F1 Bahrain GP: Silver vs scarlet with Hamilton on pole from Vettel

Lewis Hamilton maintained his supremacy in qualifying by taking pole position for the 2015 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday.

After bolting a set of soft tyres, Hamilton clocked the Sakhir circuit in 1:32.571 to pip Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari by four tenths off a second, although the former four-time world champion did four laps fewer than the defending world champion through the three segments of qualifying.

Vettel, in turn, beat the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg - who did not hide his displeasure - to break it to the front row for the second time in four attempts.

Unlike China, Kimi Raikkonen managed a clean lap but failed to mount a challenge for pole position, ending up fourth fastest, some six tenths down on Hamilton’s benchmark.

The trend over the last two races has indicated that Ferrari is not far behind Mercedes and that scarlet can trump silver if the outcome is decided by which team's drivers make their tyres last longer. In that regard, Ferrari appear to have the edge if the track temperature stays high, at least at this early point in the season.

Williams comfortably locked the third row of the grid, with Valtteri Bottas leading the charge for the Grove based outfit. Daniel Ricciardo briefly topped the timesheets but fell to seventh by the chequered flag, as other improved on their final runs.

Nico Hulkenberg was one of the star performers in qualifying as he beat Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean for eighth spot on the grid. The Force Indias struggled for pace in practice yesterday but made significant leapways overnight to make it into Q3 for the first time this season.

Force India’s progress was confirmed further by Sergio Perez who just missed out on the top 10 shootout and will start tomorrow’s race from 11th place.

The Silverstone based team's gains came at the cost of Sauber with Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson qualifying in 12th and 13th places respectively, after two successive Q3 appearances.

Fernando Alonso put on a mighty lap to catapult his McLaren-Honda to Q2 for the first time this season, after showing encouraging pace in practice.

However, Jenson Button’s weekend didn’t get any better in the other McLaren with the British driver stopping on his out lap with yet more car problems. He will be starting the race from the back of the grid, without taking any penalties into consideration.

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying(Top 10)

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m 32.571s
2. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari) 1m 32.982s
3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m 33.129s
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari )1m 33.227s
5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes) 1m 33.381s
6. Felipe Massa (Williams-Mercedes) 1m 33.744s
7. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull-Renault) 1m 33.832s
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) 1m 34.450s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso-Renault) 1m 34.462s
10. Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Mercedes) 1m 34.484s