Red Bull seemed determined to shake up the order with some rapid pace in testing and fulfilled that promise in the first qualifying session of the year, with Max Verstappen taking a sensational pole position, beating world champion Lewis Hamilton by an impressive 0.388s.
Verstappen stood out as the man to be beaten all weekend in Bahrain, with the Dutchman leading the times in all three training sessions and building his form by improving his performance in each qualifying segment.
He overtook Hamilton by 0.023s after the first few races in Q3, and although Hamilton improved on his second timed lap, chaser Verstappen was also going faster with purple times in all three sectors to come back ahead in consecutive pole positions first time in his career.
Mercedes may have been defeated, but with Valtteri Bottas in third place, it confirmed that the Silver Arrows had big gains in the pre-season tests and are very much in the fight with Red Bull for the spoils, since F1 enjoyed two genuine ones team’s battle for pole position.
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1 Max. Verstappen TO SEE Red Bull Racing |
1: 28,997 |
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two Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
1: 29,385 |
|
3 Valtteri Bottas robot Mercedes |
1: 29,586 |
|
4 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari |
1: 29,678 |
|
5 Pierre Gasly GAS AlphaTauri |
1: 29,809 |
Qualifying highlights: 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc took one of the best laps of his career to get fourth fastest for Ferrari, just a tenth behind Bottas’ Mercedes, suggesting that the Prancing Horse has made impressive progress in the winter after its worst season in four decades.
Pierre Gasly will start in fifth – equaling his best performance in Bahrain – after a brilliant performance throughout qualifying. The AlphaTauri rider is one of only four riders in the top 10 to start the race at middleweight, so he is in a very strong position in terms of strategy for Sunday’s race.
Daniel Ricciardo beat his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to sixth, with Carlos Sainz failing to improve in his second series and finishing in eighth, half a second behind Leclerc. His compatriot Fernando Alonso started racing on his return to F1 with Alpine, after two years away from the sport with ninth place, with Lance Stroll ending the top 10 for Aston Martin.
It was not good news for his new teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who was sent off in the first part of qualifying and will start 18th, while Sergio Perez’s second Red Bull failed to reach Q3, finishing 11th.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
Q1 – Verstappen and Tsunoda star while Vettel is sent off
Max Verstappen started from where he left off, after sweeping the plate in all three free practice sessions, setting a sparkling pace under the lights in Bahrain to lead the times in the opening qualifying segment.
But Yuki Tsunoda undoubtedly stole his thunder with an amazing lap that put him in second fastest, a fraction ahead of world champion Lewis Hamilton in a close session with the top three split by just a tenth of a second.
It was not the best debut for Nikita Mazepin, the Haas rider riding twice – the last one coming in the last seconds of qualifying, which brought the yellow flags on Curve 1 and forced several riders to step back a little.
The most affected were Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel, who lost time there and also when the yellow flags were called by Carlos Sainz, who slowed down to a snail’s pace with an engine problem before he started walking again.
As a result, the two were expelled from qualifying, Ocon finished 16th, with Sainz qualifying 15th, and Vettel a frustrating 18th on his debut at Aston Martin.
Nicholas Latifi also missed the cut, but his Williams teammate George Russell was among the top 10 in his last effort to pass easily. Mick Schumacher comfortably overtook his teammate Haas, Mazepin, to finish 19th.
Eliminated: Ocon, Latifi, Vettel, Schumacher, Mazepin
Q2 – Ferrari runs smoothly to go faster, while Mercedes shows pace
The first three had a familiar appearance after the first races in Q2, with Hamilton leading Verstappen and Bottas, but the timesheet turned upside down as several teams chose to race with softs, while Mercedes, Red Bull and AlphaTauri stayed with the middle ones.
Leclerc was the fastest first, but was soon usurped by Ferrari teammate Sainz by the smallest margin – just 0.001s. They occupied the first two places when the checkered flag fell, with Hamilton holding the third and Norris using the softs for P4.
While Pierre Gasly reached the top 10 of penalties in the middleweight with a phenomenal lap, his new teammate Tsunoda failed to get the rubber to work and was eliminated. He will start in 13th, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Russell.
The real shock, however, was Perez’s early shower, with the Mexican having his first lap excluded because of the limits of the track and then failing to take the performance out of the middle as his teammate Verstappen did.
He will start 11th, best placed with free choice of tires, a position ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi, as Alfa Romeo has confirmed the belief that he is in a much stronger position than at the end of last year.
Knocked out: Perez, Giovinazzi, Tsunoda, Raikkonen, Russell
Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2021: Sergio Perez irritated by second quarter knockout
Q3 – Verstappen and Hamilton wage an epic battle
F1 has been clamoring for a two-team title fight for years – and based on Saturday’s qualifying session, it looks like we might have it in 2021.
Verstappen set the starting pace, but his advantage was only 0.023s over Hamilton. They restarted to go again, with Hamilton out in front of Verstappen, just behind his teammate Bottas to offer him the potential for a trailer.
Hamilton improved and defined purple sectors. But each time he did, Verstappen was better and that gave the Dutchman his fourth pole position in his career, denying Mercedes pole in the opening race for the first time in the hybrid era and creating a mouth-watering showdown in the race. Sunday.
Bahrain GP Qualifier 2021: Max Verstappen beats Mercedes to pole position
The key quote
“We already had a great week of testing and of course there are no guarantees, but then we went back to the race weekend and the whole week so far, I think the car is working very well and it has been very pleasant to drive,” said the mast Max Verstappen.
“With the wind changing a lot with each session, it is not easy to adjust the car, but everything worked perfectly in qualifying, I am very happy with the pole position.”
What is the next?
The Bahrain Grand Prix starts at 6 pm local time, which is 3 pm UTC. Verstappen leads, but does he have a car capable of avoiding an attack on two fronts of Mercedes?