Hamilton took his 4th pole of the season in Bahrain this weekend. A quick lap from Vettel put him 2nd, splitting the Mercedes teammates. Rosberg lines up 3rd alongside the Ferrari of Raikkonen. A poor qualifying from Kvyat means he starts down in 17th, but for Fernando Alonso it was a big step forward – getting into Q2 for the first time this season.
Q1 saw all drivers go onto the soft tyres in order to complete their flying lap, including the two Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was fastest but Jenson Button failed to set a time after his car stopped out on track. Kvyat failed to reach Q2, after dropping down to 17th. Maldonado was pushed out by Verstappen and the two Masrussias Merhi and Stevens were 18th and 19th. The biggest surprise, perhaps, was Alonso’s performance – going into the second qualifying session with a 01:35.205 putting him 9th.
Once again, Hamilton lead Q2 on a 01:32.669 followed by Raikkonen, Massa, Vettel and Rosberg who all made it safely through to the final qualifying session. Perez just missed out on Q3 as Sainz improved. The two Saubers got 12th and 13th, with Alonso an impressive 14th for McLaren. After a mistake on his lap, Verstappen was at the bottom in 15th.
Hamilton initially led Q3, with Ricciardo a surprising 2nd. But this soon changed with Vettel going fastest. Rosberg failed to beat Vettel but Hamilton got a 01:32.571 giving him pole by four tenths. This meant the top 3 were Hamilton (01:32.571), Vettel (01:32.982) and Rosberg (01:33.129). Raikkonen will line up on the second row in 4th, with the two Williams filling the third row. Ricciardo got seventh and Hulkenberg put in a great lap to get 8th. Sainz missed out by 0.012 with a 1:34.462. Grosjean was close behind in 10th.