Max Verstappen Tops Qualifying for Season-Opening F1 Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Verstappen began his quest for a fourth successive Formula 1 title with pole position during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.

Preseason testing indicated that Verstappen and the overhauled Red Bull Racing RB20 were the class of the field, but Verstappen went through the three practice hours in Bahrain without topping a session.

The season-opening event has so far been overshadowed by the fallout into the investigation over Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s conduct. Red Bull dismissed the grievance against Horner on Wednesday, with the 50-year-old team boss retaining his role, but alleged messages were leaked to the media on Thursday, as the pot continued to be stirred.

Finally on Friday evening there was a competitive session at hand and at a floodlit and uncharacteristically chilly Sakhir Circuit the World Champion laid down a marker early in the top 10 shootout.

Verstappen went on to set a time of 1 minute, 29.179 seconds to finish two-tenths of a second faster than Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

“I think it was just a very tight qualifying,” said Verstappen. “I think it was just also very tricky conditions with the wind this whole weekend. Just if you can get the lap together immediately, you can find one, one and a half tenths in a corner, and I think it just, yeah, it was good for us in Q2, Q3, especially Q3 I would say, it improved a little bit more. But yeah, it was I think throughout the whole of qualifying, you could see the gaps were super close, and I think you never really knew who was going to be on pole heading into Q3. So I think that was very exciting to see.”

Leclerc was buoyed by his feeling that Ferrari “is closer than what it looks on the timesheets” and revealed that “we were expecting Red Bull to have a bit more margin than what there was today.”

But, Leclerc, conceded, “the biggest question mark is obviously tomorrow in the race. I’m pretty sure they (Red Bull) have a bit more margin than what we’ve seen today. But again, let’s wait and see.”

George Russell was third-fastest for Mercedes, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, while Sergio Perez was unable to replicate the pace of team-mate Verstappen and languished in fifth spot, conceding he messed up at Turn 1.

An elated Fernando Alonso put Aston Martin sixth, a result he described as “a massive surprise,” with McLaren’s Lando Norris seventh, as the chasing pack behind Red Bull Racing was closely matched.

Just 0.207 second covered second-placed Leclerc and seventh-placed Norris, with four different teams in the mix, indicating another close battle—at least behind Verstappen.

“I think the race is going to be really close with Charles, the Ferraris, with Checo (Perez) tomorrow,” said Russell. “And we can see what we can do about Max, but right now, he’s doing an incredible job.”

Russell quipped that he and Mercedes expect Verstappen to have a half-second a lap advantage in the race and the champ interjected that “I think that’s way too big.”

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had a subdued session and was only ninth as he revealed that he “changed the car [set-up] to hopefully make the race pace better” at the cost of one-lap performance.

Hamilton described the W15 as “a real big improvement” compared to its predecessor and labelled Russell being only three-tenths off Verstappen as “incredible.”

There was something to cheer for down at Haas, as Nico Hulkenberg put the VF-24 into tenth position on the grid.

Haas has spent most of its pre-season campaign striving to resolve the tire issues which plagued its 2023 races and Saturday’s 57-lap encounter will be the first true test of the team’s off-season work.

“Obviously tomorrow will be the real hard test for that but I think we feel in a better place than last year,” said Hulkenberg. “The car feels better also than any other point last year during long runs and race simulations so that makes me somewhat optimistic but I think there's still more room for improvement.”

The second half of the grid was, as anticipated, largely filled with the likes of RB, Williams and Sauber. American Logan Sargeant will begin his sophomore season from 18th on the grid.

They were joined by Alpine, which had a truly awful start to the new campaign.

Alpine had been braced for a slow first chapter to 2024, amid an overhauled car concept, but its drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were the slowest of the 20 participants.

“We don’t like the situation as a whole, we are in this situation, I am in this situation, no-one likes to be at the back, we are all competitors in this team,” said Ocon. “It’s very important to be united, keep the chin up and move forward, this team some years ago they created a winning car and those ideas were made in the same places as today, Viry and Enstone, we can be repeating all these things and I trust the team to be making a step forward.

F1 Qualifying Results

Bahrain

1, Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

3, George Russell, Mercedes

4, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

5, Sergio Perez, Red Bull

6, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

7, Lando Norris, McLaren

8, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

9, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

10, Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

11, Yuki Tsunoda, RB

12, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

13, Alexander Albon, Williams

14, Daniel Ricciardo, RB

15, Kevin Magnussen, Haas

16, Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber

17, Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber

18, Logan Sargeant, Williams

19, Esteban Ocon, Alpine

20, Pierre Gasly, Alpine