Hamilton Expects Tough Fight From Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton expects a close fight with Ferrari in the Bahrain GP after Sebastian Vettel split the two Mercedes drivers in qualifying.

After securing his fourth pole position in a row at the start of 2015 by the impressive margin of four tenths of a second, Hamilton will start the race just ahead of Vettel on the front row, with Nico Rosberg in third place.

But while Hamilton currently appears to be unbeatable over a single lap, Ferrari are expected to mount a formidable challenge to the world champions in Sunday's battle of durability in the desert.

"They are very quick this weekend and are going to be tough to beat," said Hamilton. "They have great race pace and hopefully with our positioning that does help. We will be taking all measures we can to make the tyres go as far as they do. But I think we are in a good position so looking forward to the fight."

Although no match for Hamilton, who topped all three qualifying sessions, Vettel was on sublime form under the lights as he propelled his Ferrari past Rosberg to decisively scotch any lingering thought that 2015 would be a one-car championship.

"It was a great success for us to be able to split them," a jubilant Vettel told Sky F1. "We are very happy with where we are, how competitive we are. Let's go step by step and we will try to do our best race ... and if that means we put some big pressure on them then why not?

"Our target is to look after ourselves, but if there is a chance to fight one or both of them we have to go for it."

Rosberg, in contrast, couldn't hide his disappointment after yet another crushing defeat to the on-form Hamilton. Having excelled on Saturdays in 2014, the German now trails the Englishman 4-0 in qualifying this term and appears to have run out of ideas as to how to beat the world champion.

"I didn't push enough in qualifying and I thought too much about the race. That would have been fine if I finished second to Lewis, but not finishing third," a downcast Rosberg admitted.

"I didn't see that coming, I didn't see Sebastian being that quick and I didn't think I would struggle that much as a result. I got it wrong today so I am definitely not happy with that."

Underlining how competitive Ferrari, for whom Kimi Raikkonen will line up in fourth, are likely to be in race conditions, Rosberg added: "Friday they were quicker than us, but we worked on the car a lot Friday night and we think we have improved it. It was to do with the cold conditions, it is really cold in the evenings and the tyres weren't really working properly.

"We had to work on that and we are confident that we improved things, so we should be a little bit quicker or at least on par with Ferrari. But the start is going to be very important, but I am out there to win tomorrow."

The race starts at 4pm today, with a comprehensive build-up under way on Sky Sports F1 from 2.30pm.