<p>Schumacher, the seven times world champion making a comeback at the age of 41 after a three-year absence, qualified seventh for Mercedes, exactly where he qualified on his Formula One debut in 1991. <br /><br />With Red Bull and Ferrari looking the teams to beat, Britain's world champion Jenson Button put his McLaren alongside Schumacher in eighth place after just sneaking into the final phase of qualifying, with all cars on the same low fuel loads. <br /><br />Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, returning for his first race since his serious head injury last July, qualified second and one place ahead of new Spanish team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso. <br /><br />McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, the fourth world champion on the starting grid, starts fourth. <br />Vettel, who came into Formula One with the nickname 'Baby Schumi' the year after Schumacher retired in 2006, finished overall runner-up last season while his Renault-powered team won the last three races of 2009. "It's a big surprise," said the 22-year-old, who had brake problems in practice on Friday. "In winter testing, no one really knew where everyone was. Of course it was clear that four teams were pretty strong." Vettel congratulated Massa, a double winner in Bahrain in the past, for his strong comeback from life-threatening injuries sustained in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Massa returned the compliment with a grin: "It's just fantastic to hear that. I want to be in your place but I'm happy for you," he replied. <br />Germany's Nico Rosberg qualified fifth, ahead of team mate Schumacher, with Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber sixth. <br /><br />"It's not unrealistic (to aim for the podium) but it's going to be tough," Schumacher told reporters. There's lot of potential to improve the car and that's the main focus at the moment, to just steadily get up there. <br /><br />McLaren were surprised by their lack of pace, with Hamilton more than a second slower than Vettel, but still hopeful for the race itself when the only pitstops will be for tyre changes now that refuelling is banned. <br /><br />Towards the back, Virgin Racing were the best of the new teams with Germany's Timo Glock qualifying 19th. Lotus pair Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen were 20th.<br /><br />Sutil in tenth<br />India’s Karun Chandhok will make his F1 debut in the last row, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil will be 10th and team-mate Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will start on 12th on the grid. Hispania Racing driver Chandhok’s 2:04.904 timing was not good enough to qualify for the second qualification and the Indian driver finished at the bottom at the 24th position.</p>
<p>Schumacher, the seven times world champion making a comeback at the age of 41 after a three-year absence, qualified seventh for Mercedes, exactly where he qualified on his Formula One debut in 1991. <br /><br />With Red Bull and Ferrari looking the teams to beat, Britain's world champion Jenson Button put his McLaren alongside Schumacher in eighth place after just sneaking into the final phase of qualifying, with all cars on the same low fuel loads. <br /><br />Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, returning for his first race since his serious head injury last July, qualified second and one place ahead of new Spanish team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso. <br /><br />McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, the fourth world champion on the starting grid, starts fourth. <br />Vettel, who came into Formula One with the nickname 'Baby Schumi' the year after Schumacher retired in 2006, finished overall runner-up last season while his Renault-powered team won the last three races of 2009. "It's a big surprise," said the 22-year-old, who had brake problems in practice on Friday. "In winter testing, no one really knew where everyone was. Of course it was clear that four teams were pretty strong." Vettel congratulated Massa, a double winner in Bahrain in the past, for his strong comeback from life-threatening injuries sustained in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Massa returned the compliment with a grin: "It's just fantastic to hear that. I want to be in your place but I'm happy for you," he replied. <br />Germany's Nico Rosberg qualified fifth, ahead of team mate Schumacher, with Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber sixth. <br /><br />"It's not unrealistic (to aim for the podium) but it's going to be tough," Schumacher told reporters. There's lot of potential to improve the car and that's the main focus at the moment, to just steadily get up there. <br /><br />McLaren were surprised by their lack of pace, with Hamilton more than a second slower than Vettel, but still hopeful for the race itself when the only pitstops will be for tyre changes now that refuelling is banned. <br /><br />Towards the back, Virgin Racing were the best of the new teams with Germany's Timo Glock qualifying 19th. Lotus pair Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen were 20th.<br /><br />Sutil in tenth<br />India’s Karun Chandhok will make his F1 debut in the last row, while Force India driver Adrian Sutil will be 10th and team-mate Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will start on 12th on the grid. Hispania Racing driver Chandhok’s 2:04.904 timing was not good enough to qualify for the second qualification and the Indian driver finished at the bottom at the 24th position.</p>