Sebastian Vettel edged out Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso as the Red Bull driver claimed pole position for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Last year's runner-up in the drivers' championship, behind Jenson Button, secured the sixth pole of his career by putting in a brisk lap the closing ten-minute qualifying session at the Sakhir circuit.
Behind Massa and Alonso was 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren while team-mate Button was eighth, just behind seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
The 41-year-old German, making his comeback after three-and-a-half years in retirement, was behind his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg who was fifth and Red Bull's Mark Webber in sixth. Robert Kubica in his Renault and Force India's Adrian Sutil completed the top-ten.
Further down the field, Rubens Barrichello, now with Williams, was 11th fastest, ahead of Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi, Nico Hulkenberg and Pedro de la Rosa.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi will start from 15th and Kamui Kobayashi from 16th, while Renault's Vitaly Petrov is back in 17th in his first Grand Prix while Jaime Alguersuari is 18th.
The three new teams unsurprisingly occupy the bottom six positions with Timo Glock 19th, just ahead of Lotus Racing duo Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, with Lucas di Grassi 22nd while Hispania Racing's Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok are at the back of the grid.