Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Bottas set a 1m28.769s to claim his maiden pole, beating Hamilton by just 0.023 seconds. It marks the first time the Finn has beaten Hamilton in a qualifying session this season.
Hamilton was faster of the two throughout practice and the first two parts of qualifying, however, a slow middle sector and poor final corner denied Hamilton a third pole in Bahrain.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third, almost half a second behind the Mercedes duo with a 1m29.247s. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was pipped to fourth on the grid by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.022s.
Verstappen will line-up in sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who earned his second straight seventh place in qualifying. Jolyon Palmer made it through into Q3 for the first time in his F1 career.
The British driver was 10th quickest behind Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean who qualified in 8th and 9th respectively.
Daniil Kvyat narrowly missed out on a place in the top ten with a lap less than half a tenth shy of Q3. Lance Stroll qualified a respectable 12th ahead of Pascal Wehrlein who completed his first qualifying session of 2017.
Fernando Alonso made it out of the first part of qualifying for the third consecutive time this season but advanced no further due to problems with his power unit in Q2. He will start in 15th behind the Force India of Esteban Ocon.
His fellow countryman Carlos Sainz Jr was eliminated in the first qualifying session when his Toro Rosso came to a halt at the final corner. He was 16th quickest ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, Sergio Perez, Marcus Ericsson and Kevin Magnussen.
Perez and Magnussen’s laps were compromised by double waved yellows for the stricken Toro Rosso.
