Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with a flawless final lap in a tense season on Saturday, defeating defending champion Lewis Hamilton by three-tenths. The Dutchman grabbed the fourth pole position of his career for Red Bull with a convincing performance in his Mercedes to start the front row with seven-time champion Hamilton. Verstappen clocked the best lap in one minute and 28.997 seconds and gave Hamilton a time of 0.338 seconds with Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Charles Lecler was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Ferrari’s Pierre Gasly and fourth for Daniel Ricciardo and McLarens of Lando Norris.
Carlos Sainz was eighth in the second Ferrari ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso, returning to F1 with his Alpine team and Lance Strow, who was 10th for Aston Martin.
Strike’s new teammate four-time champion Sebastian Vettel struggled and qualified in 18th place.
“Of course, we had a great test last week, but there’s no guarantee here,” said a smiling Verstappen.
‘Grand openning’
“The car worked really well and was a pleasant one to drive. It’s a great start.”
Hamilton, who showed a much better pace than the pre-season test, congratulated his opponent.
“She was so fast on that last lap. I gave her everything, but it wasn’t enough.
“There’s always more, but that was the best I could do to get it out of my car.”
Verstappen said he feels confident in the long performance of his car.
“I’m looking forward to the race. I’ve got a good car and hope for a good start. I’ll keep moving forward.”
After a hot day at the Bahrain International Circuit, the track temperature was 35 degrees and the wind was 30 as the flooding session began with George Russell of Williams.
He entered immediately without losing time and Mick Schumacher was left to take the honor, MSC placing the letters at the top of the list for the first time in the process after his father, seven-time champion Michael, retired.
The usual suspects were soon joining Hamilton and then heading to Verstappen, before the Japanese rogue Yuki Tsunoda splits him into his alfoury to take second with an impressive lap.
At the age of 20, Fist Tsunodo was the first driver to be born in the F1 race this century and made an immediate impact.
Encouraged by his opening pace, Hamilton picked up a set of worn tires for his second run, while Verstappen did some damage to his car after the curb.
At the top it remained unchanged, but Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, and the pair of Hyos were a shock among the early starters with Wittel ending in the 18th with Badass Schacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Maranello’s new boy Sainz broke into the P15, but his engine was cut off, as he fell into the pits before he started with the leaders running on the medium.
Hetelton topped the first run with a three-tenth advantage over Verstappen ahead of Bottas, while Sergio Perez and Ricciardo of Red Bull, still keeping pace with their new teams and cars, ran away on the turn for their lap. Lost.
The second runs saw Ferrari run on the soft, sweep the front with Lecler and then Sainz move the fastest, moving through Hamilton, Norris and Bottas.
The Ferrari duo represented the youngest line of Ferrari since 1968 and clearly strengthened the Italian team.
Verstappen secured his place in the top-ten shooting in the seventh, but Perez missed out on finishing 11th. Sunamod passed 13th.
Promoted
The start of Q3 was set by Gasley before he moved up to Hamilton, until Vestrapen hunted him down, beating his time by just 0.023 seconds. Botas Gasli and Sainz were fifth.
Bottas led the train ahead of Hamilton for the final run, but neither could stop Verstappen who delivered a vigorous final flying lap.
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