Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel took pole position here in Bahrain today and will start the season opener alongside Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Trow two consists of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg fifth, Mark Webber sixth, Michael Schumacher seventh, Jenson Button eighth, Robert Kubica ninth and Adrian Sutil rounded out the top ten.

The eagerly anticipated first qualifying session of the 2010 season got underway here at the Bahrain International circuit this afternoon under sweltering conditions at 37 degrees ambient

For this year’s qualifying, as there are twenty four drivers instead of the usual twenty, we will see seven drivers knocked out after the opening twenty minutes, a further seven after the next fifteen and then the final ten are left for the shootout for pole.

Alonso. Glock, di Grassi and Petrov are the first men out with di Grassi setting the opening time of 2:02.131/ Teammate Timo Glock soon betters this but Fernando Alonso is six seconds faster on his first lap.  Massa slots into P2 behind his teammate with Nico Rosberg third, Lewis Hamilton fourth and Jenson Button fifth.

Massa is on a flyer and takes P1 with Vettel slotting into second and Rosberg third.  Mark Webber is the last to appear and on his first lap he goes third. He continues on and sets the fastest first sector time to move into P1. Meanwhile, teammate Sebastien Vettel is also on a flyer and takes top spot from Webber by two tenths.

The first twenty minutes winds down and Alonso reclaims top spot with Sutil taking third for Force India. The new teams, as expected, fill the bottom six spots, but who will join them in the first elimination? Sad to say, it’s the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.

Sebastian Vettel is the first man out in the second fifteen minute session closely followed by Sebastien Buemi in the sister Toro Rosso. Mark Webber is also on track along with over half the runners that are left. Vettel sets the first time on the softer Bridgestone compound with a 1:54.035. Webber slots into second three tenths slower before Alonso slots in between the two Red Bulls. Felipe Massa is fourth and Adrian Sutil fifth before Lewis Hamilton, then Nico Rosberg takes the place.

The final five minutes and most drivers are back in the pits ahead of their final runs, all desperate to make it into the top ten. The final dash is on and cars stream back onto the track with led than three minutes remaining.

Vettel sets the fastest first and second sectors to stay top with Alonso second, Webber third and Massa fourth. Both McLarens make it in both Mercedes are through, both Red Bulls, both Ferrari’s Kubica and Adrian Sutil. The rest are eliminated, Barrichello, Liuzzi, Hülkenberg, de la Rosa, Buemi, Kobayashi and Petrov.

Now for the all important final ten minutes that will determine the top ten positions on tomorrows grid. Pit lane opens and Lewis Hamilton is first out followed by the two Ferrari’s. It must be remembered that unlike other years, this season the top ten drivers don’t need to start the race on their qualifying fuel levels, so they will be out there with minimal fuel. However, they will need to start the race on the same Bridgestone compound they qualify on.

Massa sets the first time but Alonso is a fraction of a second faster while Hamilton goes third, well off the pace. Button and Sutil are also out. Button fails to set a time and returns to the pits and he goes back out, but now the Sahkir circuit is alive with all ten drivers out on track for the final two minutes of the session.

Sutil goes third as Lewis Hamilton starts his final lap. Sebastian Vettel is on a flyer and sets the fastest first sector time, the fastest second and third sector sand moves into pole position. Massa goes second, Alonso third and Hamilton fourth.