Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying: Hamilton squeaks POLE from Rosberg

Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying – Hamilton (c) took pole, Rosberg (l) 2nd and Vettel (r) third.

Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position for the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, just 0.077 seconds ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

Final qualifying for the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix came down to a straight fight, not just between the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, but between Ferraris and Mercedes too, with both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen looking capable of taking the front row for much of qualifying.

But in the end it came down to a stunning lap from Hamilton, beating Rosberg in to second spot by the slimmest of margins – just 0.077s – and consigning the Ferrari of Vettel to third and that of Raikkonen to fourth.

Behind the Mercedes and Ferrari front tow rows, It’s Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in fifth, the Williams of Bottas in sixth, Felipe Massa in the second Williams in seventh and Force India’s Nico Rosbereg in eighth.

Thos out in Q1 includes Wehrlein (16th), Ericcsson (17th), Perez (18th), Mahnussen (19th), Palmer (20th), Haryanto (21st) and Nasr (22nd) although Magnusson will start the race from the pit lane after failing a weight check.

Q2 saw Kvyat go out (15th), Button (14th), Gutierrez (13th), Vandoorne (filling in for the absent Alonso starting in 12th, ahead of Button), Sainz (11th), Verstappen (10th) and Grosjean (9th). Which meant Grosjean just missed a Q3 outing for the new Haas team.

But the race looks set to be a battle not just between Hamilton and Rosberg, but between Mercedes and Ferrari. Just like Q3.

Which could make the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix more than a little interesting.