Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has beaten Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pole position in a thrilling qualifying session at the start of the new Formula One era.
After a difficult session, Leclerc put it all together for his final round and beat the world champion at the Bahrain Grand Prix by 0.123 seconds.
Carlos Sainz was previously the faster Ferrari driver, but dropped to third, just 0.129 seconds from the pole.
Lewis Hamilton became 5th for Mercedes behind Red Bull Sergio Perez.
Hamilton was 0.680 seconds off the pole as Mercedes proved their pre-event predictions that they were not yet up to speed.
His new team-mate George Russell was ninth after making a mistake at Turn One in his only round in the last qualifying session.
Russell was beaten by his Mercedes predecessor Valtteri Bottas, an impressive sixth in his first race for the Alfa Romeo team, ahead of equally impressive Kevin Magnussen on his return to F1 with the Haas team after a year away.
Fernando Alonso of the Alps was eighth ahead of Russell, with Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri taking last place in the top 10.
Ferrari are doing well in the bold new world of F1
This is the first race after the biggest regulatory change in 40 years, in which cars were fundamentally overhauled in an attempt to close the field and make racing more competitive.
Ferrari went through a difficult two or three seasons and had targeted this year as an opportunity to return to the front of F1, so Leclerc was thrilled to see that the effort made paid off.
“It feels good,” he said. “The last few years have been incredibly difficult for the team and we were hoping that these new rules would be an opportunity for us and we have worked incredibly hard to fight in the position for better places.”
Leclerc was the faster Ferrari driver all weekend, but struggled in qualifying, losing time to a resurgent Sainz, especially in the one-lap section of the Sakhir circuit because he could not keep up with the temperature of the front tires. generate there.
He improved over the first four corners on his last lap, although he still left Verstappen and Sainz behind, but the rest of his lap did the trick for him – he was fastest through both sectors two and three as he all of which has brought renowned qualifying skills to the forefront.
“It was a difficult session,” he said. “I was not very happy with my ride, but we managed to put it together at the end and take the pole.
“We were pretty sure the Red Bull was ahead, but in fact when we put it all together, the car was very competitive.”
Verstappen has looked so strong throughout much of the session and seems to feel that he and Red Bull have fallen a little short of their ultimate potential.
“It was a bit of a hit-and-miss,” the Dutchman said. “Q2 looked good, then Q3 did a little bit of trying to strike a balance. But we have a good car – also a good race car, which is the most important thing at the end of the day. A good start to the new era.
“We have a few things to look forward to and we’re trying to make it better next time. A good fight with Charles and Carlos in the end. They did a great job over the winter.”
Sainz was just happy to be so close to the front after leaving Leclerc behind through practice.
“It was Charles’ extra tenth that he managed to extract at the end, but I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made,” said the Spaniard.
“I was very far away all weekend, more than 0.5 seconds, so to fight for the pole I was very happy. It’s a bit of a shame to miss. But Charles was ahead all weekend and he had the. Pole deserves a position. “
Perez was 0.363 seconds before stepping in and was never quite in the fight for the pole.
What happened to Mercedes?
Mercedes came to the weekend knowing that they were behind because they were struggling with testing.
Her car suffered aerodynamic problems that made it go in the direction – a problem with many teams, but none worse than Mercedes.
They managed to improve the car over the weekend, but Hamilton’s large margin on the poles is an unknown feeling for the seven-time champion and indicative of the magnitude of the task his team is facing as they try their best. Improve car in the upcoming races.
Russell ended up being a second slower than his teammate, and suffered for his mistake on his final lap because Mercedes only saved four sets of soft tires for qualifying, meaning only one new set in the last session, because they wanted to reserve more sets the more durable connections for the race.
The margin between the Ferraris and Red Bulls and the rest of the field is not so different from that between the front and midfield last year – Bottas in sixth place was a second off-pole position.
Lando Norris was a disappointing 13th for McLaren as the team battled in that first race, while his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out in the first session and will stand in 18th place.
And perhaps the most disappointing team is Aston Martin, whose drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll were both eliminated in the first session and probably have the slowest car.
Hulkenberg did a good job as a replacement for regular pilot Sebastian Vettel, who missed the race with Covid to beat the stroll by 0.2 seconds.
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