#BahrainGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen claims pole position. #F1

Verstappen Bahrain GP Pole – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen claimed his 21^st career pole position in qualifying at the Bahrain GP ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez who was second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who completed the top three.

The other Ferrari SF-23 entry of Carlos Sainz qualified in fourth place in-front of fellow Spanish-compatriot Fernando Alonso who was fifth for Aston Martin – who ran only one hot-lap due to having one set less of the C3 red side-walled compounds compared to the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers.

In Q3, Verstappen held provisional pole on the initial flyers with a purple sector one and three setting a 1:29.897 and was 0.103 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Leclerc with his Red Bull team-mate Perez a further 0.234 adrift in third.

Leclerc however, was seen climbing out from his SF-23 racer and was demoted down to third following Perez’s improvement.

Verstappen has already gone even faster on his final flying lap to post a 1:29.708, which meant the Dutchman ended up clear of team-mate Perez by 0.138 and Leclerc by 0.292 seconds.

Sainz was able to complete a final hot-lap and set a personal best effort, but ended up fourth behind his Ferrari team-mate.

Then followed Alonso and Mercedes’ George Russell, who lead his team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton in sixth and seventh places respectively, with both running just a single lap in the last segment.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll did the same, running shortly after team-mate Alonso and finished eighth on the grid whilst competing with a broken wrist.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon placed ninth in the classification in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg, who marked his first time back in qualifying in Formula 1 as a full-timer since 2019 by making Q3 where he lost a lap-time due to exceeding track limits at turn four but posted an even quicker time to take 10^th.

In the middle qualifying stage, which was topped by Leclerc, McLaren’s Lando Norris just missed out on a Q3 appearance after a late improvement by Stroll and the Briton will start 11^th on the grid.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake pairing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu qualified in 12^th and 13^th respectively as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

Albon was unable to improve on his final lap for Williams, which was set offset from his fellow competitors and with four minutes left of Q2.

Running by himself, Albon ended up aborting the lap after appearing to understeer off and beyond the heavily watched turn four track limit, after which the Thai-Briton driver also went off cutting behind the fast left-hand turn seven and returned to the pits still in 15^th.

In the first segment, which was topped by Sainz, Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was 17^th and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who took 18^th.

AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly brought up the rear with the latter having his effort being invalidated for exceeding track limits, but was eliminated anyway from originally being 17^th.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1141/bahrain/qualifying.html

2023 Bahrain GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2023 Bahrain GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB19, 1:29.708:

“It’s been a bit of a tough start to the weekend, not really finding my rhythm. Very happy to be on pole, having such a strong car with Checo up there as well, it’s amazing and I’m looking forward to tomorrow as well.”

2^nd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB19, +0.138:

“It has been really tight qualifying; I don’t remember such a tight qualifying battle. You cannot leave anything on the table. I wasn’t totally comfortable with the balance, but to get this start for the team is really special.”

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-23, +0.292:

“No, there was no issue, I think we were in the fight for pole which was good. But in the race run we were a little bit behind Red Bull so starting third on new tyres is better than starting first with old tyres. In the race run we seem to have a bit of a weakness, so having a new tyre will help us.”

In the earlier FP3 session it was Aston Martin’s Alonso quickest by a very narrow 0.005 seconds over reigning world champion Verstappen who was second for Red Bull and Perez who completed the top three in the other RB19 entry. Mercedes’ Hamilton placed fourth and Ferrari’s Leclerc rounded out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1141/bahrain/practice-3.html