Valtteri Bottas upstages teammate Lewis Hamilton for maiden pole

Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas (centre) celebrates after taking pole with teammate Lewis Hamilton (right) and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at the end of qualifying in Manama on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Manama: Valtteri Bottas stormed to his first-ever pole position, narrowly beating teammate Lewis Hamilton in a tense qualifying session for today's Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Finn, who went into the weekend under pressure to make up for an embarrassing spin behind the safety car at the last race in China, lit up the desert dusk by lapping the floodlit Sakhir circuit in one minute, 28.769 seconds.

Joint world championship leader Hamilton, who topped the first two phases of qualifying and was on provisional pole going into the dying seconds of the session, narrowly missed out with a lap that was just 0.023 seconds slower.
Bottas' pole yesterday marked the first time a Finn has secured the top starting spot for a race since Heikki Kovalainen, then teammate to Hamilton at McLaren, started the 2008 British GP from the front. "Took a few races, but got it and (hopefully) the first of many," Bottas told reporters. "Obviously really happy," he said.