Mercedes' Kimi Raikkonen grabbed pole in style at the Formula One Bahrain GP, with Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari coming in second and third respectively.
Raikkonen was fastest with a time of 1:32.330, with Vettel to partner him in the first row after timing 1:32.584.
"It wasn't really clear before who was the quickest car, especially over one lap," Raikkonen said. "I was a bit closer this morning already, so I was a bit more happy than yesterday for sure, so as a team I think we worked really during the night to improve the car because yesterday we were really struggling.
"So that's been going well. I'm really, really happy, that's a fantastic result. That's great for tomorrow. Of course tomorrow (Sunday) it's going to be a tough race for sure, with rear tyre degradation especially, so a lot can still happen."
Vettel said he was quite satisfied with second place on the grid. "Definitely not disappointed," he said. "I think congratulations to Nico, he put a very strong lap in. I think it was all his today.
"Initially when I crossed the line, I saw that I didn't go first, so I saw second placed on one of the screens but I didn't know how much was missing, because the lap was fine.
"You always a little bit here or there but, yeah, when I got told the gap to P1, to Nico, it was clear that even with the perfect lap he was unbeatable today.
"But nevertheless, very happy. I think we managed to save some tyres throughout qualifying. As Nico touched on it will be all about tyres and tyre degradation tomorrow, once again. So, we'll see what happens but for sure it's good to start from the front."
Mercedes does not quite have the race pace yet, as shown by Lewis Hamilton in the Chinese Grand Prix, when he also started from pole, and it is widely expected to be a battle between Vettel and Alonso, with Ferrari probably looking like they might have the stronger car.
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