Max Verstappen secures pole position at Bahrain Grand Prix

Mercedes have brought their first major upgrade since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, but it has not proved the step forward hoped.

Unusally, Antonelli went into qualifying with only four new sets of soft tyres rather than the usual five and compromised his programme by having his first lap in second session deleted for going beyond track limits.

That meant he had to use another set of tyres in the session, which left him only one for the final shootout.

He went out in the middle of the session, after the others did their first runs, and ended up with a time 0.501secs from pole, much further away than Mercedes would have hoped.

Antonelli said: "It's a shame because with only one set, big pressure. I did what I could but with another set we could have fought for front row. Not P1, because Max was too quick today."

But he fared better than Russell, who was lacking pace compared to his team-mate all day, and ended up 0.240secs off Antonelli.

The Briton said: "It's the most demanding circuit on the tyres, so we don't know exactly why we didn't have the pace. From Friday it was clear we weren't on the pace of the Red Bulls and we haven't really progressed. The others have caught up and overtaken [us]."

It was also a difficult day for McLaren, who were tipped by Russell as the potential frontrunners going into the weekend because of their car's strong recent performances on tracks that share characteristics with this one.

But they lacked pace all weekend and Norris could manage only a best lap of 0.627secs off the pace.

For Aston Martin, though, this was confirmation that changes they have made to their car in recent races have borne fruit.

They struggled in Italy and Azerbaijan because their Honda engine remains the worst in the field, despite two recent upgrades.

But on a track where power sensitivity is lower, the improvements to the chassis made in terms of aerodynamics and weight since the summer added up.

A lap by Alonso that was 1.524secs off the pace is by far their strongest performance of the year, and a suggestion that the veteran's faith they could step forward significantly in 2027 has some foundation.

"It was definitely one the best qualifying of the year," Alonso said. "1.5secs to top of Q2, so smallest margin. It seems this circuit is a little better for our package and let's see tomorrow if we can take advantage of this."