Bahrain Quali: Max on Pole
Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Bahrain Grand Prix with a flawless final lap, beating defending champion Lewis Hamilton by three-tenths of a second.
Max grabbed the fourth pole position of his career for Red Bull at the Bahrain circuit with an emphatic demonstration of speed to deliver a front row start alongside seven-time champion Hamilton in his Mercedes.
But the first grid of the season shows that Mercedes’ years of dominance are no longer certain, despite a significant improveme nt on their practice times as well as their performances in recent pre-season testing.
Max beat Mercedes at the Bahrain desert race
Verstappen clocked a best lap in one minute and 28.997 seconds to outpace Hamilton by 0.338 seconds with Valtteri Bottas third in the second Mercedes.
Ferrari resurgence, is it happening?
Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and the McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, in a result that left the Australian well pleased.
Carlos Sainz was eighth in the second Ferrari ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso, on his return to F1 with the Alpine team, and Lance Stroll, who was 10th for Aston Martin.
Stroll’s new team-mate four-time champion Sebastian Vettel struggled and qualified 18th, failing to make it out of Q1.
“Of course, we had a great test last week, but there are no guarantees here,” said a smiling Verstappen.
“The car worked really well and it was enjoyable to drive. It’s a great start.”
Mercedes have some work to do
Hamilton, who showed much-improved speed compared to the pre-season test, congratulated his rival.
“He was so fast on that last lap. I gave it everything, but it wasn’t enough. “There is always more, but that was the best I could do in getting it out of my car.”
Verstappen said he felt confident in the long run performance of his car. “I am looking forward to the race. I’ve got a good car and just hope for a good clean start. I’ll keep on pushing.”
‘THUMBS UP’ FOR RICCIARDO
“I got a thumbs up,” Ricciardo replied to a question about how his team bosses reacted to his qualifying effort. “They’ve obviously seen from day one of testing me in the car.
“I think on the timesheets, I was quick in those first two days [of pre-season] but I think, we knew that I was still finding my feet.
“And so I think they’ve followed my progress in the last two weeks, and for that, I think they’re quite happy to see the evolution over a small period of time.
“We’ll keep going and hopefully at least to bigger and better things.”
Having been behind teammate Norris throughout Friday – understandably given Norris spent last season racing the almost-identical McLaren – Ricciardo was pleased to improve enough to pip his teammate in qualification.
“I did make a nice step today and that’s what I’m most satisfied with,” said Ricciardo. ”I think I just made progress each session, didn’t overcomplicate it… We started a bit off the pace yesterday, but I know it’s a process and to kind of make a good difference tonight, I was really happy.
“So it’s a good start… I’ll sleep a little better knowing I got a bit more out of the car today.”
This is the grid for Bahrain race. Max will be leading them all.
