Ferrari 'came alive' for Vettel pole lap

Sebastian Vettel said his Ferrari "came alive" as he stormed to pole position for the Bahrain grand Prix in a record lap time. Vettel led a Ferrari front-row lockout with Kimi Raikkonen, just edging out the Finn was a spectacular final flying lap.

Raikkonen had looked the man to beat in one-lap pace through practice, with Vettel left short of track-time after an aerodynamic addition to his sidepod came loose in Saturday's session.

Once again Raikkonen was on top after the initial runs in Q3, but Vettel - having ran wide at the final turn initially - stopped the clock at one minute 27.958 seconds as he looks to back up a season-opening success in Australia with another win on his 200th grand prix appearance.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth-fastest for Mercedes - though the reigning champion will start ninth thanks to a gearbox penalty.

"I think it's surprising for us to be, after Australia, that competitive," Vettel said.

"Obviously I think we have good pace, the car is working. In Australia I think we struggled a little bit with the feel for the car, I think here it's been better. We improved a little bit working with the car. In the beginning of the season it's always difficult because we don't know yet the car that well.

Tomorrow is Sebastian Vettel's 200th #F1 start

And he'll do it from pole in Bahrain, thanks to this absolute stormer of a lap ????#BahrainGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/8IBr9An0rh — Formula 1 (@F1) April 7, 2018

"It's getting better, obviously today was quite nice and the car came alive.

"I didn't have much session this morning, or this afternoon. It was a bit tricky to know what we expect but I felt quite good right from the start and I knew that I can pick progress throughout the session.

"We mostly tried to work on the set up, understanding the car. So we tried different things. Obviously across the weekend you don't have that much time. The first race in Australia it was a tricky track, it's improving a lot throughout the weekend, it's very bumpy.

"It's difficult to change too much and draw any conclusions. I think after the weekend, after the race distance especially when you have so many laps, I think I had a very good understanding and feel.

"Obviously we've been talking about it and looking into it and I think overall we've been happier."

Raikkonen lamented a busy track after missing out on a first pole position since Monaco last year, although Sunday will be his first front-row start in Sakhir, where he has eight podium finishes to his name.

"It was far from ideal with the traffic on the last lap," Raikkonen said. "I thought there was a lot we could improve, but it was a messy think, in the end.

"It's disappointing, because it has been pretty OK for most of the weekend, you always want more."