Max Verstappen starts F1 2024 with pole in Bahrain GP qualifying, with Charles Leclerc in second and George Russell third.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying saw the Ferrari and Alpine pair initially get a lap in on the medium compound. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had his lap deleted as he had to go around again on the soft compound but to no avail due to lack of pace.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz set the pace with a 1m29.909s lap from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who improved late on with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rounding the Top 3. The Top 20 were covered by one second in a close field with Gasly just above one second.
Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas was the first to be out in 16th after his 1m30.756s lap from teammate Zhou Guanyu (1m30.757s), with Williams’ Logan Sargeant (1m30.770s) in 18th ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m30.793s) and Gasly (1m30.948s).
Q2:
The second part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying saw track limits in play when Haas’ Kevin Magnussen had his initial one deleted. It was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on top after his 1m29.165s lap from Verstappen (1m29.374s), with Sainz (1m29.573s) rounding the Top 3.
It was a big lap from Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg to make it inside the Top 10 at the expense of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m30.129s), – missing Q3 by just 0.007s margin – who was 12th behind Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m30.200s).
Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m30.221s) was 13th from Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m30.278s), with Magnussen (1m30.529s) rounding the 15 runners, where the Top 11 ended up inside one second margin of Leclerc’s time.
Q3:
The first part in the final part of F1 Bahrain GP qualifying saw Verstappen lead the way with a 1m29.421s lap which was 0.059s quicker than Leclerc, whereas Mercedes’ George Russell was third despite him having a moment at Turn 6 as seen in replays.
Sainz was fourth from McLaren’s Lando Norris, as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ran out of sequence. The Spaniard slotted himself in third ahead of Russell and Sainz in the Top 5, just when the rest of the field started to trip out for its final lap.
The final run saw another improvement from Verstappen to secure pole in F1 Bahrain GP after his 1m29.179s lap ahead of Leclerc (1m29.407s) and Russell (1m29.485s), with the latter coming through with an improvement on his final lap to jump couple of drivers.
Sainz (1m29.507s) improved to fifth from Perez (1m29.537s), with Alonso (1m29.542s) dropping to sixth from Norris (1m29.614s), McLaren’s Oscar Piastri (1m29.683s), Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m29.710s) and Hulkenberg (1m30.502s) in the Top 10.
