Lewis Hamilton completed the fastest ever lap in Bahrain to claim his 51st pole position, just a few hundredth of a second quicker than Rosberg, in a new un-exciting qualifying. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen take row number two.

It was an absolutely flying lap from Lewis to close the P1 deal in his final attempt after an early Q3 mistake had him placed 4th on the grid.

Talking the new-controversial qualifying format, it was arguably even worse than it was in Melbourne, as Q2 featured no cars on track with 7 minutes to go. It was empty track with 3 minutes to go for Q3.

Real winners today were Mercedes - keeping form, Ferrari, closing the gap and promising a great fight for tomorrow, Haas F1 getting into 9th, and Pascal Wehrlein, 16th on the grid ahead of two Saubers, two Renaults, a Force India and the other Manor.

Losers today include Renault, Sauber and Sergio Perez, who all failed to go through to Q2 this session. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen qualified 19th but will start from the pitlane tomorrow after a penalty incurred during final practice.