Charles Leclerc claimed his maiden Formula 1 pole position after setting the two quickest laps during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc topped all three stages of the session at the Sakhir International Circuit and laid down an early benchmark in Q3 with a time of 1:27.958.
That effort was identical to Sebastian Vettel’s 2018 pole lap and his team-mate did not run early in Q3 on account of using two sets of tyres to be assured of safe passage into the final shootout, after a scruffy first Q2 push lap.
Vettel thus set only one flying lap in Q3 and his effort left him two-tenths behind Leclerc, who duly improved on his final lap, with the youngster last across the line.
Leclerc’s final time of 1:27.866 – a new track record – ensured he claimed his first pole position in Formula 1, and wound up almost three-tenths clear of Vettel.
Mercedes edged closer to the pole position fight but neither Lewis Hamilton nor Valtteri Bottas were in a realistic position to demote Leclerc.
Hamilton wound up just 0.030s behind Vettel while title leader Bottas was 0.066s back in fourth position.
Red Bull struggled for pace throughout the weekend but Max Verstappen salvaged fifth position, edging Haas’ Kevin Magnussen by just 0.005s, as the Honda-powered team was dragged into the midfield fight.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was the lead McLaren driver in seventh position, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren rookie Lando Norris covered by just 0.028s at the tail end of Q3.
Daniel Ricciardo again failed to make it through to Q3 but faced a deficit of just 0.017s to Raikkonen in Q2, such was the competitive nature of the midfield in that session.
Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon again out-qualified team-mate Daniil Kvyat, with the Anglo-Thai 12th and Kvyat slowest of the 15 Q2 runners.
They sandwiched Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly – who has struggled throughout the weekend on the Soft tyres – and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
It marked another disappointing result for Gasly in the wake of his Q1 exit in Australia.
Antonio Giovinazzi’s subdued weekend continued as he classified only 16th while Nico Hulkenberg was the biggest casualty of Q1 as he dropped out in 17th position.
Hulkenberg had spent most of the weekend towards the front of the midfield group but he’ll line up from row nine on Sunday.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was 18th while Williams occupied its now customary position at the rear of the field.
George Russell again claimed honours between the team-mates but his advantage over Robert Kubica was just 0.040s.
Russell, though, was over 1.5s behind nearest rival Stroll.
Sunday’s 57-lap Grand Prix is scheduled for 18:00 local time
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