The Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying brought up many talking points. Here they are, team-by-team.
Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton third, Valtteri Bottas fourth)
All through qualifying, Mercedes struggled to keep up with the pace of Ferrari with their Q2 fastest time being slower than Ferrari’s fastest time in Q1, and their initial Q3 fastest lap being slower than Ferrari’s fastest lap in Q2. On his final flying lap in Q3, Hamilton didn’t improve on his previous best in any of the three sectors.
Mercedes lock out the second row of the grid.
Lewis Hamilton told Paul di Resta after qualifying, “I really enjoyed qualifying, to see the progression across the weekend. Charles did an incredible job so congratulations to him. We just keep our heads down and see what happens.”
Toto Wolff told Sky Sports’ Karun Chandhok, “It’s what we expected after the free practice sessions. It’s a bit disappointing, because it’s a gap, and we need to find out where it came from.”
Ferrari (Charles Leclerc pole, Sebastian Vettel second)
Came into this qualifying session quickest in all three practice sessions, making the other teams wonder what has happened to make them so quick. Sebastian Vettel is the reigning pole-sitter and holds the record for most pole positions in Bahrain, having been on pole three times before here.
Do you remember that rabbit in the hat that I mentioned in Melbourne? Well, he appeared, albeit appearing a fortnight later than expected – maybe he got the date wrong? Ferrari have been fastest in every single session this weekend, and locked out the front row in qualifying, with Charles Leclerc on pole.
He became the second youngest pole sitter in the process and broke Sebastian Vettel’s track record from last year. All this has led to various conspiracy theories surrounding Ferrari’s sudden resurgence, including one suggesting that Ferrari sandbagged all through the Australian Grand Prix weekend to throw everyone else off the scent.
Leclerc told di Resta, “Extremely happy. Obviously, in the last race, I wasn’t happy, making mistakes in Q3, and tried hard not to do the same here. It’s obviously extremely hard, because Seb is an amazing driver, but I’ve learnt a lot from him and it’s good to beat him.”
Vettel told di Resta, “Maybe I was a bit shy in the second sector [in the first Q3 run]. Charles did an excellent job today and deserves to get pole. The main thing is that we got the job done.”
I feel Marco Binotto’s quote sums it all up: “We can at least say we don’t have the problems we had in Australia.”
Red Bull-Honda (Max Verstappen fifth, Pierr Gasly 13th)
Red Bull struggled on the soft compound during free practice, despite being fairly competitive on the medium compound, meaning that there is still more to be desired from the team from Milton Keynes. Christian Horner told Sky Sports before qualifying that he would be happy to get on the third row given the circumstances.
Verstappen did qualify fifth, but his teammate Pierre Gasly struggled. Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, explained this to Sky Sports’ David Croft and Martin Brundle: “Unfortunately, [we were] just lacking a bit of traction. We seem to be unable to get into the window on the red [soft] tyre. One minute, they’re too hot, then they’re too cold so they’re very sensitive.”
(Image supplied by AMG Petronas Motorsport).
Renault (Daniel Ricciardo 11th, Nico Hulkenberg 17th)
Nico Hulkenberg surprisingly got knocked out in Q1 after another great midfield battle. I suspect we will see these sorts of upsets all through the season as the majority of the field will need to go out in the final few minutes of Q1 and so the track will be very busy.
Hulkenberg will line up 17th on the grid tomorrow. Just to show how close the midfield is, he was only 0.175s slower than his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in Q1. As for Ricciardo’s qualifying session, it was truncated once again in Q2, narrowly missing out on a place in Q3, just as he did in Melbourne. Ricciardo will line up 11th, with free tyre choice, tomorrow.
McLaren (Carlos Sainz seventh, Lando Norris tenth)
Lando Norris’ first run in Q1 was ruined by Romain Grosjean, who Norris nearly ran into the back of coming into the final corner. Carlos Sainz was 0.878s quicker than him after the first run in Q1, so clearly Norris was affected by this incident.
Norris got into Q3 for the second race weekend in a row, and this time he was joined by Sainz – this is a wonderful performance for McLaren, and I am so happy they are back fighting in the midfield.
Williams (George Russell 19th, Robert Kubica 20th)
11 years ago in Bahrain, Kubica secured his only pole. What a difference 11 years makes. This time around, he qualified last. However, there was a crumb of comfort for the Pole as he was just four-tenths of a second away from his teammate who qualified just above him in 19th. Williams was 1.5s slower than Lance Stroll in 18th so had no chance of getting through to Q2.
Another qualifying session to forget for Williams as they continue to be stuck in reverse gear.
George Russell spoke to Sky Sports in the pen: “To be honest, it was a very difficult session for us. We’re not fighting in the mid-pack, but we have to optimise with the package we have. Until we have any upgrades, we will be in the same position. My job is to drive the car as quickly as possible, and direct the team, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Haas (Kevin Magnussen sixth, Romain Grosjean eighth)
Haas had a good qualifying session, which I think is best summed up by Kevin Magnussen: “Better than best of the rest.” Romain Grosjean was summoned to the stewards for blocking Norris in Q1 and, at time of writing, he is likely to receive a grid penalty.
Alfa Romeo (Kimi Raikkonen ninth, Antonio Giovinazzi 16th)
The Alfas struggled a little in Q1, finishing on the bubble, with Kimi Raikkonen ending up on the right side of the elimination zone and Antonio Giovinazzi ending up in it, qualifying in 16th. Raikkonen was eventually able to get into Q3, qualifying ninth, as he did in Melbourne.
Racing Point (Sergio Perez 14th, Lance Stroll 18th), Toro Rosso (Alexander Albon 12th, Daniil Kvyat 15th)
Racing Point and Toro Rosso had relatively uneventful qualifying sessions, apart from Lance Stroll falling foul of the tight midfield battle like Hulkenberg.
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