It was the perfect start to Max Verstappen’s 2023 campaign as he took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez by 0.138s.
Behind is an all-Ferrari second row, with Leclerc managing to grab P3 despite not doing a second run to save a set of fresh softs for the race. The SF-23 looked more competitive than it had appeared all weekend and if the Monegasque did another lap, he’d of had a genuine chance at pole.
Fernando Alonso’s practice topping pace rendered a fifth place, over half a second off the pole sitter although he had a single fresh set for Q3 and so only did one run.
As expected, Mercedes lacked the overall one lap pace to challenge for the front two rows; Russell outqualified Hamilton marginally, only missing out on fifth by 0.004s – as he ran a higher downforce rear wing on the W14.
The injured Lance Stroll ended up 0.5s off his teammate and beat Ocon to eighth by just over a tenth as Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10, not having a lap in the final session due to his time being deleted for exceeding track limits.
Lando Norris put in a stunning performance to qualify 11th in a McLaren that is clearly off the pace, while his teammate will start his debut Grand Prix from the back row of the grid, ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Nyck De Vries.
The Briton was nearly knocked out in Q1 as he had an identical time to William’s driver Logan Sargeant. Luckily, he completed his lap before the American rookie who impressed in his first ever Qualifying and will line up 16th, just behind his teammate Alex Albon.
The Thai driver did well to put his car into Q2 but didn’t set a lap in the second session due to receiving front wing damage and will line up behind Yuki Tsunoda and the Alfa Romeo pair of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas who were separated by 0.03s.
Pierre Gasly was the shock exit from Q1 in his first weekend for Alpine. A 17th place wasn’t what he would have been expecting after a strong day yesterday and will start alongside Kevin Magnussen who admitted he “isn’t in the groove.”
The RB19 looks ominous in the hands of the reigning champion, but with a fresh set of softs saved Leclerc will be his biggest threat to upsetting the odds in what looks set to be an intriguing opening round to the 2023 F1 season.