Massa beats Hamilton to Bahrain pole

Massa, fastest in both Q1 and Q2, and Hamilton monopolised the battle for pole position, with the Brazilian taking provisional pole with a 1:33.090 on his first soft tyre run, and Hamilton lapping just 0.028 seconds slower.

The pair were evenly matched in the first two sectors on their next runs, but Massa found a lot more time in the final third of the lap and improved to a 1:32.652, three tenths clear of Hamilton.

Their teammates were overshadowed, with Kimi Raikkonen beating Fernando Alonso to third by a few fractions.

The BMWs were unable to infiltrate the battle for pole despite their strong practice pace. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica filled row three again, though.

Giancarlo Fisichella showed improved form to take seventh for Renault, ahead of Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg.

Alex Wurz and Heikki Kovalainen both lost out in the extremely tight battle to reach the top ten. They were 0.1 and 0.046 seconds respectively slower than teammates Rosberg and Fisichella in Q2, and therefore missed the cut.

Although Anthony Davidson could not repeat his practice form, he made it through to the second session and qualified 13th, ahead of Ralf Schumacher's understeering Toyota, and the struggling Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button - the latter pair both a second slower than they needed to be to reach Q3.

Davidson was the only driver from F1's bottom three teams to escape Q1, as his Super Aguri teammate Takuma Sato joined the Toro Rossos and Spykers in early elimination.

David Coulthard will start amongst the backmarkers in 21st after gearbox problems struck the Red Bull in Q1.