Lewis Hamilton takes pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel at Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying TIME
1. HAM Mercedes 1:32.571
2. VET Ferrari 1:32.982
3. ROS Mercedes 1:33.129
4. RAI Ferrari 1:33.227
5. BOT Williams 1:33.381
6. MAS Williams 1:33.744
7. RIC Red Bull 1:33.832
8. HUL Force India 1:34.450
9. SAI Toro Rosso 1:34.462
10. GRO Lotus 1:34.484
11. PER Force India 1:34.704
12. NAS Sauber 1:34.737
13. ERI Sauber 1:35.034
14. ALO McLaren 1:35.039
15. VES Toro Rosso 1:35.103
16. MAL Lotus 1:35.677
17. KVY Red Bull 1:35.800
18. STE Manor 1:38.713
19. MER Manor 1:39.722
20. BUT McLaren No time
Lewis Hamilton secured his fourth successive pole position this season during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, but looks set to face a challenge from Ferrari on Sunday after Sebastian Vettel managed to qualify ahead of Nico Rosberg and split the Mercedes on the grid.
Hamilton showed Mercedes true one-lap potential in the second session of qualifying when he set a time nearly a second clear of the rest of the field that would have been good enough for pole had he repeated it in Q3. Nevertheless, he upped his pace again in the final session to make sure of holding off the best effort from Vettel by 0.4s.
Rosberg, however, could not find the necessary pace to secure a place on the front row of the grid with a time 0.147s slower than Vettel and only 0.098s clear of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. After qualifying he admitted he had underestimated the strength of the Ferrari and was unable to get into a rhythm after setting a slow time in Q2 in order to save life in his tyres for the start of the race.
The qualifying result puts Ferrari in a strong position to fight with Mercedes on Sunday after showing impressive long-run pace during Friday practice. With rear tyres the limiting factor for strategy, Ferrari will be hoping for a repeat of the Malaysian Grand Prix when it was able to utilise the tyre-saving strengths of the SF15-T for Vettel to take victory.
Williams was closer than it had been all weekend to the top four, but still shy of Ferrari with Valtteri Bottas nearly 0.2s off Raikkonen. Felipe Massa was another 0.25s off in the second Williams and less than a tenth quicker than the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg set a very impressive lap to haul the Force India up to eighth on the grid ahead of Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean.
Sergio Perez just missed out on joining his Force India team-mate in the top ten by 0.028s and was marginally quicker than the Sauber of Felipe Nasr. Marcus Ericsson will start 13th on the grid in the second Sauber after beating McLaren's Fernando Alonso by 0.005s. Alonso was nearly 0.4s off a place in Q3, but McLaren's improvement was noticeable as he moved two rows further up the grid than the MP4-30 has been all year. Max Verstappen will start 15th after setting a time over 0.4s slower than his Toro Rosso team-mate.
Despite being in the top ten throughout practice, Pastor Maldonado was knocked out in Q1 after struggling for power with an engine issue, but will still start ahead of Daniil Kvyat, who struggled to get the most from his Red Bull after a spin in final practice. Jenson Button will start from the back row after a problem with his McLaren forced him to pull over to the side of the track on his first outlap from the pits. Both Manors managed times within 107% of the fastest time, although Will Stevens was a full second quicker than team-mate Roberto Merhi whose time would only have secured him sixth on the grid in GP2 qualifying.