BAHRAIN GP – Max Verstappen takes pole two tenths ahead of Charles Leclerc for season opener
Max Verstappen will start the new season from pole after beating Charles Leclerc by two tenths in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Dutchman was expected to be the driver to beat going into the new season. However, it was tighter as Red Bull didn’t appear to serge ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes.
Leclerc did manage to improve on his final attempt but not by enough to push Verstappen off pole for the season opener. He had been fastest in Q2 but when it mattered despite looking as if he had the chance to deny Verstappen pole, his final improvement was two tenths off.
There had been plenty of intrigue going into qualifying but as Red Bull’s rivals expected they look still to be the team to beat, but it doesn’t appear to be as big as last season. The margin may be smaller than expected going into the weekend.
But Red Bull’s traditional performance pattern, which sees their advantage extend in races in relation to qualifying, he is the favourite for the first victory of the season, to continue a run of consecutive Grand Prix wins that goes back to Japan in late September last year.
the Dutchman’s thirty-third career pole moves ahead of Nigel Mansell for joint fifth with Jim Clark and Alain Prost on the all-time list.
George Russell was third for Mercedes just under eight-thousandths of a second behind the Ferrari, which underlines how close it has become behind Red Bull. The Englishman going two hundredths faster than the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, as Mercedes look to be at the strongest, they have been at the start of a season for two years.
Russell left it late to secure his place in the top ten, as those in the lower end of the grid surprised with improvement. But he hung on to tenth as did Oscar Piastri ninth as the final laps were completed in Q2
Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes covered by less than half a second. Promising for Mercedes, within a tenth of Leclerc, in their much-changed new car although teammate Lewis Hamilton was only ninth after taking a different direction on set-up and will start from row five on the season’s first grid.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez struggled to find the same pace as the Dutchman, he was nearly half a second off. Though it is only the opening race there will be continuing questions if he isn’t consistently close to his teammate this season.
Verstappen said, “It was a lot of fun. The track has a lot of grip but with the wind it has been quite tricky to get the whole lap together and it was the same today. t was a little bit unexpected but luckily in qualifying the car came to us and I felt a little bit happier with the whole car.”
Leclerc added “I am a bit disappointed. I found the sweet spot in qualifying. It is quite a good qualifying and we are in a better place than a year ago so that is good. Now we have to see the race pace goes tomorrow.”
Fernando Alonso only completed one run in Q3 going third, but as others completed their runs he found himself shuffled to seventh, three hundredths off Perez.
McLaren had a good start to the season compared to the last two years, with Lando Norris going seventh seven hundredth ahead of teammate Piastri. Norris later admitted to a mistake on his final attempt, which could make a big difference in a tight season.
He had looked to be in contention for at least the front row, but was left ruing a mistake-strewn final lap, when he believed he could have been on the front row.
Explaining he “had a little oversteer on the exit of Turn One just as I came on the throttle,” that cost him a tenth and a potentially a place on the front row.
Hamilton who looked in practice to be able to challenge for the second row of the grid, but he couldn’t find the pace and was two-tenths behind Russell in ninth. Hamilton another Brit frustrated with his “poor” session, and said he had compromised his qualifying pace for better tyre performance in the race.
Although it wasn’t a repeat of practice, Mercedes ended 2024’s opening qualifying in far more optimistic mode than this time last year. Russell’s third place on the grid was their best result in Bahrain since 2021, the final year of the previous regulation era that they dominated and Hamilton went onto win.
Nico Hulkenberg went into this season expecting Haas to struggle, but he was surprised when on his final attempt in Q2 he vaulted up the times to second as his teammate Magnussen went into the top ten before he was shuffled down to fifteenth. The German could not replicate or improve upon the time he had set in Q2.
Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll were knocked out of a potential Q3 by late laps by Russell and Hamilton, who delivered under the pressure of needing to find a lap on the second attempt having been stuck in the bottom five. But again highlights how tight it’s expected to be this season.
Tsunoda seven hundredths ahead of Stroll with Alex Albon two hundredths further behind, all three had their various improvements good enough to be in the top ten. But as the Bahraini night and dropping temperatures moved in the lap times ramped up dramatically, while aware there wasn’t much they could do as the night moved in.
Alex Albon put his Williams thirteenth half a second faster than Daniel Ricciardo, Magnussen couldn’t pull off the same result as Hulkenberg but Haas will be happy with a better-than-expected qualifying with both escaping out of Q1.
The tightness of qualifying was clear in Q1, both Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou missed out having been knocked out by both RBs. However, Zhou did a good job in keeping his car pointing in the right way having had a huge oversteer moment at the final proper corner (Turn Fourteen).
Logan Sargeant was another to be caught out by the ever evolving track conditions, he had gone twelfth on his first run. However on his final run he was unable to improve, falling to eighteenth just over a hundredth behind Zhou. But was within a second of the fastest time during the first part of qualifying.
Alpine went into the season opener expecting to be the slowest, the French manufacturer firmly at the bottom. Esteban Ocon two hundredths off Sargeant and ahead of Pierre Gasly, the latter the only driver a second off the pace in Q1 which had been topped by Sainz.
The team who were sixth last year, are confident they have lots of potential to unlock but warned at the start of the race weekend that it would take them some time.
Related
- BAHRAIN GP – Carlos Sainz fastest by under a tenth and a half from Fernando Alonso in third practice
- BAHRAIN GP – Lewis Hamilton leads a Mercedes one-two by two tenths in second practice
BAHRAIN GP – Daniel Ricciardo fastest in first practice, three hundredths ahead of the McLaren’s - PRIXVIEW – Bahrain Grand Prix