What a fabulous qualifying session in Shanghai. An amazing final qualifying lap for Nico Rosberg put him half a second faster than his nearest rival, Lewis Hamilton, who, due to a gear box change will now start seventh. He incurred a five place penalty when the team were worried that the previous gear box would not be able to finish the race. He now starts in seventh place, with his team mate Jenson Button in fifth. This is the first ever pole position for the Mercedes driver, with his team mate Michael Schumacher 0.57 seconds slower and now second on the grid. Its also the first pole that Mercedes have had since 1955. The team pulled out of formula one after that season, not returning to formula one until 2010 when they bought the Brawn team.
The surprise of the morning was current champion Sebastian Vettal's early exit, going out in Q2 in 11th place. He was using a different car to his team mate Mark Webber who qualified in sixth place.
Moving onto next weeks Grand Prix in Bahrain, although some drivers and teams have expressed concerns about the race, the FIA (the governing body) have decided to let the race go ahead even though there has been civil unrest in the region since February 2011. A statesman has said it was "satisfied that all the proper security measures are in place for the running of a Formula One world championship event".
I cant wait to see what happens in the race tomorrow, fingers crossed for the Brits....especially Jenson, who is a local boy for us coming from Frome in Somerset which is just down the road, Good Luck !
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