Bahrain Grand Prix 2016: Lewis Hamilton beats Nico Rosberg in last lap shootout but qualifying woes remain

Hamilton starts from pole ahead of Mercedes team-mate Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton celebrates after securing pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix (Getty)

Lewis Hamilton broke the lap record in Bahrain to secure pole position for Sunday's race ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

The world champion posted a blistering time of one minute and 29.493 seconds under the lights to finish the session marginally faster than Rosberg with Sebastian Vettel in third.

But the new qualifying format which had been condemned to the Formula One scrapheap only to be resurrected for the Bahrain race, courted criticism once more.

FIA president Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's chief executive, and the team bosses will hold a summit meeting ahead of Sunday's race to determine what to do for the next race in China in a fortnight's time.

Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position with his final lap in qualifying (Getty)

Hamilton made a mistake on his first flying run in the final phase of qualifying to hand the initiative to Rosberg. But the 31-year-old Briton returned for a second run with a lap that will send out a warning to Rosberg, who won the opening race in Australia, and Vettel, too.

Despite Ferrari hoping this power-reliant track would suit them rather more than Melbourne's Albert Park street circuit, Vettel was more than half-a-second slower than Hamilton. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was even further back and will start from fourth.

Nico Rosberg held pole until Hamilton's final lap (Getty)

While Q3, the shoot-out for pole, provided greater entertainment than the season opener, the grid was already determined with three minutes of the session remaining making the new countdown clock somewhat irrelevant. It seems unlikely that the sport can continue with this seemingly-doomed format for much longer.

Q2 - the second of the three timed sessions - started in rather farcical fashion after the light at the end of the pit lane signalling drivers to go on to the circuit was jammed on red. A marshal vigorously waved a green flag to indicate to a rather confused Raikkonen that the 14-minute session had begun.

Sebastian Vettel will start from third (Getty)

Jenson Button was rippling with confidence on Friday night after he posted the third-fastest time in practice. The 2009 world champion believed a top-eight grid slot was on the cards, but he could manage only 14th.

And to make matters worse, Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian who is making his debut here in place of the injured Fernando Alonso, will start ahead of him. Vandoorne, who could be handed a full-time seat instead of the out-of-contract Button for 2017, was one tenth faster than his team-mate and will start from 12th.

Stoffel Vandoorne out-qualified his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button on his debut (Getty)

But that was about as entertaining as Q2 got. The camera panned to Max Verstappen, who was next to be "eliminated", but instead of being on track, the 18-year-old had his crash helmet off and was collecting his weight receipt in the pit lane. This is not what the sport's powerbrokers had in mind when they wanted to make qualifying more unpredictable.

Earlier, Pascal Wehrlein, the highly-rated German was the star performer of the opening phase after he qualified an impressive 16th - just on the bubble of making it through to Q2.

Pascal Wehrlein impressed as he finished qualifying in 16th (Getty)

Sauber's Felipe Nasr was the first driver to fall, while Jolyon Palmer soon followed. The Briton, who impressed on his debut in Melbourne, will start from the penultimate row of the grid in 19th. His Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen qualified ahead, but will be demoted to the pit-lane after he failed to stop for a mandatory weigh-in during practice.

Final Positions after Qualifying:

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 29.493secs

2 Nico Rosberg(Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29.570

3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:30.012

4 Kimi Raikkonen(Fin) Ferrari 1:30.244

5 Daniel Ricciardo(Aus) Red Bull 1:30.854

6 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:31.153

7 Felipe Massa(Bra) Williams 1:31.155

8 Nico Hulkenberg(Ger) Force India 1:31.620

9 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:31.756

10 Max Verstappen(Ned) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.772

11 Carlos Sainz(Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.816

12 Stoffel Vandoorne(Bel) McLaren 1:31.934

13 Esteban Gutierrez(Mex) Haas F1 1:31.945

14 Jenson Button(Gbr) McLaren 1:31.998

15 Daniil Kvyat(Rus) Red Bull 1:32.241

16 Pascal Wehrlein(Ger) Manor Racing 1:32.806

17 Marcus Ericsson(Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:32.840

18 Sergio Perez(Mex) Force India 1:32.911

19 Kevin Magnussen(Den) Renault 1:33.181

20 Jolyon Palmer(Gbr) Renault 1:33.438

21 Rio Haryanto(Ina)Manor Racing 1:34.190

22 Felipe Nasr (Bra) Sauber-Ferrari 1:34.388

Note: Kevin Magnussen has to start the race from pit lane as he failed to stop for weighing during P2 when he was signalled to do so.

PA