Leclerc ushers in new F1 era with Bahrain GP pole ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton fifth
Leclerc ushers in new F1 era with Bahrain GP pole ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton fifth
Charles Leclerc ushered in F1's new era by claiming pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of the sport's new champion Max Verstappen.
After all the posturing and phoney war of pre-season testing, this first qualifying was always going to be the time for the 10 teams to truly show their hand, with the added attraction of the new aerodynamic regulations.
And it was a see-saw battle between Ferrari and Verstappen, with Leclerc quickest in Q1; the Dutch driver fastest in Q2, and then Carlos Sainz at the top of the timesheet after the first run in Q3.
At that stage just 0.056s separated Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen, with Sergio Perez just over a quarter-of-a-second in fourth in the second Red Bull.
Come the final run in Q3, it was Leclerc who ultimately held sway with a lap of one minute 30.558s to finish 0.123s clear of Verstappen, who was on pole at this race a year ago.
Sainz went on to give Ferrari a one-three on the grid, with Perez fourth quickest, while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton could only manage fifth fastest, seven-tenths of a second adrift in his Mercedes.
Mercedes still has plenty of work to do to address its porpoising issues despite a step change overnight following a woeful practice on Friday.
Hamilton's former Mercedes team-mate starts a sensational sixth in his Alfa Romeo, a third-of-a-second behind the Briton and ahead of George Russell, the man who has replaced him at Mercedes as he could only qualify ninth.
For Haas, it was another fairytale story, with Kevin Magnussen seventh, giving the team its first Q3 berth for the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Alpine's Fernando Alonso starts eighth, with Pieree Gasly joining Russell on the fifth row of the grid in his AlphaTauri.
Bottas had brilliantly scraped into Q3 by just 0.065s with a late flier to knock Alpine's Esteban Ocon out of Q2, leaving the Frenchman to start 11th ahead of the second Haas of Mick Schumacher, who starts from his best grid slot of 12th.
Behind the German is Lando Norris, suggesting McLaren has a lot of work to do to sort out its issues, in particular, with its brakes as there is only an interim fix on its MCL36s at present.
On his debut with Williams, Alex Albon starts 14th ahead of F1 rookie Guanyu Zhou who had a late lap deleted for exceeding track limits in his Alfa Romeo, albeit one that would only have pushed him ahead of the Thai-British driver.
As with the rest of qualifying that followed, the initial 18-minute outing was fascinating and thrilling in equal measure, culminating in Bottas and Magnussen finishing fourth and fifth quickest, with Russell and Hamilton only ninth and 10th.
At the conclusion, AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh-tenths of a second behind team-mate Gasly who was seventh fastest and will start 16th.
For Nico Hulkenberg, there was no fairytale return but he can at least console himself with the fact that after 17 months of inactivity he managed to out-qualify Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll.
It was a disastrous qualifying for the Silverstone-based team for while Hulkenberg's performance in standing in for the Covid-hit Sebastian Vettel was commendable, Stroll was a dismal 19th, a quarter-of-a-second slower than the German.
Daniel Ricciardo will sandwich the Aston Martin pair on the grid as he also struggled, a consequence of sustaining Covid that forced him to miss the second test, while his car has encountered numerous issues.
At the rear of the grid will be Williams' Nicholas Latifi, the Canadian a staggering nine-tenths of a second behind Albon.
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- 37 minutes ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- 2 hours ago
F1 pundit reveals the thing about Wolff that ANNOYS Horner
- 2 hours ago
Newey exit DATE revealed as Red Bull F1 chief set to leave
- 3 hours ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 legend reveals flood of death threats
- Today 06:27
Audi agree STAR driver contract as Mercedes driver tipped for new F1 seat THIS season - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
Related news
F1 pundit details GLARING Mercedes issue
Wolff admits Mercedes made 'weird' mistakes in Bahrain disasterclass
F1 pundit sends 'boring' warning to top teams
Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2024 results: Final classification with penalties applied
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