Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton drove his "beast" of a Mercedes to a fourth successive pole while team-mate Nico Rosberg failed to make the front row at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Briton will have Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari alongside instead today, with fellow German Rosberg managing only third after taking pole at the Sakhir circuit the two previous years.
The pole position on the floodlit track was the 15th in a row for champions Mercedes and the 42nd of Hamilton's career although the first in Bahrain, a race he won from second place last year.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen qual- ified fourth.
"Coming into the weekend, that was the target - to really try and master this [track] and get the car into an area that I'm comfortable with," said Hamilton, who leads Vettel by 13 points.
"That's generally how the weekend's kind of gone...I'm really grateful to have this beast underneath me," added the champion, whose fastest time of one minute 32.571 seconds was 0.411 quicker than Vettel's best.
Hamilton, though, is wary of Ferrari. "They'll be hard to beat. They've got great race pace," he said. "We'll be taking all measures to make sure the tyres last as long as they do."
Hamilton had celebrated a commanding win in China last weekend, a victory that had left Rosberg complaining about his team-mate's behaviour in a spat that earned the German little sympathy.
Rosberg knew the best reply was to beat Hamilton on the track and, although top in Friday practice, he could not match the Briton's speed yesterday with the champion quick- est in every qualifying phase.
"Strategy-wise I think I got it wrong," said Rosberg, who has beaten his team-mate only once in the last 10 races.
"I was thinking too much about the race and I under-estimated Sebastian's speed...it's disappointing that Sebastian beat me. Being third is not ideal."
Vettel declared himself "very happy" with second, and he feels he can push for a win.
"It was a tough session," the German said. "At the beginning I didn't find the rhythm I had in practice, but it was getting better - I was feeling happier in the car.
"I felt more comfortable to push. We're on the front row, and in the race I feel we can get closer."
The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa filled the third row with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo seventh and Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Force India.
Further back there was something of a breakthrough for Honda- powered McLaren, even if Jenson Button will start last after failing to clock a time or complete a lap, with double world champion Fernando Alonso qualifying 14th.
That was the first time in a troubled start to the season that a McLaren has gone through to the second phase of qualifying.
While that was the positive for the team to enjoy, the negative was the sight of team-mate Button retiring his car only minutes in.
On his out lap in Q1 and after just three corners, Button ground to a halt again, pulling off the track to the frustration of watching team boss Ron Dennis, who flapped his arms against his sides.
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