Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen claimed the top spot on the grid for the 2024 season opener in Bahrain, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as his closest competitor.
Key moments:
Verstappen had already secured provisional pole position after his first run in Q3, despite not improving on his Q2 time. This meant that there was still room for improvement on his final push in qualifying.
And indeed, Verstappen managed to lower the benchmark to 1m29.179s, although this was slightly slower than Leclerc’s fastest lap in Q2.
However, Leclerc was unable to match that lap time, with both of his attempts in Q3 ending up in the 1m29.4s range. Nevertheless, these laps were good enough to secure second place on the grid.
Mercedes driver George Russell secured a spot on the second row for the Silver Arrows, while Carlos Sainz ensured that there were two Ferraris in the top four, just a tenth behind Leclerc.
The gap between Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez fluctuated throughout qualifying, but ultimately Perez could only manage fifth place, three and a half tenths behind Verstappen. This was a disappointment considering that Red Bull had secured a 1-2 on the grid for this race last year.
Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin took a different approach in Q3, opting to complete only one flying lap on an empty track during the session. They ended up in sixth place, just 0.005s behind Perez.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri formed the fourth row for McLaren.
It was a disappointing performance for Lewis Hamilton, who had topped the timesheets in Friday’s practice session. He could only manage ninth place in the Mercedes, although he was within a quarter of a second of his teammate Russell.
Nico Hulkenberg surprised many by securing a place in Q3 with the Haas, a team that was expected to struggle at the start of the season. However, Hulkenberg did not use fresh tires in Q2, so he had to settle for 10th place.
Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo, both driving for RB’s VCARB 01, fell short of making it into Q3.
Tsunoda came incredibly close to beating Piastri for the final spot in Q3, missing out by just 0.007s. Tsunoda outperformed his more experienced teammate Ricciardo in every practice session leading up to qualifying.
Lance Stroll from Aston Martin, who was four tenths behind Alonso in Q2, and Alex Albon from Williams filled the gap between 11th-placed Tsunoda and 14th-placed Ricciardo.
Kevin Magnussen managed to improve his time in Q1, avoiding elimination in the first segment of qualifying. However, he was unable to make any further gains in Q2 and ended up nearly seven tenths behind Hulkenberg, completing the Q2 order.
The two Saubers were the quickest drivers to be knocked out in Q1, with Valtteri Bottas narrowly ahead of his teammate Zhou Guanyu.
Zhou had been ahead of Bottas before their final laps, but a mistake in the last corner cost him valuable time. This left Zhou disappointed as he was unable to improve his lap time.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant suffered another defeat to his teammate Alex Albon in qualifying, with a gap of nearly four tenths between them. This result meant that Sargeant was eliminated in Q1.
Despite his disappointment, Sargeant still managed to finish ahead of both Alpines, as the French team’s difficult start to the 2024 season continued. Esteban Ocon could only offer a message of reassurance to his team, stating that it was only the first round. Pierre Gasly, on the other hand, lamented a rushed outlap that contributed to his 20th place finish, a tenth and a half behind Ocon and over a second off the pace set by Sainz in Q1.