Vettel took pole position with his last flying lap of the session.
Sebastian Vettel described the battle for pole position ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix as "intense". The German took pole with his final flying lap as it looked as though his teammate Kimi Raikkonen was set for his first pole position since Monaco last season.
"It was quite intense. First run in Q3 I was very happy and then I tossed it away last corner. Really happy I got the second run and got it clean. The car was excellent all weekend so far." Vettel said.
His championship rival Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow's race from ninth position after a gearbox penalty relegated him from fourth. The world champion
"It's not going to be the easiest tomorrow that's for sure," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "I've got the softer tyre so I should be able to go longer. There are a couple of different strategies tomorrow so I will try and eek out every last bit of power and strength from this car."
Teammate Valtteri Bottas couldn't get on terms with the Ferrari's either and admitted that the Scuderia was simply quicker this weekend.
"The Ferrari was quicker today. We made some good progress through the weekend. We tried some things that didn't work which is why the gap was sometimes bigger. The set-up was right. Hopefully, Lewis can come through the field."
Kimi Raikkonen had looked set for pole position after sitting top of the pile going into the final runs but he was left to rue another disappointing end to qualifying.
"Far from ideal in the last run with the traffic.
"We're on Saturday and tomorrow is the main thing, the time when we get the points or we don't get the points.
"Tomorrow is the main thing so we'll see what we can do then."
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