Vettel and Ricciardo on the second row; Alonso facing grid penalty after engine failure; Sunday's race underway at 4pm on Sky Sports
Monday 17 April 2017 10:19, UK
Valtteri Bottas beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Bahrain GP as the Finn claimed his first-ever pole in F1.
Bottas, a fraction behind Hamilton after their opening runs in Qualifying Three, drove a finely-judged final lap to edge out his Mercedes team-mate by less than a tenth of a second.
"Today he was just quicker, he did a better job," said a gracious Hamilton. "That's how close qualifying should always be."
The three-time world champion had set a new personal best at the start of his own final flying lap but made a mistake through the middle sector. Bottas, the fifth Finn to take pole in F1, saved his tyres up for a final push in the final sector where he did just enough to beat Hamilton by 0.023 seconds.
"I'm really happy," said Bottas. "It's the first pole of my career in my fifth season. It took a few races but I've got it and hopefully it's the first of many."
Joint-championship leader Sebastian Vettel was third quickest but almost half a second behind the two Silver Arrows. It constituted a disappointing performance for the Scuderia who appeared to have an edge on the Mercedes in Friday practice.
Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel have started all three of 2017's races from the front-three starting positions with Hamilton previously taking pole in China and Australia.
In another surprise, Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified both Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for a second-row starting berth.
Nico Hulkenberg excelled again as he took seventh for Renault, over a second faster than Jolyon Palmer as the Englishman reached Q3 for the first time.
But there was more misery for McLaren's Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard's Honda engine broke at the start of Q2. Honda later confirmed it had suffered a MGU-H failure - one day after Stoffel Vandoorne's car was twice struck down by the same failure.
To add insult to injury, a grid penalty now looms for the Spaniard.
Mercedes turn up the power when it matters
After Red Bull set the pace in final practice, sparking hopes of a three-way fight at the front, Vettel then all-but matched both Mercedes cars in Q2 with the trio split by less than a tenth of a second.
But the Ferrari was unable to respond when Mercedes turned up their power for the top-ten shoot-out, leaving Vettel shocked and temporarily dejected.
"Four tenths was a lot more than I expected," conceded Vettel. "When I saw the time I was a bit down."
Team-mate Raikkonen was another three tenths further behind. The Finn hasn't been able to get to grips with the 2017 Ferrari car yet and described himself as "struggling like crazy with understeer" after his opening Q3 run.
But the Ferrari is at least expected to be a far tougher proposition on race day than it was over a single lap when measured against the Mercedes.
"I think tomorrow will be swayed towards Ferrari," predicted Sky F1's Pat Symonds. "Mercedes are concerned about rear tyres. Ferrari will be a lot closer tomorrow. They haven't got this amazing qualifying mode [which Mercedes bring out]. Tyre management is Ferrari's strong point and I'm hoping for a close race."
Renault and Hulkenberg impress
After a Renault car failed to reach the top 10 of qualifying in the whole of 2016, both Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer reached the final segment in Bahrain to highlight the progress being made by the Enstone outfit.
But while Hulkenberg was then able to muscle the Renault to seventh ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa and the Haas of Romain Grosjean, Palmer could make no further inroads after setting an incorrect engine mode for his final flier.
But after two false-starts to his season in China and Australia, Palmer's best-ever qualifying result amounted to a welcome step forward for the Englishman.
"I'm pleased, I saw the full hour of qualifying for the first time," Palmer told Sky F1. "We've had such a tough weekend but we found something in the set-up before qualifying so we can build on that."
Hulkenberg described his lap as "one of the best I can recall - very proud and very happy".
McLaren and Sauber remain the only teams yet to reach Q3 this season.
Bahrain GP Qualifying Timesheet
1. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:28.769
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 0.023
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, + 0.478
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 0.776
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 0.798
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 0.918
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, + 1.073
8. Felipe Massa, Williams, + 1.305
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 1.994
10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, + 2.305
Qualifying Two
11. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:30.923
12. Lance Stroll, Williams, 1:31.168
13. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 1:31.414
14. Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1:31.684
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, No time set
Qualifying One
16. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:32.118
17. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1:32.313
18. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:32.318
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:32.543
20. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, 1:32.900
Watch the Bahrain GP live on Sky Sports F1 and in incredible Ultra HD! The race begins at 4pm on Sunday. Check out all the ways to watch F1 on Sky Sports for subscribers and non-subscribers - including a NOW TV day pass for £6.99!
