The fuel loads for the Bahrain Grand Prix have been released and show that Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull seems to be the best-placed driver inside the top few places, with the Toyotas are pretty much as light as expected.
Vettel will start with 16kg of fuel more than Timo Glock, the lightest car on the grid, and 10.5kg more than pole man Jarno Trulli, who beat his team mate to top spot despite being the heavier Toyota. The Red Bull is also potentially a couple of laps heavier than Jenson Button's Brawn GP car in fourth place, as the championship leaders have their pace surprisingly shown up. Not only do the Brawn cars not seem to have the pace advantage, they don't have the strategy advantage either. Rubens Barrichello only managed sixth on the grid despite being the lightest car behind the Toyotas.
Lewis Hamilton's surprising 5th place was secured with the same level of fuel as Button, to give a inkling for the beleagured McLaren team that there may be light at the end of their uncompetitive tunnel.
Elsewhere, fifth row men Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen have elected for long first stints in lieu of grid position, but Rosberg in particular may find his strategy wrong-footed by losing out at the start. He is surrounded by KERS-shod cars on the grid.
He may not be challenged by the BMW cars off the line though. Both Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld have gone for a very long first stint, potentially even looking to play themselves into one-stop strategy territory, though probably not.
Elsewhere, Mark Webber has gone for a fairly light fuel load as he attempts to carve his way through the field after his qualifying calamity, while Giancarlo Fisichella drew the short straw in the Findia garage to be handed this week's comical fuel load. Fisi will start from the back of the grid with a paltry 47kg of fuel onboard.
| Bahrain Fuel Loads | |||
| Driver | Fuel Load | Grid Pos* | |
| 1 | Timo Glock | 643.0kg | 2 |
| 2 | Jarno Trulli | 648.5kg | 1 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | 649.0kg | 6 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | 650.5kg | 7 |
| 5 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 652.0kg | 18 |
| 6 | Jenson Button | 652.5kg | 4 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | 652.5kg | 5 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | 656.0kg | 19 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | 659.0kg | 3 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | 664.5kg | 8 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 667.5kg | 20 |
| 12 | Nico Rosberg | 670.5kg | 9 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | 671.5kg | 10 |
| 14 | Nelson Piquet Jr | 677.6kg | 15 |
| 15 | Heikki Kovalainen | 678.5kg | 11 |
| 16 | Sebastien Buemi | 678.5kg | 17 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | 679.0kg | 16 |
| 18 | Kazuki Nakajima | 680.9kg | 12 |
| 19 | Nick Heidfeld | 696.3kg | 14 |
| 20 | Robert Kubica | 698.6kg | 13 |
* - Position qualified in, before Adrian Sutil's three place penalty.
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