Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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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 completing the top 10.

Read the full report here

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Mixed emotions across the grid after that qualifying session. McLaren are half celebrating, half back to the drawing board, while Lewis Hamilton thinks his performance in the Ferrari was poor.

In the Alpine camp, Pierre Gasly is delighted with the team's performance. From the back of the grid to now running in the top five, he tells Sky Sports: "It shows we've got good potential." Magnifique.

Also, keep an eye on the BBC Sport website to find out the outcome of the Mercedes investigation.

There are opportunities to overtake in Bahrain, so we should see a lot more action than Japan offered up last week. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for your company, folks. Enjoy the rest of this sunny Saturday and come back and join us on Sunday for race build-up from 15:00 BST.

Lights out are at 16:00 BST.

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Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton starts in P9 and he told Sky Sports: "It was my performance, my poor performance. There's no reason I'm just not doing the job."

On it being a Saturday issue: "It happens every Saturday, so yeah."

Max Verstappen will have to work his way through the field from seventh place after a difficult session with brake issues. He tells Sky Sports he was also wrestling with tyre grip. "We've thrown the car around quite a lot but nothing seems to give you a clear direction," says the four-time world champion. "It also shows we're struggling with other things."

Verstappen confirms he still has an extra set of hard tyres but isn't sure how they will perform. "I think it will be quite high [degradation]," he adds "but also on the hard tyre you have a bit lower mechanical grip."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke to Sky Sports on George Russell and Kimi Antonelli being released from their garages too early. He said: "There is not precedent, there's a new rule in that sense so we will see what the stewards say. I would hope it's not the drivers who are penalised for it. It was a team mistake and we jumped the gun on it."

So, to clear up the confusion on the lap times.

Nico Hulkenberg had his lap time scrubbed for track limits from Q1, 45 minutes after the opening session, dropping him down to P16 on the timesheets.

Alex Albon has been promoted to P15 but with that deletion for Hulkenberg, the Williams man missed his chance to compete in Q2.

Esteban Ocon has now moved up to P14.

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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified third, he said: "Honestly, I didn’t expect P3, I knew in Q3 there was some lap time. I knew that in Q1 and Q2 I just had to be patient and wait for the track to come to us in Q3 which was a bit tricky because the beginning of Q3 everything felt really bad with the old tyres but as soon as we put on the new tyres it was quite a bit better.

"I’m happy, I did not expect it but we explored quite a bit of extreme set-ups in the last few weekends and it felt like I found my way a little bit, and little by little I hope there will be more performance to extract from this car in the weekends to come."

On the upgrades: "The team has pushed like crazy to try and bring those upgrades here, I don’t think it’s the best track to have these upgrades on but it’s always good, it’s a small gain, it’s not a big one.

"Hopefully next week it should be a bit more of a step, but again I think if we are P3 today considering it was such fine margins with P4, the upgrades helped."

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Mercedes George Russell, who will start second on the grid: "If anyone would've said we would've been within half a second of the McLarens, we would've taken it because we would've thought that would be P3 on the grid. To be second on the grid is a bonus; congrats to Oscar. great lap and excited for tomorrow now.

"The strides were being made with the night time coming in and track temperature getting a lit bit cooler. We saw it this morning with practice three when it was roasting hot, the McLarens were down the road. But now, when the session unfolded, we seemed to be getting quicker.

"To line up P2 is a great chance tomorrow but I think if we're being realistic, it'll be a challenge to fight with Oscar."

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McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will start on pole, he said: "I felt confident out there pretty much all weekend, FP1 was an experience for us all I think, it felt more like a rally car than an F1 car but from then on I felt really comfortable with the car.

"FP3 we had good pace and qualifying the others caught up a little bit closer than what I wanted but I still delivered the laps when it mattered which is the most important thing at the end so I’m very happy."

On the race: "I’ve got to get to Turn One first so let’s see what happens but I felt like I’ve been comfortable all weekend and there’s no better place to start that on pole so I can’t thank the team enough for the car they’ve given me. I’m excited for the race tomorrow."

It was a "mega lap" by Oscar Piastri, McLaren CEO Zak Brown tells Sky Sports, who adds the Australian has been "strong all weekend". Like Lando Norris, he says the Briton will try again tomorrow after his disappointment in Q3. "We'll see if we can get them both on the podium," Brown says.

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Lando Norris looks dejected as he reached the media pen to chat to Sky Sports. "I'm just not quick enough," says the McLaren man. He adds he has no idea why he didn't take pole in Bahrain, reiterating he was just not fast enough today.

Norris says he'll look into the data, see where he can improve and why he was struggling so much in qualifying and then "try again tomorrow".

11. Jack Doohan (Alpine)

12. Isack hadjar (Racing Bulls)

13. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

14. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

15. Alex Albon (Williams)

16. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

17. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

18. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

20. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

2. George Russell (Mercedes)

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

4. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

5. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

6. Lando Norris (McLaren)

7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

8. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

9. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

Jeremiah Kariuki: Russell made it a very big lap only for Piastri to take it away at the line! Too close. Good battles there. Poor run by Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton. Either mistakes or vehicles not going their way!

George Russell will start on the front row with Oscar Piastri in P2, Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli will share the second row in third and fourth respectively, an excellent qualifying session sees Pierre Gasly line up in fifth spot and championship leader Lando Norris will start in P6.

Max Verstappen is down in seventh place, with Lewis Hamilton starting ninth,

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

I'm not at all surprised that Oscar Piastri is on pole position but I'm very surprised that his team-mate Lando Norris is not tucked up right behind him.

The McLarens are under pressure after decent laps times by the Mercedes and Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri is first to cross the line and jumps above George Russell to take pole! Lando Norris, unfortunately, can only take P6!

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's about not making mistakes when this pressure ramps up in the last couple of minutes.

Kimi Antonelli briefly takes provisional pole before Mercedes team-mate goes top. The Briton is 0.166 seconds quicker than the teenager. But Charles Leclerc puts his Ferrari on to the front row alongside Russell.