F1: Hamilton takes pole in Bahrain; Mercedes to start in front row as Rosberg takes P2
Ryan Joseph Ramos April 2, 2016Lewis Hamilton had to set the fastest lap at the Bahrain International Circuit in order to leapfrog Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for pole position at the start of the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, as the two Silver Arrows were only 0.077 seconds apart.
That makes it two front-row starts in two tries for Mercedes this season, but main rival Ferrari is not far behind. Rosberg’s time was 1:29.570, with Sebastian Vettel not too far behind at 1:30.012 and Kimi Raikkonen at 1:30.244 to qualify in P3 and P4, respectively.
Hamilton’s time was 1:29.493.
According to the defending champ, Rosberg was really having a better weekend altogether and that he just couldn’t put laps together. “Luckily the one lap I did put together was the last lap,” said the British driver. “That was actually the only lap probably the whole weekend so far.”
Rosberg admitted that he felt pretty good with his lap and that it should’ve been enough to get him the pole position under normal, non-track-record-setting circumstances. However, the German did say that this circuit is one of those where pole doesn’t really matter all that much, so opportunities will come depending on strategy.
The key takeaway so far is that Mercedes has a fight in its hands, what with Mercedes really showcasing the kind of pace it can muster this season during the final free practice leading up to qualifying, and the red cars torched Mercedes. That pace was not there in qualifying, however, and the result is what it is.
Daniel Ricciardo took P5, followed by the two Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in P6 and P7, respectively. Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India will start at P8 on the grid.
