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29 March 2024

F1: Ferrari's Vettel hopes for Bahrain battle with Mercedes

Mercedes Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton (centre) of Britain celebrates taking the pole position beside Ferrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel (left) of Germany and Mercedes Formula One driver Nico Rosberg of Germany ahead of Bahrain's F1 Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, south of Manama April 18, 2015. (Reuters)

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By Reuters

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton drove his 'beast' of a Mercedes to a fourth successive pole position on Saturday while team mate Nico Rosberg failed to make the front row at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Briton will have Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari alongside instead on Sunday, with fellow German Rosberg managing only third after taking pole at the Sakhir circuit the two previous years.

The pole position on the floodlit track was the 15th in a row for champions Mercedes and 42nd of Hamilton's career although only the first in Bahrain, a race he won from second place last year.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen qualified fourth.

"Coming into the weekend, that was the target - to really try and master this (track) and get the car into an area that I'm comfortable with," said Hamilton, who leads Vettel by 13 points after three races.

"That's generally how the weekend's kind of gone...I'm really grateful to have this beast underneath me," added the champion, whose fastest time of one minute 32.571 seconds was a meaty 0.411 quicker than Vettel's best.

However, Hamilton expects resurgent Ferrari to be hard to beat in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix and Sebastian Vettel hopes to prove him right.

After the pair qualified on the front row on Saturday, with Hamilton on pole for the fourth race in succession for Mercedes, Vettel told reporters his Italian team had taken another important step.

"We are trying to push on all areas but for now I think we can be very, very happy with where we are," said the four-times champion, who has been on the podium in all three races for Ferrari since he left Red Bull.

"Today is the first time we were able to split them (the Mercedes drivers) in true dry conditions in qualifying, so very happy."

Hamilton's team mate Nico Rosberg qualified third, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fourth.

"I think in the race we are maybe a bit closer, so we will see what happens," Vettel added.

"We are progressing as a team. For this race we didn't bring any updates in particular, so it's really that the circuit is maybe a little bit better for us.

"And...continuously working with the car, getting on top of what to do with the car and learning how the changes are reacting on track. So, I think that's the area where we are making most progress at the minute."

Hamilton, who has won two out of three races and leads Vettel by 13 points in the standings, will not be able to control the race as he did in China when he had  Rosberg behind him.

All the talk before Bahrain was of a re-run of last year's race, a wheel-to-wheel battle between the Mercedes drivers under the floodlights.

It could turn out instead to be a repeat of last month's Malaysian Grand Prix where the front row was the same, and Rosberg also qualified third, but Vettel won with better tyre management and strategy.

"We've gone over it tons of times already about what we have learned, but it doesn't get us away from the fact that they are very quick this weekend," said Hamilton.

"They are going to be very hard to beat tomorrow, they have great race pace."

Vettel, sitting alongside in a news conference, could only agree.

"I hope he's right," the German said. 

Hamilton had celebrated a commanding win in China last weekend, a victory that had left Rosberg upset and complaining about his team mate's behaviour in a spat that earned the German little sympathy.

Rosberg knew the best reply was to beat Hamilton on the track and, although tops in Friday practice, he could not match the Briton's speed on Saturday with the champion quickest in every phase of qualifying.

"Strategy-wise I think I got it wrong," said Rosberg, who is 17 points behind Hamilton and has beaten his team mate only once in the last 10 races.

"I was thinking too much about the race and I under-estimated Sebastian's speed...it's disappointing that Sebastian beat me. Being third is not ideal."

The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa filled the third row with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo seventh and Germany's Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Force India.

Further back there was something of a breakthrough for Honda-powered McLaren, even if Jenson Button will start last after failing to clock a time or complete a lap, with double world champion Fernando Alonso qualifying 14th.

That was the first time in a troubled start to the season that a McLaren has gone through to the second phase of qualifying.