Vettel takes pole as Ferrari lock-out Bahrain front row

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start his 200th Formula One race from pole position after he and Ferrari team-mate Finn Kimi Raikkonen locked out the front row for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. The German secured his 51st career pole with a supreme lap in the dying seconds of a tense floodlit qualifying session in which Ferrari were dominant. "Yes, P1! Pole position," said Vettel. Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for Mercedes behind the two Ferraris, but ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton who has a five-place grid penalty after an overnight gearbox change and starts from ninth.

That promotes Australian Daniel Ricciardo from fifth to fourth for Red Bull ahead of Frenchman Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Dane Kevin Magnussen of Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Renault ahead of Sebastian Ocon in the second Toro Rosso and Carlos Sainz in the second Renault. It is Ferrari's first pole position in Bahrain since 2007 when Brazilian Felipe Massa turned it into a victory.