#BahrainGP Qualifying Report: @Max33Verstappen beats @LewisHamilton to pole. #F1
Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Qualifying, Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021, Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Bahrain GP pole. Verstappen Bahrain GP Qualifying. 2022 Bahrain GP Preview.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed pole position in an entertaining qualifying session for the Bahrain GP, the first race weekend of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season.
Beginning with Q3 – The top 10 shootout for the first pole position of the season saw Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the early benchmark, posting a 1:29.549, but Verstappen then set a 1:29.526 to beat the reigning champion by 0.023 seconds. Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was best of the rest after the initial stints, by almost half a second.
On the second flyers on the fresh sets of C4 softs, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas posted a 1:29.586 before team-mate Hamilton’s effort of a 1:29.985 briefly snatched provisional pole, but then it was Verstappen who set a sensational lap to take the first pole position of the season with a 1:28.997 by 0.388 seconds.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified in fourth place, in-front of Gasly, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris sixth and seventh respectively.
The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was eighth, ahead of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso who was ninth and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who completed the top ten.
Q2 saw the majority of the leaders run at first on the C3 yellow-marked mediums – as each car will start on the compound used this session.
On the initial hot-laps, Bottas posted a 1:30.559, which was then beaten by Verstappen’s effort of a 1:30.318 and then Hamilton who did a 1:30.085. Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez was fourth fastest but the Mexican had his lap-time invalidated for exceeding track limits at turn four – and had to run again, but did so on the medium rubber.
Rivals put on the faster C4 softs, and Leclerc moved to the top with a 1:30.010, before Ferrari team-mate Sainz eclipsed the Monegasque-youngster for a Scuderia one-two. Hamilton remained third, in-front of McLaren’s Norris and Bottas. Verstappen, who believed that he damaged the floor of his RB16B over the kerbs in Q1, dropped to seventh.
Drivers who were eliminated at this moment were Perez, who failed to make it through on the medium rubber, was 11th, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi 12th, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda 13th (who also took a chance on mediums after a solid Q1 performance), Kimi Raikkonen who took 14th in the other Alfa Romeo and Williams Racing’s George Russell 15th.
In the first segment, when all 20 runners were on track together, Bottas set the early benchmark with a 1:31.200, but was instantly beaten by Mercedes team-mate Hamilton on a 1:30.617.
That however, was quickly disposed of by Verstappen, who posted a 1:30.499 that remained the quickest of the session, whilst AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda then jumped into second, just 0.108 adrift of the Dutchman, with Ferrari’s Leclerc taking fourth on the time-sheets on his second flying lap.
Those who were eliminated in the first qualifying stage were, Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon 16th, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi 17th, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel 18th with Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin bringing up the rear.
Mazepin spun at turn one, which brought out the yellow flags and disrupted Ocon and Vettel’s efforts in particular.
Ferrari’s Sainz, also stopped on track, causing another yellow flag, as his SF21 racer lost power when he ran over the second corner kerbs – with the race stewards noting that all times set under the yellow flag conditions would be checked after the session.
Following the review of the laps from Ocon, Stroll, Vettel and Russell, the stewards decided that no further action was required.
The Top Three
Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:
“It’s a great feeling to be on pole and I haven’t experienced a season start like this. After the victory in Abu Dhabi the whole Team has been pushing really hard and even more motivated. There is still no guarantee for the rest of the year but everyone here and back at the factory have done a great job to give me a car like this and they should be very proud. Honda have also been working very hard this winter, just like every year. They are flat out all of the time and like us they just want to win. It is really enjoyable working with them and they are very passionate which I like, so a big credit to Honda for the result today as they have had a great winter.
2nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12:
“Max did a great lap, nearly 0.4 is a big gap so we have some work to do! The car was feeling good in Q1 and Q2, we took until the last minute trying to find the right set-up and it felt sweet. Just at the end I couldn’t get any more from it but still, it was exciting. I’m immensely proud of everyone. We’ve worked very hard over the last week to try and understand the package that we have. We made some steps forward but we couldn’t compete with that last lap Max did. P2 puts us in a position to cause Red Bull trouble tomorrow.”
3rd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12:
“Today was a lot better than testing. Throughout qualifying I was feeling more and more comfortable. At least we are closer to Red Bull than we were in testing. We have two cars to battle against one Red Bull tomorrow. I had to use two sets of tyres in Q1 so I only had one new set for Q3 which put me at a disadvantage. But starting from third at this track isn’t bad so I’m looking forward to it. Red Bull seem to have more stability, particularly in the wind. We have two cars in the top three so we can definitely still fight for the win.”
Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 Qualifying Results Classification
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:30.499 | 1:30.318 | 1:28.997 | |
| 2 | 1:30.617 | 1:30.085 | 1:29.385 | |
| 3 | 1:31.200 | 1:30.186 | 1:29.586 | |
| 4 | 1:30.691 | 1:30.010 | 1:29.678 | |
| 5 | 1:30.848 | 1:30.513 | 1:29.809 | |
| 6 | 1:30.795 | 1:30.222 | 1:29.927 | |
| 7 | 1:30.902 | 1:30.099 | 1:29.974 | |
| 8 | 1:31.653 | 1:30.009 | 1:30.215 | |
| 9 | 1:30.863 | 1:30.595 | 1:30.249 | |
| 10 | 1:31.261 | 1:30.624 | 1:30.601 | |
| 11 | 1:31.165 | 1:30.659 | ||
| 12 | 1:30.998 | 1:30.708 | ||
| 13 | 1:30.607 | 1:31.203 | ||
| 14 | 1:31.547 | 1:31.238 | ||
| 15 | 1:31.316 | 1:33.430 | ||
| 16 | 1:31.724 | |||
| 17 | 1:31.936 | |||
| 18 | 1:32.056 | |||
| 19 | 1:32.449 | |||
| 20 | 1:33.273 |
Q1 107% time – 1:36.833
In the earlier Free Practice 3 session, it was Verstappen taking top spot once more ahead of Hamilton who was second, Gasly third, Bottas fourth and Perez rounding out the top five.
You can catch up on Qualifying and Free Practice 3 highlights at the following links:
Qualifying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOc1PLiabZI
Free Practice 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVwXWcbkaY
#BahrainGP FP2 Report: @Max33Verstappen pips @LandoNorris to P1. #F1
@RedBullRacing’s @Max33Verstappen tops #BahrainGP FP1 session. #F1
