Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari will be "very hard to beat" in Bahrain despite claiming his fourth consecutive pole position of the season.
Hamilton turned in a faultless qualifying to finish four tenths ahead of Vettel in Q3, with the second row occupied by Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari demonstrated strong race pace over the Friday practice sessions and Hamilton, who was beaten by Vettel in Malaysia, is expecting a big challenge from the red cars.
When asked if lessons from Malaysia would be important on Sunday, Hamilton said: "We've gone over it tonnes of times before about what we've learned but it doesn't get us away from the fact they are very quick this weekend and they are going to be very hard to beat tomorrow; they've got great race pace. Hopefully our positioning does help and we'll be taking all the measures as we can to make the tyres go as they do but I think we're in a good position, so looking forward to the fight."
Despite the threat of Vettel and Raikkonen, Hamilton was delighted with his qualifying performance.
"I feel great, I feel very happy. Coming into the weekend the target was to really master this track and get the car into an area that I'm really comfortable with and that's generally how the weekend has gone. The laps were pretty good, you can always improve, but really grateful to have this beast underneath me which I can really attack these corners with. I think last year I don't wasn't really comfortable with the car to be able to do so, so it's a great feeling."
Hamilton was out-qualified by Rosberg in 2014 despite Saturdays being a traditional strength. The world champion says he has made improvements this year in various areas.
"I don't know on what to pinpoint that has come around. It's working at it, trying to improve, with a nice, calm approach to the way I drive these days, and ultimately that confidence in your own ability does help. Then there are things outside which help me with that, that I do with my engineers, notes and all those kind of things. I've been happy so far, but I know I can be better, and I'll try to be that in Barcelona [the next grand prix]."