Report: Verstappen secures 33rd career pole ahead of Bahrain GP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has stormed his way to his 33rd career pole position ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix despite not leading any practice session in the race weekend.

Q1

When the light turned green, to signal the start of Q1, the Ferrari and Alpine duo’s were the first out on track albeit on the medium tyres. 

After the four drivers put in the lap times, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first to suffer a lap-time deletion as the Frenchman exceeded track limits at turn 13. 

With five minutes left on the clock, Carlos Sainz topped the timing boards 0.122 seconds ahead of Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris who occupied second and third respectively.

As the rest of the field peeled out onto the circuit, only Sainz remained in his respective garage after he secured the fastest lap time of Q1.

Eliminated: 

20th – Pierre Gasly, Alpine

19th – Esteban Ocon, Alpine

18th – Logan Sargeant, Williams

17th – Zhou Guanyu, Sauber

16th – Valtteri Bottas, Sauber

Q2 

Unlike Q1, the drivers were not in a hurry to head out onto the Bahrain circuit. After the opening minute, both Haas’ – led by Nico Hulkenberg – were the first drivers out on track ahead of the rest of the field. 

It wasn’t long before the banker laps were completed and Red Bull’s Verstappen and Sergio Perez occupied the top two positions, respectively, ahead of Norris. 

The top three drivers were the only ones to squeeze their cars into the 1m 29s whereas everyone below, Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc remained in the 1m 30s. 

On the final laps, it looked as if Mercedes was at threat of being knocked out of qualifying but both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were able to improve and escape elimination. Hamilton finished Q2 in fourth whereas Russell finished seventh. 

Eliminated: 

15th – Kevin Magnussen, Haas

14th – Daniel Ricciardo, RB

13th – Alexander Albon, Williams

12th – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

11th – Yuki Tsunoda, RB

Q3

The whole field quickly peeled out of the pit lane at the start of Q3, led by Hulkenberg, when the lights switched from red to green. 

When the banker laps were secured, Verstappen topped the timing boards ahead of Leclerc and Russell who occupied second and third. Sainz sat in fourth alongside Norris and Perez in fifth and sixth. 

Hamilton stood seventh ahead of Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who rounded out the 10 remaining drivers. 

However, Alonso was yet to set a lap time – in 10th – and ventured out when everyone peeled back into the pits. In his one-lap shootout, the two-time world champion could only manage third, provisionally but this was soon beaten.

Despite the driver’s attempts to knock Verstappen off his perch, at the top of the order, the Dutchman was impenetrable and he secured his 33rd career pole position. Leclerc and Russell rounded out the top three.  

Top 10:

10th – Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

9th – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

8th – Oscar Piastri, McLaren

7th – Lando Norris, McLaren

6th – Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

5th – Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4th – Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

3rd – George Russell, Mercedes

2nd – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

1st – Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s all for the article; Report: Verstappen secures 33rd career pole ahead of Bahrain GP!

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