The Saturday in F1 Sakhir GP saw a mighty close battle for pole between Mercedes drivers as Charles Leclerc surprised all.
Bahrain’s outer circuit delivered on the drama it had previously promised on Saturday, with qualifying decided by 0.026s on the short F1 layout, and full-time Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas fending off substitute sophomore driver George Russell, standing in for the COVID-19 positive Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas was one of three F1 drivers seemingly in contention for pole throughout Qualifying’s three sessions, and appeared the favorite. A shootout between the Finn and Russell at the end of Q3 saw him take pole, albeit with a smaller margin than would have been comfortable.
Bottas says his W11 was vastly more driveable on Saturday than it had been on Friday, when he was bested by Russell in each session. He adds that he was “really happy” to top the session, and credits Russell with a remarkable performance. “Friday was quite a tricky day for me personally but today was a lot better,” he said.
“The car felt more complete and more driveable and I could really build lap by lap in practice three and then with a good feeling in the qualifying. Just slightly disappointed in myself at the end with the lap, that I didn’t improve at the end. But I was the only car without a tow. The lap was not that great so I couldn’t improve on the last run. I’m really happy to be on pole. In the end that’s how it is.
“On a track like this you can’t really make a difference, so the gaps are really small as you can see. I have to say George did a really good job. He was really building up to it and you could see the progress in qualifying. Really happy for us as a team that we can be one-two on the grid and it’s another big achievement for us,” Bottas said.
Bottas says that traffic only cost him in Q2, and that it did little to hurt him as it did others in the session. “In Q2 there was one run that was a bit compromised because we were on the medium tyres and we had to do faster out laps than the other so it was a bit messy. But apart from that not too bad. Obviously this weekend it was my call to choose whether I go first or second.
“I was first and I was still expecting to have one car ahead of me in Q3, but I didn’t but I’m glad still you know that I could get a good enough lap.” Russell was greatly satisfied with his achievements – for which he was widely praised – especially after a difficult FP3. He adds that he would have been happy to have made Q3 given the challenges he faced, among them that of learning a F1 car which he had not yet driven prior to FP1.
“Already on Friday, I got into the car, working really well with the team and then just building on it lap after lap. And then into FP3 it was a really, really woeful session – just pushing too hard, trying this, trying that, and it just didn’t come together, so to be honest after P3 I would have been satisfied just getting into Q3 almost, but no, really happy,” said Russell. “I think Valtteri has been on it all weekend, even if the lap times yesterday didn’t quite show it, the true pace was always there.
“It’s been really tough for me to jump in last minute, learn a new car, working with new engineers, understanding the set-up, how to make this car go fast, because it’s a completely different ball game really. I am really pleased. In some ways being so close makes it slightly frustrating but if you told me four days ago that I would be qualifying P2 this weekend, I would have thought you’d have been having my pants down,” he said.
Part of the aforementioned shootout for pole late in Q3, Russell said his final bid for F1 pole was nothing more than “alright,” as he had difficulty in turn one as he has for much of the weekend. “Oddly last week, Turn 1 was my strongest corners and we were really strong there. This weekend I’ve been really weak compared to Valtteri, he’s been taking loads of lap time out of me. That was my weak point.
“I don’t know what it was I just couldn’t get on the throttle. After that every single time from Turn 4 onwards it felt great. The car was absolutely on rails and it was a real joy to drive. Just that Turn 1 and 2 were really letting me down. I’m sure I’m going to look on the data and Valtteri is going to be much quicker than me through there again and it’s going to frustrate me, but nevertheless, like I said, first qualifying with Mercedes, 20 milliseconds behind pole, got to be pretty pleased,” he said.
It was not only his first-ever Q3 but his first front-row start in F1 and it ended his 36-race of out-qualifying his teammate, having beaten Robert Kubica and Nicholas Latifi so far. It has been a mammoth task for Russell to jump in as he revealed that Hamilton texted him ahead of the weekend, wishing him well and to take care of his car.
“Lewis dropped me a message on Thursday or Friday night, can’t remember now,” he said. “Just wishing me well and said look after his car which… so far so good. And obviously it would be amazing to stand on the podium but ultimately, as a racer, you just want to deliver the best performance possible and in all honesty, some of the performances that we achieved in the Williams for a P14 in qualifying, the buzz and the thrill to achieve that was incredible so, I’m going to leave satisfied or disappointed, depending on how I felt I did. Whether that’s a win, whether that’s a P3, whether that’s a P5 or whatever, there’s no expectations, going into with an open mind and hope for the best.”
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was another firmly in contention to snatch F1 pole, having led Q3 early on. Verstappen, who finished P3 behind Russell, recognized the minimal pace difference of just 0.056s, but suggested that he should have been closer given the lack of a tow enjoyed by Bottas.
The Dutchman also joked about his consistent P3 results in Qualifying sessions, wisecracking that he might have to take the ‘P3 chair’ home from the press conference. “After that first run I was two-tenths behind so I knew it was going to be difficult but you always try to be as close as you can,” he said. “At the end, to be within a tenth wasn’t bad – but of course Valtteri didn’t have a tow and didn’t improve on his final lap.
“To be P3 is good for us I think on a track like this. I’m used to sitting in this chair. It might actually have my prints! I think at the end of this season, I’m going to take this seat home. It’s very comfortable!” he quipped, as he hopes to have a better run in the grand prix starting on a different tyre as compared to the Mercedes duo.
They were to go with medium tyres too but did not feel confident enough, so switched to the soft compound. In the other Red Bull, Alexander Albon – who narrowly made it into Q2 and did not Qualify for Q3 – was left confused by his lack of pace given that which he had displayed in FP3. “I’m surprised with qualifying because after FP3 I was happy with the car and it felt like we were on for a good result so to come 12th is frustrating and we need to understand where it went wrong,” he said.
“We decided to only run the medium tyre in practice to save the softs for F1 qualifying and the car just felt very different between the two sessions so maybe that hurt us. It’s all to play for in the race and we know overtaking is possible here plus we’re running slightly more downforce than the others so hopefully we’re better on our tyres. Our race pace looked pretty strong on Friday and we also have a free tyre choice so we’ll have a long look at that tonight and see what we can do. We just need to keep out of trouble at the start and then the plan is to fight through the field.”
A stunning performance from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put him fourth, with a stellar lap placing the Monegasque a provisional second early Q3. He hastily jumped out of his SF1000 early, not to set another lap. He said he had watched AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly take extra kerb at turn 7 in FP3, and taken note of the unorthodox line which he replicated later in the day. “I was scared because I broke very, very late into the first corner but managed to make the corner anyway, and had a good exit too,” he began as he explained his barnstorming lap.
“I think I got a snap in Turn 4 and then I thought ‘oh my God, I don’t know if the tyres will last to the end of the lap’. I did such a huge step from FP3 to quali in terms of driving, using a lot more [of] the track in the entry on the kerb on the right [to Turn 7], looking at Pierre Gasly’s onboard actually after FP3, so thanks Pierre. The last corner, which I have been struggling in the whole quali, I finally managed to do it well also in my last lap.
He added of the unorthodox decision to end the session prematurely, “It went very, very well. We didn’t want to wait for so long in the pits. I had the idea of what I wanted to do with the car clear. And I just wanted to go early in the session. We knew the track evolution is not great here, and we only had one tyre set. I also expected the traffic to be worse at the end of Q3, so I just expected to go at the beginning. I think that was the right choice, so no regrets,” Leclerc said, his result contrasting that of his teammate, Sebastian Vettel.
The four-time F1 champion did not make Q3, lagging behind in P13. The poor session, he says, was not the result of a recently-replaced engine, as some had suggested, but rather difficulties in the third sector of the lap. Leclerc did well to eclipse the ultra-competitive Racing Point cars, eclipsing the faster of the two – Sergio Perez – by a considerable 0.18s margin, larger than many of those seen throughout the grid in a remarkably tight session.
The Mexican reckoned P4 was off the table because of his adversary’s near-perfect lap, but was nonetheless satisfied with the session and the P5 it yielded. As for the F1 race, he predicts difficulty overtaking, and a heavy reliance on strategy. “I’m happy with qualifying, I think it was a strong result,” he said. “I don’t think P4 was possible because it was a good lap from Charles and it would have been difficult to match that.
“It’s not been an easy challenge finding the perfect set-up for the car at such a different and challenging F1 track, but I think we found a rhythm in qualifying and that was a big positive. We made good choices in qualifying by running just the one set of softs in Q1 and saving two sets for Q3 because that helped us get P5 on the grid. Overtaking might be a challenge here, but the strategy will be very important because even in qualifying we could see that tyre degradation was a factor.
“The key could be making the soft tyre last longer in the first stint and, hopefully, that will open up some opportunities through strategy. I think we’re capable of making that work and the race could come to us, but we need to focus on putting everything together until the final lap and making sure we score good points.”
Perez vastly outperformed his teammate Lance Stroll, who made Q3 but failed to do better than P10. The Canadian said he was “frustrated” with the day, during which, he reveals, damage to his car – sustained in Q2 – inhibited his efforts. “I think it was clear that we had good pace, but on my second run in Q2, I picked up damage to my floor on the kerbs at Turn 8. We’ve seen this weekend that Turn 8 is a really crucial corner and that the middle sector can be punishing on the cars,” he said.
“We need to look at the floor in greater detail because it wasn’t a hard hit – and I’m surprised it was damaged. It meant that we lost a lot of load on the rear of the car, which was costing us significant lap time as a result,” he added, as Pierre Gasly in ninth had a floor damage too in Q1, which derailed his qualifying, unlike his teammate.
Behind Perez but among more formidable competition than perhaps he had expected, AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat came an impressive P6 on Saturday. The Russian, who faces another season on the sidelines in F1 2021, says he was satisfied with his driving, and says good “rhythm” enabled him to put in the result.
“I had a good rhythm,” said Kvyat. “Since last week I had a good drive. I did not put the lap in Q3 last week. I managed to put a good lap together. I kept the rhythm. This is very important here. I am very pleased with my driving. The guys did a very good job. We have been strong yesterday and today. It is a good weekend. I laid a good foundation for the race. It is important.”
At Renault a theme of disappointment could be observed, after the team which is heavily invested in the fight for P3 in the constructors’ championship struggled in Qualifying at Sakhir. The better off of their two F1 drivers – Daniel Ricciardo – managed P7, while Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on Q3 with a P11 result.
The former described the session as a “frustrating” one, especially after strong showings in prior practice sessions that instilled hope in the team. Ricciardo explained his Q2 efforts were plagued by scrappy laps, as were his Q3 attempts. He still expects, though, a strong result on Sunday. “I’m a little bit frustrated with the result because I definitely felt the car could have finished inside the top five,” he said. “We had a good final practice session this afternoon and then come qualifying we got through to Q2 with both cars looking strong.
“My lap in Q2 wasn’t great as I hit the kerb in the last corner and my two laps in Q3 weren’t that strong either. We’ll take a look at it tonight to see what happened.” Noting a silver lining, Ocon pointed out that his P11 grants him the ability to select a compound of his choosing. Ricciardo will not have this same privilege.
A close rival of Renault, McLaren had a difficult day, with Lando Norris facing a particularly perplexing issue in what he described as a ‘bad quali.’ Norris, who came P15, and to progress to Q3, says their problem came from a botched attempt to get a clean lap free of traffic. “A bad quali in lots of ways and we need to work out what went wrong,” he said.
“In Q2 the first run was okay, but the second one was a combination of not doing a great lap and also not going out at the right time. We had to do a very slow out-lap to not catch any traffic, but while doing so the tyres got too cold and then it just got a bit messy from there. I couldn’t put the lap together with one lap of fuel. On the track, I needed to simplify it a little bit. We just made a small mistake and it cost us,” Norris added, as teammate Carlos Sainz in seventh, felt the team did a better job than Friday.
He also had a two help from Russell, whom he provided in Q1. The two F1 debutants did not disappoint as Williams’ Jack Aitken managed to beat Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in 18th as he was only 0.096s behind teammate Nicholas Latifi. Over at Haas, Pietro Fittipaldi was 20th – with penalty – but did well considering he was helping Kevin Magnussen with tow. He ended up 0.721s behind the Dane in the end.
Here’s how F1 Sakhir GP qualifying panned out
