#F1 #BahrainGP Qualifying Report: @Max33Verstappen claims 33rd-career pole.

Verstappen Bahrain GP Pole – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen edged Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.228 seconds to claim his 33^rd-pole position in qualifying for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain GP as Mercedes’ George Russell clinched third.

This pole position for Verstappen means he equals the legendary four-time world champion Alain Prost and two-time world champion Jim Clark to fifth on the all-time pole-sitters list.

In Q3, Verstappen grabbed provisional pole on the initial flyers posting a 1:29.421 and was 0.059 seconds quicker than Leclerc as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was a further 0.121 seconds adrift of the reigning world champion’s benchmark.

In the final flying laps, Verstappen set a purple sector one and two personal bests in sector’s two and three to set the pole time of a 1:29.679. Leclerc posted three personal bests to end up 0.228 seconds off the Dutchman whilst Russell was a further 0.306 off the Red Bull driver to take the second row of the grid.

The second Ferrari SF-24 entry of Carlos Sainz placed fourth and ahead of the other Red Bull RB20 of Sergio Perez who completed the top five.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso only completed one flying lap in the final qualifying stage to wound up 0.363 seconds off in sixth and in-front of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who qualified seventh and eighth respectively.

Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Leclerc, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda missed out on a Q3 appearance by a very narrow 0.007 seconds to wound up 11^th on the grid and starts the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 12^th and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who ended up 13^th.

The second Visa Cash App Racing Bull VCARB01 entry of Daniel Ricciardo who placed 14^th and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Sainz, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 17^th and ahead of team-mate Zhou Guanyu who qualified 17^th.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant placed 18^th as the Alpine pairing of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1229/bahrain/qualifying.html

2024 Bahrain GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2024 Bahrain GP Pole – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, 1:29.179:

“It was a lot of fun actually, the track had a lot of grip but with the wind, it’s been tricky to get the whole lap together. Q3 was difficult, but happy to be on pole. To be honest it was a little unexpected but in qualifying the car came to us. We needed to fine-tune some things on the car to get the perfect balance and made another step in qualifying. The race is going to be close as well, we’ll see tomorrow – I’m confident.”

2^nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24, +0.228:

“I’m a bit disappointed, we did a good qualifying, but it’s been tricky until now. We are in a better place than a year ago. In Q2 I think I did more or less the lap time that Max did in Q3, it was in the car, but I think we lost a bit of rhythm in Q3 on the used tyres. I’m confident we did a step forward [in race trim] but we really think Red Bull are still ahead by quite a bit in the race.”

3^rd Place – George Russell, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W15 E Performance, +0.306:

“Everyone at the factory has done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car that we can build from. But Max is still out there in front. But for us, starting P3 is a great place. Huge amount of work – Lewis and I have been back on the simulator all week, we hope we haven’t compromised the race pace.”

#F1 #BahrainGP FP3 Report: @Carlossainz55 pips @alo_oficial to top time-sheets by 0.141s.

#F1 #BahrainGP FP2 Report: @LewisHamilton heads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two.

#F1 #BahrainGP FP1: @danielricciardo pips @LandoNorris by 0.032s.

#F1 Gulf Air #BahrainGP and 2024 Season Preview. #Formula1 #F1sBack