Oscar Piastri continued his fine run to another F1 pole in Bahrain GP ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc, with Lando Norris outside Top 5.
Q1:
The first part of the F1 Bahrain GP qualifying under the floodlights saw first lap deletion for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who was followed by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, whose teammate Max Verstappen had to pull off as well after going wide in the final corner – prompting an issue on radio.
They had no time set after first run in an unusual situation. There was also a late problem for Ocon, who only ventured out halfway into the session. At the front, McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace with a 1m31.107s lap ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Verstappen.
The Dutchman improved on his only lap as did teammate Tsunoda to make it in. It was late push from Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg which demoted Williams’ Alexander Albon to 16th where he missed Q2 by just the 0.042s margin, as Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson (1m32.165s) was 17th.
The Kiwi was noted about a DRS issue which likely cost him time. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto (1m32.186s) was 18th ahead of Stroll (1m32.283s) and Haas’ Oliver Bearman (1m32.373s) to round out the 20 runners, after mistake from the Brit on his final attempt.
Q2 –
The second part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying was halted in the opening few minutes after Haas’ Esteban Ocon ran over the kerb to loose control at Turn 3 and hit the barrier to bring out the red flag. His car was damaged heavy but he was safe and taken to the medical center for precautionary checks.
The re-start saw nine drivers make it out to set a lap time, while the rest remained in the pits. Verstappen, Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton did venture out but pitted before setting a time. Both the Mercedes cars were noted for failing to follow direction.
They seemingly left the garage before the re-start time was set. At the front, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the pace with a 1m30.454s lap ahead of teammate Norris and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. His teammate Jack Doohan just missed out in 11th, missing Q3 by just the 0.017s after looking good all-through.
Hadjar (1m31.271s) missed out as well in 12th from Hulkenberg, who lost his lap time due to track limits to allow Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (1m31.886s) ended up 13th ahead of Ocon and Hulkenberg, who had no time set against their name.
Q3 –
The final part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying saw Piastri lead the way with a 1m30.233s lap over Mercedes’ George Russell, who managed to pip Norris to slot in second. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth from Tsunoda after lap deletions for both Hamilton and Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
It was not a first good run for Verstappen either, who had a moment at Turn 4 to be only eighth. The final run saw the order change multiple times but it was Piastri on top with a 1m29.841s lap to take F1 pole in Bahrain GP – finishing as the only driver to dip into 1m29s marker.
Russell (1m30.009s) was second from Leclerc (1m30.175s) in the Top 3, as Antonelli (1m30.213s) was up in fourth from Gasly (1m30.216s) in the Top 5. Norris (1m30.267s) was only sixth after a moment at Turn 1-2 sequence with Verstappen (1m30.423s) only managing seventh in the end.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz (1m30.680s) improved late on in eighth to demote Hamilton (1m30.772s) to ninth, while Tsunoda (1m31.303s) was a distant 10th to round out the Top 10.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1911104957668786223
UPDATE: The stewards noted that Hulkenberg exceeded track limits already in Q1. But since the stewards were late in identifying it and he already started his Q2 lap, they eventually decided to delete all of the Q2 laps to drop him to 16th as a result.
He would have dropped to 15th but the stewards decided to put him in 16th, allowing Albon to move up to 15th, who could have made it into Q2 if not for the stewards’ mistake. Here: https://x.com/fia/status/1911125196066484528
In another investigation, both the Mercedes drivers Russell and Antonelli will drop one place each to be third and fifth, allowing Leclerc to be on the front row and Gasly start from fourth. The stewards handed them a grid drip even though the mistake was unintentional.
The debate happened around if there should be a team fine or a sporting penalty. The FIA wanted the latter to set a precedence after Mercedes released their cars in the fastlane taking the estimated re-start time tab rather than actual re-start time.
It was a genuine mistake which was accepted by the team and agreed by the FIA stewards. Here: https://x.com/fia/status/1911137544537800718
