Sebastian Vettel surprised by Bahrain GP pole as Ferrari dominate
Vettel claimed Mercedes were "clearly fastest" prior to Bahrain weekend but takes pole in Ferrari one-two; Bottas admits Ferrari have quickest car and Merc have "work to do"
Thursday 13 December 2018 12:53, UK
Sebastian Vettel said he was "surprised" to take pole position at the Bahrain GP as Ferrari dominated qualifying under the lights.
The four-time world champion led a Scuderia one-two from Kimi Raikkonen and finished almost two tenths of a second ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the lead Mercedes.
Vettel storms to Bahrain pole
Bahrain GP: The grid
After winning the season-opening Australian GP thanks to a Virtual Safety Car, Vettel insisted that Mercedes "clearly had the fastest car" coming into the Bahrain weekend - but was delighted to see his team's progress.
"I think it's surprising for us after Australia to be that competitive," said the German.
"We have good pace, the car is working. In Australia I think we struggled a little bit with the feel of the car. Here, it has been better and we improve a little bit.
"It's getting better and today was quite nice, the car came alive."
Raikkonen looked to be in control in the desert after topping two practice sessions, while he was also on provisional pole after the first runs in Q3.
But Vettel made it count when it mattered.
"I was very happy with both laps in the end, and very happy with the result and the way the car was handling and responding," he added. "I'm chuffed."
Vettel is set to start Sunday's race eight places ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who could only manage fourth in qualifying and will take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
While Mercedes were closer to Ferrari in Saturday's shootout than they had been throughout the weekend, it was a confusing turn of events for the world champions after their dominance at the first race in Melbourne.
"We don't have the pace we were expecting coming here," admitted Bottas. "We need to understand why. We are struggling with overheating with the tyres, but we have work to do.
"Like we've been saying through the beginning of the season, we're not miles ahead and this weekend so far the Ferrari has been the quickest car.
"We still have tomorrow to see how the pace is."
