McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix from Mercedes’ George Russell with the second McLaren of Lando Norris down in sixth.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, just one point behind Norris at the head of the championship, was a further place behind the Briton in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton was just ninth in the Ferrari, his team-mate Charles Leclerc third ahead of Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Pierre Gasly was an impressive fifth in the Alpine, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz was eighth and the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
McLaren had always looked a certainty for pole, but what had been expected to be a private battle between Piastri and Norris fizzled out when the Briton’s final lap fell away from him.
Piastri’s advantage over Russell was 0.168 seconds at the head of the field, and Leclerc 0.334secs off the Australian.
“I felt confident all weekend,” Piastri said. “Qualifying the others were a little closer than we wanted but got the lap time when it mattered. Can’t thank the team enough for the car they’ve given me.”
Norris, who was 0.426secs behind his team-mate, could not explain his lack of pace.
“I was just slow,” he said. “I have been slow this whole weekend, to be honest. Nothing too surprising. I have just been off it.
“The car is amazing. I have nothing to complain about, the team are doing an amazing job but I am just letting them down.”
Hamilton had a similar reaction to his result.
“Our car is clearly a lot better than what I am delivering with it,” he said. “Charles did a great job with it today. So big apologies to the team for not doing the job.”
And Verstappen said he had been struggling with both braking and grip.
“It was tough all weekend,” the world champion said. “For whatever reason I have been struggling with the brakes, the feeling also. It is something we need to investigate and general grip throughout the lap.
“It was quite inconsistent, and that makes it very hard to understand what you need from the car when for whatever reason we can’t seem to make the tyres work.
“We have tried a lot with the set-up but nothing really gave us a clear answer, so that is a bit of a shame.”
Russell said he did not expect to be as close to the McLarens as he was.
“It was a really strong Q3,” he said. “I wasn’t really feeling it through qualifying, didn’t have the confidence in myself. I don’t know why that was.
“Q1 and Q2 were a real challenge. But Q3 I got back into my rhythm and surprised to be just 0.15secs off pole and ahead of one of the McLarens. And Charles up there as well. A really strong lap and a great place to be for tomorrow.”
