Finishing the job when an opponent is down marks out the sporting greats; ruthlessness, precision and the ability to apply maximum pressure at the key moment turns a mere win into domination. When Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix it was hard not to sense that even this early in the season he has his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on the ropes and is readying a big right hand.

While it is the first time Hamilton will start from the very front of the grid here, it is his fourth consecutive top spot this season, the first time he has scored four in a row, bringing a real sense of momentum. Crucially too, in his fight with Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari through an exemplary lap to knock the German into third.

It is a another psychological blow to Rosberg, who was somewhat fractious in his accusations of selfishness towards Hamilton after last week’s Chinese Grand Prix and another indicator that thus far this season he cannot match his team-mate’s qualifying or race pace. Rosberg, has secured pole here for the past two years and had stated that he was hoping to kick-start his season with a strong run in Bahrain, beginning with pole but now with Hamilton on a personal record-breaking qualifying run he must be wondering what he has to do to step up to match the British driver’s game.

Furthermore for the race itself, any hope Rosberg had of being able to dictate strategy to his advantage has surely gone unless he can clear Hamilton, whom he trails by 17 points in the world championship, and Vettel by the first corner.

Hamilton set a time of 1min 32.571sec, four tenths clear of Vettel and six tenths ahead of Rosberg and importantly at a race where Ferrari’s form is very strong with Vettel in second and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth,it puts him in the perfect position to control strategy in response to their potential threat, especially given that the Ferraris can work their rear tyres better and have shown even better race-pace potential.

“It is never easy doing qualifying. It is the climax of the weekend and I love going out there and getting it right over one lap. It is intense and so much fun and really hard to perfect it,” said Hamilton, who was happy with his performance but not underestimating the threat from Ferrari.

“I don’t go into the race worried but in Malaysia when I started on pole and thought we would be good, but Ferrari won. And going into China, while I was on pole, we thought Ferrari would be strong but we were comfortably ahead.

“I believe and have been told that they might be stronger this weekend, so how do I extract that from the car to make sure I stay ahead of these guys? That’s the big question. I just have to be prepared for whatever is thrown at me.”

In Melbourne Rosberg had quipped that he hoped Ferrari would catch up to improve the show for the fans. That they have done so quickly and, indeed, at his expense, he will doubtless take less lightly. “I did not see it coming,” he said. “I did not see Sebastian being that quick and I did not think I’d struggle so much as a result. That’s where I got it wrong today and I am definitely not happy with that.”

Vettel, in turn, knew he had put together a great lap to make the front row. “We all know Mercedes have a strong package and it is a great success for us to split them and that we are a little bit closer,” he said. “The target is for us to focus on ourselves but if we can put some pressure on them, we have to go for it.”

The two Mercedes drivers battled in a gripping contest here last year where again Rosberg came off second best, unable to pass Hamilton in a race both drivers agreed had been a thriller, but there they were unchallenged at the front. With Ferrari very much in the mix this year on this type of circuit, and having failed to cope with Vettel’s pace and strategy when he won in Malaysia, Mercedes will have to consider the best way to ensure a win for one of their drivers and will favour Hamilton, should he turn his pole into a lead at the end of the first lap.

Rosberg had been quickest in the only practice session run under race conditions at night by fractionally over a tenth of a second but he could not match it when it mattered. In Q2 on the tyres with which they will start the race, Hamilton found another gear and was a full 1.2secs clear.

It was a huge marker that also acted as a perfect sighting lap for his final run, although with a pace advantage that he might not quite have needed to pound from his race rubber. Rosberg then went out first for the final sprint on new boots but he could not pull together a smooth run and fell first to Vettel, exploiting the very best from his Ferrari and then Hamilton, who is putting together single-lap runs this season with far more consistency than he did in 2014.

It is advantage Hamilton, then, for the race and over his team-mate but he knows now there is new threat to be faced down in the form of a resurgent Vettel too.