Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole in Bahrain and his fourth of the season after beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in a thrilling session.
The Briton delivered three purple sectors on his final flying lap to go quickest, jumping ahead of Vettel who finished just three-tenths down in second.
Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg could only manage third with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in fourth which will likely be a relief after some poor performances on Saturday and marks his best result since the 2013 German GP.
The Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was seventh, whilst team-mate Daniil Kvyat could only manage 17th.
Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.
McLaren’s day was mixed with Fernando Alonso securing their first Q2 grid slot in 14th, though Jenson Button failed to set a timed lap due to technical troubles.
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 01. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:33.928 | 1:32.669 | 1:32.571 |
| 02. | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:34.919 | 1:33.623 | 1:32.982 |
| 03. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:34.398 | 1:33.878 | 1:33.129 |
| 04. | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:34.568 | 1:33.540 | 1:33.227 |
| 05. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:34.161 | 1:33.897 | 1:33.381 |
| 06. | F. Massa | Williams | 1:34.488 | 1:33.551 | 1:33.744 |
| 07. | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:34.691 | 1:34.403 | 1:33.832 |
| 08. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:35.653 | 1:34.613 | 1:34.450 |
| 09. | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:35.371 | 1:34.641 | 1:34.462 |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:35.007 | 1:34.123 | 1:34.484 |
| 11. | S. Perez | Force India | 1:35.451 | 1:34.704 | |
| 12. | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:35.310 | 1:34.737 | |
| 13. | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:35.438 | 1:35.034 | |
| 14. | F. Alonso | McLaren | 1:35.205 | 1:35.039 | |
| 15. | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:35.611 | 1:35.103 | |
| 16. | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:35.677 | ||
| 17. | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:35.800 | ||
| 18. | W. Stevens | Manor | 1:38.713 | ||
| 19. | R. Merhi | Manor | 1:39.722 | ||
| 20. | J. Button | McLaren | No Time |
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