Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start his 200th Formula One race from pole position after he and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen locked out the front row for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
The German secured his 51st career pole with a supreme lap in the closing stages of a tense qualifying session under floodlights in which Ferrari was dominant on Saturday.
“Yes, P1! Pole position,” said Vettel. “That was a lion lap.”
Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for Mercedes behind the two Ferraris, but ahead of his teammate, defending champion Lewis Hamilton who has a five-place grid penalty after an overnight gearbox change.
That will promote Australian Daniel Ricciardo from fifth to fourth for Red Bull ahead of Frenchman Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Dane Kevin Magnussen of Haas.
German Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Renault ahead of Frenchman Sebastian Ocon in the second Toro Rosso and Spaniard Carlos Sainz in the second Renault.
The starting grid: 1. S. Vettel (Ferrari), 2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari), 3. V. Bottas (Mercedes), 4. L. Hamilton (Mercedes), 5. D. Ricciardo (Red Bull), 6. P. Gasly (Toro Rosso), 7. K. Magnussen (Haas), 8. N. Hulkenberg (Renault), 9. E. Ocon (Force India), 10. C. Sainz Jr. (Renault), 11. B. Hartley (Toro Rosso), 12. S. Perez (Force India), 13. F. Alonso (McLaren), 14. S. Vandoorne (McLaren).
