Ferrari delivered on their free practice promise by taking their first front-row lockout in Bahrain since 2006.
Sebastian Vettel took pole position with a final flying lap of 1:27.958s to go a tenth and a half faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
"It was quite intense," said a breathless Vettel immediately after the end of qualifying.
"First run in Q3, I was very happy and then I threw it away in the last corner," he recalled. "Really happy I got the second run and I got it clean.
"I knew that in the last corner I just needed to stay away from that last kerb," he continued. "Then obviously you're looking around trying to see where the others are.
"The car was excellent all weekend so far, so looking forward to tomorrow.
"If the car is responding to what you want to it, it's a pleasure. Otherwise it's a fight," he commented. "Australia was more of a fight.
"We worked on the balance, we looked into it quite a lot. I think we improved it as well yesterday and today.
"Even though it's not easy because we do the practice sessions when the sun is up and then qualifying and the race when the sun is done."
Vettel lost time in the morning with teething problems related to the side attachments on his SF71H. However that hadn't impacted his qualifying performance.
"We had some issues this morning but we overcame those," he noted. "The car is responding, so I'm very pleased.
"Feeling good now, but tomorrow's a different story," he added. "It's a long, long race. We've seen that it's not easy to make the tyres last.
"I was quick, that usefully helps. Let's see when the lights go out," he said. "But for now I'm very chuffed - for the team as well."
Having had the measure of his team mate all weekend up to now, Raikkonen was clearly disappointed to come off second-best when it really mattered.
"For sure, not ideal," Raikkonen said. "Far from ideal in the last run with the traffic. But what can I do?
"We'll see obviously. One step today, tomorrow's the main thing," he added. "Tomorrow's the time when we get the points - or don't get the points! We'll see what we can do then.
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