lewis Hamilton produced what he called a "sexy, sexy lap" on Saturday to snatch pole position away from his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with a margin of just under eight hundredths of a second.
On his first flying lap of the Q3 qualifying segment, Hamilton ran wide at the final corner to leave him fourth but, under pressure to improve, he was close to perfect in his second lap to make it back-to-back poles to start the Formula One season.
"It's actually the only lap I've put together all weekend, and it was the last one," Hamilton said. "I hope that's the first of many."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The two Mercedes on the front row and two Ferraris on row two was a repeat of Melbourne, where the scarlet cars accelerated far better with the new single-clutch system enforced by this season's rules, and will be aiming for a repeat on Sunday.
"Ideally we'll do the same thing at the start as we did two weeks ago," Vettel said. "I wouldn't mind that."
He added: "We know we are not yet where we want to be but step by step we are getting there."
Rosberg, who won the season-opening race in Australia and the final three races of last season, had bettered Hamilton's time in each of the three practice sessions in Bahrain, only for that run to end when it mattered most.
"lewis just did a great lap at the end there," Rosberg said. "My lap felt good and I felt sure I was on pole.