Nico Rosberg surprised by commanding Bahrain pole but plays down victory hopes

Nico Rosberg has conceded he wasn't expecting to claim pole position for Sunday's Bahrain GP and admitted he may struggle to defeat Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso on race day.

Yet regardless of what happens in Sunday's race, Rosberg's season is at last, in his own words, "up and running" following Saturday afternoon's unexpected success. Although there have been glimpses of speed from the 27-year-old in each of the opening three events of 2013, Rosberg entered Saturday's qualifying hour trailing Hamilton 0-3 and knowing that he couldn't afford a repeat of the mistakes which cost him dear at both Malaysia and China. His response was a comprehensive defeat of the 2008 World Champion as Hamilton, already facing a five-place grid penalty, failed to lap within four-tenths of his team-mate's time. "The first three races have been a really rough and today was the first normal qualifying so I just want to kick-start my season in the race," he said.