Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/963162
54 maltatoday SUNDAY 8 APRIL 2018 Sports FORMULA ONE SEBASTIAN Vettel (Ferrari) has taken pole position for today's Bahrain Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from only ninth as his rival Sebastian Vet- tel stormed to pole position. Defending champion Hamilton has been off the pace all weekend and, while he posted the fourth quickest lap in a thrill-a-minute qualif ying session, he will be shunted down the order follow- ing his penalty for a gearbox change. Kimi Raikkonen joins Vettel at the sharp end as Ferrari se- cured a front-row lockout, with the Italian team laying down the championship gauntlet to Mercedes. Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third. Vettel was trailing Raikkonen following the opening runs in the desert, but the champion- ship leader, who beat Hamilton at the opening race in Australia, delivered the goods when it mat- tered most. Vettel finished 0.134seconds clear of Raikkonen, with Bottas marginally father back. Hamil- ton was 0.262secs down on Vet- tel's best lap. Qualif ying for the Bahrain Grand Prix was temporarily sus- pended after Max Verstappen crashed out. The 20-year-old Red Bull driv- er lost control of his car through turn 3 and span into the barrier. Verstappen was not hurt in the incident, but faces starting to- day's race way down the order. Qualifying positions: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1min 27.958secs 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:28.101 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:28.124 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.220 5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:28.398 6 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scu- deria Toro Rosso 1:29.329 7 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:29.358 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:29.570 9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:29.874 10 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:29.986 11 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Ros- so 1:30.105 12 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:30.156 13 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:30.212 14 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:30.525 15 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull No Time 16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:30.530 17 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.063 18 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:31.414 19 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.420 20 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:31.503 Vettel snatches pole from Raikkonen An all-Ferrari front-row sees Vettel take pole away from Kimi Raikkonen on his final lap while championship rival Hamilton takes a five-place grid penalty to drop to ninth Sebastian Vettel