Qualifying for the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix would see the teams run under the new qualifying system for the first time. Qualifying would be broken into three sessions, with the first two seeing six drivers been knocked out. The final session would see the top ten drivers fight it out for pole position. If a driver is
not able to get his car back to his pits at the end of the first two sessions he will be excluded from running any further in qualifying. There is a five minute break between sessions. To get a detailed explanation of the new system read the feature on 2006 Qualifying Format.

With just fifteen minutes in the first session expect it to be a frantic time as all the drivers aim to set a quick time. It is almost a certainty that the two Aguri F1's will be slowest in the first session. But how the rest of qualifying would turn out is of great interest to all the teams and rule makers.

There would be a flood of cars taking to the track. The first driver to start his flying lap was Ide. He would be joined by Trulli, Liuzzi, Speed, Sato, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher to name but a few. The first time went to Ide with a 1m:40.270. We only had half the field out. Liuzzi went faster with a 1m:34.439. Speed was
in second with a 1m:34.865. Ralf was third with a 1m:35.581. Klein was sixth. But Albers and Monteiro would move into fifth and sixth. Rubens was now third with a 1m:35.548. Most drivers were setting one time and then returning to their pit.

The new system was certainly producing some exciting activity on the track. Rubens was now second. Mark Weber was out, joined by Coulthard, Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, and both McLaren and Ferrari drivers. There was six minutes remaining. Villeneuve was also out. Neither Renault had come out. Kimi was on a quick lap. Heidfeld would go fastest with a 1m:33.374.

It would all go terribly wrong for Kimi was he was to have a suspension failure on his car causing damage to the rear of his car. Despite the damage Kimi still tried to get his car back to his garage but would lose it at Turn ten. He would eventually get back to his garage but his afternoon would be over.

His accident would see a red flag come out, with only ten drivers having set a time. There was just over four minutes remaining. With his accident those drivers who had yet to set a time would only have time enough for one lap. Things are going to be very hectic. Neither of the WilliamsF1 drivers had set a time. with the green flag there was a big queue of cars waiting to come out. Massa and Button would be running close together on their quick lap. Button would go fastest with Massa second. But Alonso would go fastest of all with a 1m:32.433.

Fisichella was third while Nico Rosberg would be in an excellent fourth. Mark was in eighth meaning that both WilliamsF1 cars made it through into the next session. The slowest six cars were Raikkonen, with his crash, Sato, Ide, Monteiro, Albers, and surprisingly Ralf Schumacher.

Both Mark and Nico were out on the track. They were joined by both Ferrari's. On his first lap Michael Schumacher would move into second with a 1m:32.025 but he was beaten by team-mate Massa with a 1m:32.014. Nico was in eighth with a 1m:32.620. Mark was in fifth with a 1m:32.309.

Rubens was now in sixth with Trulli tenth. Villeneuve and Heidfeld were in seventh and eighth. Button would improve to be fourth with a 1m:32.025. Neither Renault had set a time. Nico would spin his car but was able to continue, been in tenth he would struggle to make it into the final session. Fisichella would move into second with a 1m:31.831. team-mate Alonso would go fastest with a 1m:31.215. Nico was now in twelfth. Mark was in ninth.

With the end of the session the top ten was Alonso, Montoya, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Massa, Michael Schumacher, Button, Klien, Webber, Barrichello. Thos not making the cut were Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthard, Trulli, Liuzzi, and Scott Speed.