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Autosport

Sport

F1 Bahrain GP: Verstappen beats Leclerc to first pole of 2024

Mercedes Red Bull Ferrari George Russell N Hulkenberg Charles Leclerc C Leclerc L Hamilton M Verstappen Red Bull Racing

The reigning champion had taken a back seat during the opening two stages of qualifying but, when it came down to Q3, he set a demanding benchmark of a 1m29.421s - and then beat his own effort amid the final runs to settle on a 1m29.179s.

This was slower than Leclerc's time from Q2, but the Monegasque was unable to replicate that effort in the final runs of the Q3 session, and could only manage a 1m29.407s as Verstappen claimed the best first sector time by two tenths.

George Russell overcame a brief scare in Q2, where he straddled the elimination zone, to find form in Q3 and worked his way up to third on the grid with a 1m29.485s.

Although Russell was placed under investigation for exceeding the maximum delta time in Q1, no further action was taken and he should hence retain his position on the second row in Saturday's race.

This put him ahead of Sainz, as the Spaniard looked rapid in Q1 but was unable to retain a similar advantage over his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc. Regardless, he will start ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, as the Mexican moved up to fifth late on in the Q3 session.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Fernando Alonso will start the Bahrain GP from sixth, having only completed one lap in Q3 after electing to run in the gap. This lap put him third among the initial runs, but he fell back as the majority of the top 10 improved in their second efforts.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the fourth row for McLaren, ahead of Lewis Hamilton who was unable to deliver on the pace he'd shown earlier in the weekend and looked out of sorts compared to team-mate Russell. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10, although could not replicate or improve upon the time he had set in Q2.

Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll were dumped 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.

With minor gaps between the drivers either side of the progression line, the end of Q2 played host to a series of improvements as the timing board resembled a slot machine in the latter stages.

Although the likes of Tsunoda, Stroll, and Alex Albon all had moments within the top 10, further improvements - including Leclerc's ride to the top of the order and Hulkenberg's journey into sixth - shuffled them down the order.

Russell had slid into the drop zone alongside Hamilton, but the younger Briton captured sixth and the elder foisted his way up to fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo dropped out behind Albon, as Kevin Magnussen could not join his Haas team-mate Hulkenberg into the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01 (Photo by: Erik Junius)

Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu had both hauled their Saubers out of the Q1 drop zone after their second runs, but soon drifted back into the bottom five when other drivers on the cusp of elimination had improved.

This also cost Logan Sargeant who had been 12th after the initial runs, but the American could not improve on his final tour and fell to 18th.

Alpine continued to endure the early woes forecast after testing, with both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly rooted to the bottom of the timesheets throughout the session - with Gasly the only driver outside of a second's gap to Carlos Sainz's Q1 headline time.

F1 Bahrain GP - Qualifying results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	6	1'29.179		218.472
2	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	6	+0.228 1'29.407	0.228	217.915
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	6	+0.306 1'29.485	0.078	217.725
4	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	6	+0.328 1'29.507	0.022	217.672
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	6	+0.358 1'29.537	0.030	217.599
6	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	3	+0.363 1'29.542	0.005	217.587
7	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	6	+0.435 1'29.614	0.072	217.412
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	6	+0.504 1'29.683	0.069	217.245
9	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	6	+0.531 1'29.710	0.027	217.179
10	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	6	+1.323 1'30.502	0.792	215.279
View full results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	6	1'29.165		218.507
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	5	+0.209 1'29.374	0.209	217.996
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	6	+0.408 1'29.573	0.199	217.511
4	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	6	+0.553 1'29.718	0.145	217.160
5	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	6	+0.636 1'29.801	0.083	216.959
6	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	6	+0.686 1'29.851	0.050	216.838
7	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	6	+0.757 1'29.922	0.071	216.667
8	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	5	+0.767 1'29.932	0.010	216.643
9	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	5	+0.776 1'29.941	0.009	216.622
10	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	6	+0.957 1'30.122	0.181	216.186
11	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	6	+0.964 1'30.129	0.007	216.170
12	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	6	+1.035 1'30.200	0.071	216.000
13	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	6	+1.056 1'30.221	0.021	215.949
14	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	6	+1.113 1'30.278	0.057	215.813
15	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	6	+1.364 1'30.529	0.251	215.215
View full results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	6	1'29.909		216.699
2	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	6	+0.056 1'29.965	0.056	216.564
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	6	+0.122 1'30.031	0.066	216.405
4	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	4	+0.234 1'30.143	0.112	216.136
5	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	5	+0.270 1'30.179	0.036	216.050
6	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	6	+0.312 1'30.221	0.042	215.949
7	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	7	+0.334 1'30.243	0.022	215.897
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	5	+0.441 1'30.350	0.107	215.641
9	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	6	+0.488 1'30.397	0.047	215.529
10	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	6	+0.542 1'30.451	0.054	215.400
11	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	6	+0.572 1'30.481	0.030	215.329
12	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	6	+0.622 1'30.531	0.050	215.210
13	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	6	+0.653 1'30.562	0.031	215.136
14	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	6	+0.657 1'30.566	0.004	215.127
15	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	6	+0.737 1'30.646	0.080	214.937
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	6	+0.847 1'30.756	0.110	214.676
17	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	6	+0.848 1'30.757	0.001	214.674
18	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	6	+0.861 1'30.770	0.013	214.643
19	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	9	+0.884 1'30.793	0.023	214.589
20	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	9	+1.039 1'30.948	0.155	214.223
View full results