Nico Rosberg planted his Mercedes-GP on pole position for Sunday's floodlit Bahrain Grand Prix after a last-lap error cost teammate Lewis Hamilton his chance of a pole position treble.
Rosberg, the Formula One championship leader, had been in Hamilton’s shadow throughout practice but struck when it mattered to secure his first pole since Monaco last May with a best lap of 1 minute, 33.185 seconds.
Hamilton, who won in Malaysia last weekend, had to settle for second on the Sakhir circuit grid.
“I have good memories of this track, winning the GP2 championship and starting my first race in F1. I enjoy coming here and again today, it’s suited me,” said Rosberg, who won the season-opener in Australia. “It’s a different challenge awaiting us for the race. Tyre degradation may be the main problem and difficulty, but I’m confident. I had some good runs yesterday on high fuel so I’m confident that I can stay ahead.”
Hamilton was trailing his teammate and ran wide on his final lap.
“You can’t always get it right and congratulations to Nico,” said the 2008 world champion. “He did a great job this weekend, he’s been improving and picking up his pace. He had a really good lap at the end. I made a mistake on my last lap, locked up and went straight on but generally I’m happy. I’m really proud of the team, for us to continue to keep moving forward and progressing as we are.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest for Red Bull Racing but carries a 10-place grid penalty from Malaysia, which moves up Finland’s Valtteri Bottas to take the slot for Williams.
“I’m really pleased with the performance. At the moment it’s the best anyone else can do,” said Ricciardo.
Mexican Sergio Perez, who did not start in Malaysia because of a software glitch, will join him on the second row in his Mercedes-powered Force India.
Red Bull’s world champion Sebastian Vettel qualified 11th, but will start 10th, after failing to make the final phase of qualifying for the second time in three races and complaining about the gear shifts.
“They [Mercedes] are out of reach. This track suits them here,” the German said. “Hopefully we can do a good job and rescue some points this weekend.
“Things are going on in the background which haven’t helped and we haven’t done many laps here.”
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