Ferrari takes the pole and the third starting position for the season’s inaugural race. Red Bull will start second and fourth.
SAKHIR, Bahrain—It has been the talk since the beginning of the testing period–Ferrari’s speed, that is. And on Saturday in Bahrain, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Jr. showed why it is anything but idle talk. Leclerc claimed the pole for Sunday’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix by posting a 1:30:558 fastest time, while teammate Sainz Jr. took third. Defending world champion Max Verstappen placed his Red Bull in between in second.
Charles Leclerc: It feels good. The last years have been incredibly difficult for the team, and we were hoping the new rules would be an opportunity for us. We have worked incredibly hard to be in a position to fight for better places.
Sergio Perez led the best of the rest in the top ten by taking fourth in the second Red Bull, while woes continued at Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton placed fifth and new teammate George Russell will start ninth. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was pleased with his performance. placing eighth, while Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten. Their success shows that the new Ferrari engines are serving their customers well, too.
Perhaps the night’s biggest surprise came when two teams not known for qualifying success–Alfa Romeo and Hass–finished the night well. Valterri Botas (Alfa Romeo), and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) took the sixth and seventh spots, respectively. Esteban Ocon could not advance to the final round, and the Frenchman will start his Alpine just out of the top ten in 11th position.
On the flip side of the performance ledge, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who missed both the final test due to COVID-19, returned healthy but could not get enough practice time on this circuit–not to mention cutting Friday practice short because of a water leak in his McLaren. He will begin Sunday’s race 18th. Partner Lando Norris could not advance to the final round, ending up 13th.
ESPN will televise Sunday’s race starting at 11a Eastern Time.
