Sebastian Vettel never really appeared in the running for pole this evening in Bahrain, with the Ferrari driver set to line up third on tomorrow's Bahrain GP grid.
It was an all-Mercedes affair in Q3 with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton going head to head while Vettel was left behind, four tenths adrift from the Silver Arrows.
"In Q2 I thought OK, it will be tight', happy to go into Q3 - and then I was very happy with my first lap," said Vettel, who dominated yesterday's free practice sessions.
"And when I got the time, I was a bit down. Four tenths was a lot more than expected given how good I felt.
"On the last run, I tried probably too hard everywhere, we had nothing to lose.
"I tried a bit harder but didn't work, was slightly slower. Being a tenth quicker [wouldn't be] good enough but I tried."
While Vettel outpaced team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the German was at a loss to explain the sudden deficit which separated Ferrari from Mercedes, but he remains confident in giving his rivals a run for their money tomorrow.
"I haven't seen where we lost most of the time, but a little spread everywhere," he said.
"Sector 1 and 3 stood out, Sector 2 not too bad. I don't know if they have an update for here, and they can push harder.
"We lost a bit more time there, a bit more than usual. For tomorrow, the most important thing is the car felt good today."
GALLERY: All the pictures from Saturday in Bahrain
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