Front row locked out by Ferrari for Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix, Hamilton fourth but awaits grid penalty

Ferrari locked out the front row for the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix for the first time since 2006 as Sebastian Vettel took pole position ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, while Lewis Hamilton will start ninth due to a five-place grid penalty.

Räikkönen set the fastest time early on in Q3 with an effort of 1min28.101sec, but his team-mate beat that with a final effort of 1min 27.958sec and the Finn, caught in traffic, couldn’t improve.

Hamilton sat in third after his first Q3 effort but Valtteri Bottas pipped him to third with a final effort of 1min 28.124sec. Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth, under four tenths off the pace.

It was Pierre Gasly who starred in qualifying, however, as he took his Toro Rosso to sixth, meaning that a Honda-powered car has qualified in the top-10 at Sakhir since Jenson Button qualified ninth in 2008. Gasly will, after Hamilton’s penalty is applied, therefore start from fifth.

Kevin Magnussen took seventh, 0.029sec behind Gasly, but ahead of both Renaults. Esteban Ocon split the Renault pair as Nico Hülkenberg qualified eighth and Carlos Sainz Jr 10^th.

Vettel broke Bottas’ 2017 pole position time (1min 28.769sec) early on in Q2 with a 1min 28.341sec on supersofts while Hamilton used softs to finish second, just 0.117sec behind Vettel.

A flurry of flying efforts from the frontrunners did little to change matters in Q2 though Bottas pipped Ricciardo for fourth place late on. Hamilton emerged on supersofts but didn’t improve on his Q2 time.

The Renaults, led by Hülkenberg, finished sixth and seventh in the second session while Gasly and Ocon rounded out the top 10 at the expense of Brendon Hartley who missed out on Q3 by less than a tenth of a second.

Also eliminated in the second qualifying session was Sergio Pérez with a suspected ERS issue, both McLarens and Max Verstappen, who failed to set a lap after crashing out in Q1.

This (13^th) was Fernando Alonso’s best qualifying performance in Bahrain since he left Ferrari in 2014.

Though he was fourth in Q1, Verstappen brought out a red flag after a spin exiting Turn 2, which left him in the barriers. That ended his qualifying session early and he will start the race towards the back, subject to any grid penalties.

Facing the drop zone was Alonso, whose time of 1min 30.530sec – exactly the same as 16^th place Romain Grosjean’s – took him into Q2 as the McLaren crossed the line before the Haas.

Grosjean’s first flying effort was hampered by a lock-up going into Turn 1 and his final effort was ruined as he ran wide on the last corner. He will start ahead of Marcus Ericsson (17^th) while Leclerc, who spun on his final effort, and a frustrated Lance Stroll provisionally fill out the back row.

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Bahrain Formula 1 qualifying results

1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1min 27.958sec
2	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1min 28.101sec	+0.143sec
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1min 28.124sec	+0.166sec
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1min 28.220sec	+0.262sec
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1min 28.398sec	+0.440sec
6	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1min 29.329sec	+1.371sec
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1min 29.358sec	+1.400sec
8	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1min 29.570sec	+1.612sec
9	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1min 29.874sec	+1.916sec
10	Carlos Sainz Jr	Renault	1min 29.986sec	+2.028sec
11	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1min 30.105sec
12	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1min 30.156sec
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1min 30.212sec
14	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1min 30.525sec
15	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1min 29.374sec
16	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1min 30.530sec
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1min 31.063sec
18	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1min 31.414sec
19	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1min 31.420sec
20	Lance Stroll	Williams	1min 31.503

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