Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel said that capturing the first pole position of the year had been a surprise to him, but said it was a "good feeling" after the top F1 teams arrived at Bahrain looking very evenly matched on performance.
Vettel scorched to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, beating both of the fancied Ferrari drivers to the prize, to confirm that Red Bull's new car was the pacesetter for the new season, despite some mixed testing performances for the new RB6 car.
After pre-season testing and pre-race practice was spent with cars on a dizzying mix of fuel loads in preparation for the refuelling ban this season, Bahrain qualifying was the first chance to see all the new cars on an even footing, and Red Bull and Ferrari seem to have an early edge over their rivals at McLaren and Mercedes GP.
"A big surprise!" said Vettel after qualifying as to how his pole position felt, "In winter testing no one really knew where he was. It was clear there were four teams were pretty strong, but close to each other."
He added that the whole session went very well, and it felt good to have beaten his title rivals in the first real test of the year.
"Qualifying went pretty smoothly," he grinned smugly, "I am very, very happy to be on pole, the boys didn't get much sleep in the last month, a lot of testing in a short amount of time and to come here, where everybody shows how strong they are, and come out on top is a nice feeling."
He did, though, admit that the top spot on the grid was no guarantee for victory in the race tomorrow.
"I think we all don't know what is going to be happen tomorrow yet, it could be very exciting, it could be very boring," Vettel mused, refusing to confirm that it would be the latter, "That is what I hope for! We want a calm race, all of us here would like to be where we start, it is a difficult situation to be in.
"The first part of the race will be crucial but there is no secret that you need to take care of tyres. All of us don't know what to expect tomorrow."
Felipe Massa, who won the internecine Ferrari battle to line up alongside Vettel on the front row, said that he was glad to be back in competitive Formula One racing after missing the second half of last season following his Hungarian GP accident.
"It is nice to be back racing and competitive in the right direction. I feel happy to be back after such a difficult time," the Brazilian grinned, "I was watching races on TV but it's more exciting to be in the car. I am in a good direction, testing, driving go-karts, so it's great to be back for racing.
"If you look what happened to us, it is a good start for us. I feel very positive to start in second and third, it feels great. For sure Red Bull and some teams are strong, so the race will be difficult but I am happy here to be fighting for top."
His team mate Fernando Alonso, who had set the pace in final practice but slipped back to third on the grid, insisted that he was happy with the result as it proved that Ferrari were competitive once again.
"I am very happy obviously," Alonso muttered dubiously, "At is the first race, there are many things to answer in the first race with a long winter with a big difference in fuel loads, in all the tests and yesterday in practice, you never know what the competitors are running.
"We were excited about the first qualifying of the season, so now to have both drivers in the top three means we have a very competitive car. We thought so, but you need to confirm and it has been great, a great day and I think it is some kind of nice feeling to realise that we are in the fight because you never know until qualifying."
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