Michael Schumacher's failure to get out of Q1 in Bahrain was not due to an error from Merc, rather it was down to a DRS problem.
The seven-time World Champ was sitting in his car in the pits as qualifying countdown. And with rivals out on track, his position quickly began to head towards the drop zone.
With the Mercedes driver on the cusp in 17th place, Caterhams' Heikki Kovalainen was one of the last to cross the line and the Finn better his time, pushing Schumacher out of qualifying.
And although it initially appeared to have been an error of judgement from those on the Mercedes pit wall, the team quickly Tweeted that it was in fact a "technical" problem.
Schumacher confirmed this, telling the BBC: "The so called RFA (DRS) rear wing failed on my last try. There was no need to go out again until it was fixed and then the time ran out."
That left Nico Rosberg to fly the flag for Mercedes with many expecting the German to launch an attack on pole position. However, instead he qualified P5 after losing time in the final sector.
"I'm not really happy, I would prefer to be first," said the Chinese Grand prix winner. "But that's the way it is, and generally we've been working more to the race.
"There are still really good chances for tomorrow, even from where we are. We're looking much better than we have been, especially in these conditions here, which are really, really hot and very difficult.
"It's nice to think that now with fifth place we're not happy, but we've been working well towards the race here. I'm quite happy about tomorrow, I think I can do well and move up. I saved one set of tyres, unlike many others, so that should help.
"Pole position has been changing all the time now, plus the race winner has been changing all the time, which makes it really interesting."
Related Links
Bahrain Qualy: Vettel is back on pole
Gallery: Saturday's action from Bahrain
