Russell beaten by Bottas to pole by just 0.026s as Mercedes lock out Sakhir front row
Russell beaten by Bottas to pole by just 0.026s as Mercedes lock out Sakhir front row
George Russell missed out on pole position for the Sakhir Grand Prix by just 0.026 seconds on his Mercedes qualifying debut to leave polesitter Valtteri Bottas breathing a huge sigh of relief.
The Finn ultimately clinched the 16th pole position of his Formula 1 career, but he was run close by Russell with the Briton standing in for Covid-hit Lewis Hamilton.
Around the lightning-quick outer track of the Bahrain International Circuit, Bottas set a time of 53.377s, leaving 22-year-old Russell beaten in a qualifying session for the first time in his 37-race career.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who held provisional pole midway through Q3, was undone by the fact Mercedes strapped fresh sets of soft tyres on Bottas' and Russell's car for the final run, which ultimately paid dividends.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc produced a stunning lap, although was partly aided by a tow behind Verstappen, and will start fourth ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez.
In a qualifying full of shocks, AlphaTauri's Daniil Kvyat lines up sixth, followed by the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Carlos Sainz.
The second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly lines up ninth, with Lance Stroll in his Racing Point 10th, with the Canadian just over eight-tenths down on Bottas.
Renault's Esteban Ocon will line up 11th, with a surprise alongside him in Alex Albon in his Red Bull at a time when the Thai-British driver is trying to secure his future for 2021.
The team had earlier gambled with Albon's time in Q1 as he was sat in his car in the closing stages, leading to him scraping through by 0.085s.
Come Q2, Albon failed to hook up his car and finished a third-of-a-second adrift of Verstappen at the end of the session after the Dutch driver had posted the leading time, leading to team principal Christian Horner shaking his head on the pitwall.
Sebastian Vettel, whose crew executed what was described as a "precautionary" power unit change in between the final practice session and the start of qualifying, starts 13th, finishing 0.350s adrift of Leclerc in Q2
Antonio Giovinazzi, who finished four-tenths faster than Alfa Romeo team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in Q1, will start 14th ahead of another shock driver to exit Q2 in McLaren's Lando Norris.
After aborting his first lap, Norris then claimed over the radio he "went too soon" in starting his second to leave him languishing in 15th on the grid ahead of Haas' Kevin Magnussen, who came within a tenth of knocking out Albon.
For the first time in his F1 career, Nicholas Latifi out-qualified a Williams team-mate - after competing against Russell for the previous 15 races in his rookie campaign - as he finished just 0.096s ahead of Russell stand-in Jack Aitken in his first qualifying
Aitken will likely be kicking himself as he was ahead of Latifi after the first two runs, and should have finished ahead after the third only to veer wide at the final corner.
Raikkonen starts a poor 19th considering the performance of Giovinazzi, with the most experienced driver on the grid lining up alongside a driver making his debut in Pietro Fittipaldi.
The Brazilian, on his debut with Haas as a replacement for Romain Grosjean in the wake of the Frenchman's fiery crash in Sunday's Bahrain GP, was due to start at the back of the grid anyway after taking a power unit penalty.
Fittipaldi ultimately finished nearly half-a-second adrift of 41-year-old Raikkonen.
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 star PENALISED following controversial Chinese GP incident
- 30 minutes ago
F1 Qualifying Results: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 times - 100th Red Bull pole as Hamilton crashes out in Q1
- 1 hour ago
Hamilton suffers CATASTROPHIC F1 qualifying after early exit
- 1 hour ago
Chinese Grand Prix qualifying red flagged after unusual HIGH SPEED crash
- 1 hour ago
F1 Chinese Grand Prix weather forecast - latest today from Shanghai
- 2 hours ago
Chinese Grand Prix Sprint 2024 results: Final classification with penalties applied
- 2 hours ago
Related news
F1 reveals viewing figure drop for European based 2020 season
Pirelli boss hails "miracle" despite "nightmare" 2020
Survival the only positive for Haas from dismal 2020 - Steiner
Ricciardo reveals internal pressure for podiums during time with Renault
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860