Bahrain overshadows Nico Rosberg's run

Another brilliant qualifying session, in which Mercedes' Nico Rosberg stormed to a memorable pole for the first time in his 111-race career, set up the prospect of an exciting Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, with many of Formula One's major players starting from further back on the grid.

But any excitement at the action on the track in Shanghai was tempered by further disturbing news emanating from Bahrain ahead of next weekend's race, after AFP reported a 15 year-old was shot and seriously injured by riot police at the funeral of another protester. With protests planned last night (Saturday) outside the British Embassy in Manama, Bahrain's capital, the sense of unease within the paddock is ever present.

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, had confirmed overnight on Thursday that the race would go ahead, prompting protesters to set fire to images of the sport's chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone. And while no team have yet voiced any concerns, at least not publicly, the strain which the decision to press ahead with the race has caused in private was perfectly illustrated at Williams, where a member of the catering staff had her contract terminated for refusing to attend the Bahrain event on moral grounds.

Williams would not comment on the matter but it is understood that the staff member left by mutual consent, having signed a contract at the start of the year to cover all 20 races. Williams were concerned that if they did not hold her to the letter of her contract then others of a similar disposition might follow suit.

Bahrain's race organisers are desperately trying to stem the flow of negative publicity, insisting that many reports have been exaggerated or fabricated. But there remain plenty within the sport who are unconvinced based on the information, or misinformation, they are receiving.

It does not help, either, that the president of the FIA, Jean Todt, refuses to take the initiative. The Frenchman, who has made no public pronouncement on the issue, was in the paddock yesterday but refused to entertain questions from reporters.

It was left to team principals such as McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh to try to allay fears. "We are always cautious and mindful of the safety of our staff but we have taken no special [security] measures," he said. "At the moment there are clearly problems in Bahrain, but we don't believe there are individual threats posed to us."

Whitmarsh, who added that none of his staff had expressed any concern to him, said that many of the venues on the calendar posed safety risks. "There is a lot of stress going to Brazil and to India," he said. "None of us know what is going to happen on the way back in to Shanghai tonight - and with the way my driver is driving it may be even more dangerous than Brazil."

Nevertheless, the decision to press ahead with the race has been roundly criticised by human rights groups. It is all a desperate shame given the excellent start to the season we are witnessing on track. Rosberg's pole was Mercedes' first as a works team since 1955 and means the 26 year-old German lines up alongside team-mate Michael Schumacher at the front of the grid, the seven-time world champion profiting from Lewis Hamilton's five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled change of gearbox.

His chances of victory today are still reckoned to be slim given the car's propensity for going backwards on race day, partly because it struggles to get its tyres working and partly because it is not able to make unlimited use of its DRS-assisted F-duct, which was officially declared legal by the FIA on Thursday.

Rosberg was hopeful, though, after going half a second quicker than anyone else yesterday. "It's a really, really special feeling," he said. "The track was cooling off. The temperatures started coming down slightly so the rear tyres started to work better. I just got the perfect run."

The Mercedes pair will be helped by the fact that the two cars behind them are not championship contenders.

Thanks to Hamilton's penalty, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi will start from third on the grid, with Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen alongside him for company.

Hamilton dropped to seventh, just behind team-mate Jenson Button, who had only one run in Q3 when the temperature had dropped, but unbelievably still finds himself four places above world champion Sebastian Vettel, who failed to make it to the final top-10 shoot-out for the first time since Brazil 2009. "I'm not blaming the car for the position, I was driving," Vettel said.

Ferrari's woes, meanwhile, continued with Fernando Alonso taking ninth on the grid and Felipe Massa 12th. An exciting race awaits. Before attention turns, once again, to Bahrain.