Hamilton wins pole in Bahrain
April 03, 2016, Manama
Rosberg to start second
World champion Lewis Hamilton secured the 51st pole position of his career and second of the season for Mercedes with the fastest lap ever at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Briton, under pressure after failing to top the times in three practice sessions, found the pace he needed in the final minutes of another desultory exhibition of the new qualifying format ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Having made a mistake on his penultimate lap, he found the speed he needed to outpace Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.077 seconds.
Hamilton's lap in one minute and 29.493 seconds was the fastest lap recorded at the Sakhir track and it rescued him after his error had marred his first fast lap in Q3.
Rosberg, who looked set for pole position himself, wound up second fastest behind Hamilton in the second Mercedes and will start ahead of the third-placed Ferrari of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel was more than half a second adrift of the pace of the Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, Valtteri Bottas and his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa.
Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Force India ahead of Romain Grosjean of the new American Haas team with Dutch teenager Max Verstappen 10th for Toro Rosso.
The session was run using the "new" progressive elimination that was so heavily criticised at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and, once again, it failed to deliver any thrills.
There were long periods without any cars on track, notably in Q2, and the under-fire format was criticised again.
It is sure to be analysed during Sunday's proposed crisis meeting of the sport's team chiefs and administrators.
The second mini-session Q2 also began with problems with the lights in the pit lane. They appeared to be stuck on red and it required a marshal with a green flag to start the action.
Bahrain Grand prix QUALIFYING
Driver Team Time
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:29.493
2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:29.570
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 1:30.012
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:30.244
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 1:30.854
6. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 1:31.153
7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 1:31.155
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India 1:31.620
9. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas 1:31.756
10. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso 1:31.772
The 31-year-old Briton, under pressure after failing to top the times in three practice sessions, found the pace he needed in the final minutes of another desultory exhibition of the new qualifying format ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Having made a mistake on his penultimate lap, he found the speed he needed to outpace Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.077 seconds.
Hamilton's lap in one minute and 29.493 seconds was the fastest lap recorded at the Sakhir track and it rescued him after his error had marred his first fast lap in Q3.
Rosberg, who looked set for pole position himself, wound up second fastest behind Hamilton in the second Mercedes and will start ahead of the third-placed Ferrari of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel was more than half a second adrift of the pace of the Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, Valtteri Bottas and his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa.
Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Force India ahead of Romain Grosjean of the new American Haas team with Dutch teenager Max Verstappen 10th for Toro Rosso.
The session was run using the "new" progressive elimination that was so heavily criticised at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and, once again, it failed to deliver any thrills.
There were long periods without any cars on track, notably in Q2, and the under-fire format was criticised again.
It is sure to be analysed during Sunday's proposed crisis meeting of the sport's team chiefs and administrators.
The second mini-session Q2 also began with problems with the lights in the pit lane. They appeared to be stuck on red and it required a marshal with a green flag to start the action.
Bahrain Grand prix QUALIFYING
Driver Team Time
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:29.493
2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:29.570
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 1:30.012
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:30.244
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 1:30.854
6. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 1:31.153
7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 1:31.155
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India 1:31.620
9. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas 1:31.756
10. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso 1:31.772
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