Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to claim pole position for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix during a thrilling ending to qualifying on Saturday.
Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz had been on top after the first Q3 runs but the Monegasque lowered the benchmark to a 1:30.558s.
Sainz was unable to improve on his second effort while Verstappen slotted into second, a mere 0.006s ahead of the Spaniard, but 0.123s behind Leclerc.
It marked the tenth pole position of Leclerc’s Formula 1 career.
Sergio Perez slotted into fourth position for Red Bull Racing but was never in the mix for pole position.
Mercedes classified fifth and ninth respectively as its pre-season worries were realised.
Lewis Hamilton salvaged fifth but was seven-tenths behind Leclerc while George Russell had a scruffy session and wound up 1.7s off pole position.
Bottas and Magnussen star
Valtteri Bottas began life in Alfa Romeo in sixth place on the grid, ahead of replacement Russell, and just three-tenths behind Hamilton.
Kevin Magnussen grabbed Haas’ first Q3 since 2019 and went on to take seventh on the grid to underline the improvements made by the team.
Fernando Alonso was eighth for Alpine while Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for AlphaTauri.
Five different teams out in Q2
Five different teams fell in Q2 in an ultra-competitive midfield pack.
Esteban Ocon was 11th for Alpine while Mick Schumacher was unable to replicate Magnussen’s speed but still claimed a credible 12th.
Lando Norris was only 13th as McLaren made a subdued start to the season.
Williams had been slowest during practice but Alexander Albon hauled the FW44 into Q2 and went 14th, ahead of 2022’s sole rookie Zhou Guanyu.
Yuki Tsunoda was 16th for AlphaTauri as he struggled to make up for the running he lost in FP3 due to a hydraulics issue.
Dismal start for Aston Martin, Ricciardo
Aston Martin had a dismal start to the new season as it was the only team to lose both cars at the first hurdle of qualifying.
Stand-in Nico Hulkenberg was 17th while regular racer Lance Stroll was a lacklustre 19th, classifying ahead of only compatriot Nicholas Latifi.
Daniel Ricciardo missed chunks of FP2 due to a water leak, having also been absent from pre-season testing, and he was also eliminated at the first stage of qualifying.
Ricciardo classified only 18th after setting a lap six-tenths down on Norris in Q1.
Sunday’s 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for 18:00 local time
[motorsport_result id='83196']
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