Hamilton holds lead through turn one but it's a bad start for team-mate Rosberg, who loses a place to the Ferrari of Raikkonen.

Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen, Rosberg.

Sparks and dust are flying everywhere!

Ok, an 18-car grid forms up.

Button out, Massa in the pits. What next?

The Toro Rosso driver will serve a five-second penalty at his first pit stop for "exceeding the maximum time" on his recce lap to the grid.

And a car is left behind! It's the Williams of Felipe Massa!

Gutting for the Brazilian. The entire bid streams past and instead of starting sixth Massa will be starting from the pit lane.

His engineer Rob Smedley says it's an electrical problem.

Jenson Button on Twitter: As you probably are aware I will not be taking part in the Bahrain GP, the guys have worked flat out to get the car built but we're unable to run.

Lotus on Twitter: Romain looks ready...

Image source, Lotus

Carl Rahn Griffith: Good grief, even Manor can get 2 cars on the grid. What an utter embarrassment McLaren has become. They need Ross Brawn.

Party Bob: The whole event has been diabolical for JB... Let's hope the upgraded car gets him smiling again in Barcelona.

Guppster: After what they put JB through last year and they give up on his car that easily.

Sunset in Sakhir is at 18:03 local time.

The lights are on and the first night race of 2015 is just about ready to go.

Jenson Button will not start for McLaren.

McLaren on Twitter: Sadly we are not able to ready Jenson's car. During fire-up, data indicated an issue originating from his earlier electrical problems.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"It has been another character-building weekend for Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo qualified seventh again - that seems to be about their position at the moment, with the Renault engine still lagging well behind those of Mercedes and Ferrari - and while the Australian has hopes of taking the fight to Williams, he knows it will not be easy.

"Meanwhile, Daniil Kvyat's nightmare start to his career with the senior team continues. The Russian failed to make it out of first qualifying and seemed a bit perplexed afterwards about why. A couple of hours after qualifying he was saying something vague about 'a few energy issues', admitting they 'needed to understand it deeper'.

"Kvyat has the pace and talent but some people who have worked with him feel the promotion to a team as demanding as Red Bull may have come a year or so too soon. He may well be looking at the three-week break before the next race in Spain as a chance to reset and take stock of what has gone wrong for him so far in 2015."

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, third on the grid: "I have to put the setbacks behind me and move on full attack today. I have an awesome car so even when I am not having a great day I am starting third. I have the opportunity at the start and will try and go around the outside.

"I need to be aggressive I can not afford to be safe starting third I have to go for it."

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"In China last weekend, the Williams drivers split the Ferraris on the grid, only to lose position on the opening lap after a brilliant double pass by Kimi Raikkonen, and then lose touch thereafter.

"In Bahrain, Valtteri Bottas - the quicker Williams driver this weekend - was just 0.154secs from pipping Raikkonen again. Another lonely race appears in prospect, though. Head of performance engineering Rob Smedley admitted Williams still 'need a bit more performance out of the package to fight with the cars in front.'"

Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff: "There is a real threat from Ferrari, they have improved a lot over the winter. They need to be taken seriously. The old days of having a solid gap and running away with the race are over."

The official F1 website is reporting McLaren's Jenson Button will not start this race.

We'll bring you confirmation when we have it.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"This is expected to be a two-stop race. Three stops is about the same overall speed but the chances of getting caught in traffic and your pace ruined are too great for most to try it. The key thing in terms of the lead battle will be the 'undercut' - or the prospects of a driver close behind trying to jump the one in front by stopping earlier and taking the benefit of fresh tyres. This is likely to be Ferrari's big tactic against Mercedes.

"An aggressive two-stop could feature a first pit stop as early as lap 12. That commits the driver to a long middle stint on the soft tyres, which would likely not be a worry for either Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen but may be a concern for Mercedes. If Ferrari try that, do Mercedes respond to keep track position and try to manage their tyres from in front or stick to their optimum race strategy?

"The favoured tyre strategy is soft-soft-medium, leaving the medium - which has a lower optimum working temperature - until later in the race when track temperatures will be at their coolest and therefore most suitable."

Diggrich: Not fair. It leaves a sport only to the richest people, not to the ones that love the sport.

Lucy Carr: What a joke without the smaller teams you wouldn't have a race. Manor is a great team. Perhaps it's time for Bernie to go. Go Manor.

Peter Taylor: A lot of people don't want Bernie in F1 either. Maybe he should go too.