Valtteri Bottas takes his first career pole in Bahrain

We were waiting for Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel after his performances in free practice, but the German driver was unable to rise to the level of the Mercedes W08 during the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix this Saturday.

And, little surprise in the star clan, it's Valtteri Bottas who will start from pole position tomorrow for the first time in his career after dominating his teammate Lewis Hamilton at the end of Q3.

If the Briton had shot first in the latter part of the session by establishing a new track record in 1'28″792, Bottas found the necessary resources to further improve the three-time world champion's benchmark in 1'28 "769, 23 thousandths ahead of the former driver McLaren. Valtteri Bottas becomes the 98th driver to take a pole position in the discipline.

Behind the Mercedes tandem, Sebastian Vettel hoists his Ferrari SF70H into third position, 0″478 behind Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) follows his former teammate at 0″776 ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Max Verstappen (Redbull).

Nico Hulkenberg place first Renault RS17 in seventh position ahead of Felipe Massa (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Haas) and Jolyon Palmer (Renault), entered Q3 for the first time.

Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) takes the rest of the peloton to the grid in front Lance stroll (Williams), Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber), who largely dominated his teammate Marcus Ericsson (19th) for his return to business in F1. Esteban Ocon (Force India) only ranks 14th but is ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez, only 18th and eliminated in Q1.

Fernando Alonso (McLaren) set the 15th time of the session, but admitted to having encountered an engine problem on his MCL32. The Iberian pilot precedes his compatriot Carlos Sainz, victim of a loss of power in Q1 on his Toro Rosso, and forced to stop at the side of the track.

Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) takes 17th place, while Kevin Magnussen (Haas) brings up the rear of the ranking. The Bahrain Grand Prix will be followed live with commentary on our website from 17 p.m. French time.

Ranking Qualifying Bahrain Grand Prix