilton's best time at the Shanghai International Circuit was 1 minute, 34.484 seconds, qualifying him a quarter of a second ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso will start third.

It was Hamilton's first pole with his new team after crossing over from McLaren in the off-season, and he felt it was a statement to those who said he should not have made the move.

"It's an incredible feeling, so happy to have our first pole for some time," Hamilton said. "I'm just ecstatic really, the lap was great."

"I can't answer (critics) with one result but bit by bit, as we progress and improve, they will have to stand corrected."

"I am so grateful because it could have gone the other way. It was such a big choice for me and a big step for me but I made the right call."

A cat-and-mouse qualifying session saw all runners restrict their time on the track to save sets of tires for the race, with all of the top 10 having only one flying lap in the final stage of qualifying.

McLaren's Jenson Button and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel both elected to do their flying lap on the harder of the two tire compounds, sacrificing grid position so they can have a longer stint at the beginning of the race. Button qualified eighth and Vettel ninth.

Of the top three runners, Hamilton is likely going to have to pit first, as the Mercedes has quickly degraded the soft tire throughout the race weekend, and his times are likely to start dropping after as few as two or three laps.

He was putting faith in his team in the decision to start on the softs and not follow the example of championship leader Vettel in choosing a lower grid spot but longer first stint on Sunday.

"I have really good strategists and I just trust them and their decisions and stand by it," Hamilton said.

"No matter what strategy you are on, everyone will struggle on the option tire whether it's high or low fuel."

Red Bull's Mark Webber had a fuel pressure failure in the second sector of qualifying, coasting to a stop out on the circuit. He qualified 14th but was later relegated to back of the grid because the car did not have enough fuel in the tank to provide the requisite liter to race stewards.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, last year's winner, qualified in fourth, ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Lotus' Romain Grosjean. Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso was surprisingly strong in qualifying seventh — one position off his career best — while Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg was tenth.

Raikkonen came up just short of his first pole position in five years, set when he was with Ferrari.

"Second is not too bad. It's the best I've achieved with the team. I would rather be in first place but we don't have the speed," Raikkonen said.

The Finn won the season's opening grand prix in Australia by having one less pitstop than his rivals, and if he can nurse his tires well again on Sunday, he will be hard to beat. Raikkonen, however, was uncertain that could be achieved again.

"It's a big question mark because we were pretty happy (Friday), but the car is not the same as then," Raikkonen said. "Hopefully it will turn out to be good tomorrow but it will be pretty close and whoever gets it exactly right will make a difference.

Alonso edged Massa by about a tenth of a second to avoid being out-qualified by a teammate for a fifth straight time, which has never happened in his career.

"The car has been competitive from Friday and this morning we made changes and the car responded well," Alonso said. "We have a good set up for the race, which is the most important thing. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, we should fight for the podium with both cars."