Lewis Hamilton claimed his 10th pole position of the season, and his 98th career pole, at the Bahrain Grand Prix as he edged Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas to top spot.
The seven-time world champion broke the track record with a time of 1:27.264.
It looked like Max Verstappen would be Hamilton’s nearest challenger throughout qualifying but the Dutchman was unable to place his car on the front row after his final run – having complained of rear-grip issues during Q3.
The biggest challenge for the majority of the field throughout qualifying was being able to get through to Q3 on the medium compound tyre. The softs are regarded as ‘too soft’ when it comes to race running and this challenge was made harder when the McLaren of Carlos Sainz had a spin forcing a red flag to be waved giving all remaining drivers only enough time to get one run in before Q2 finished.
As Q3 started all drivers opted for the soft compound tyre. This didn’t affect Hamilton who continued his tremendous form by putting his Mercedes on provisional pole ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull. He then improved on his final run to finish ahead of Bottas by two-and-a-half tenths.
Both Red Bull’s will share the second row as Verstappen was unable to mount a strong enough challenge to Mercedes – however, he will start on the ‘clean’ side of the grid on Sunday in third. Alexander Albon who is currently racing for his future in the sport, lines up in fourth after a good lap as he looks to give Verstappen some support throughout the race.
After his second-place finish last time out, Perez continued his positive form placing his Racing Point car in fifth. Perez is one of a few drivers who fancies their chances on Sunday when it comes to pulling off a one-stop strategy. Daniel Ricciardo lines up next to him in sixth with the Australian looking to help Renault claim third in the constructors before he makes the switch to McLaren for 2021.
Renault team-mate Esteban Ocon slotted his car into seventh position. The Frenchman had a quiet session but will be looking to secure a good points maul in Sunday’s race given the team’s impressive pace. Pierre Gasly was able to make Q3 yet again as he claimed eighth for Alpha Tauri in what is regarded as one of his favourite tracks after his fourth-place finish in 2018.
Young Brit Lando Norris made ninth position his own as McLaren continue to fall behind their close competitors in Renault and Racing Point. Daniil Kvyat finished qualifying in 10th place – in what was only the second time he had competed in Q3 this season.
Sebastian Vettel missed out on a Q3 appearance by a tenth-and-a-half as Ferrari continue to struggle around Sakhir – quite the contrast compared to last year where the Italian team claimed a front-row lockout. Charles Leclerc was out-qualified by team-mate Vettel as the two share the sixth row of the grid.
Thirteenth was occupied by Turkish Grand Prix polesitter Lance Stroll as he was forced to go out on used medium compound tyres after a red flag was shown following Sainz’s spin at turn one. George Russell continued to impress as he placed his Williams in 14th position despite a tricky weekend for the British Team.
Sainz suffered a rear brake failure as his McLaren went spinning at turn one, meaning the Spaniard was unable to set a time in Q2 despite looking like a strong top ten contender all weekend. This meant he had to make do with 15th.
Antonio Giovinazzi finished 16th but was only 0.027s off a Q2 appearance as the track began to improve.
Veteran Kimi Raikkonen was only good enough for 17th. The Finn has had a lot of previous success at Bahrain but struggled to get on terms with his Alfa Romeo. Kevin Magnussen edged team-mate Romain Grosjean to 18th as the Haas pair enjoy their final few races in Formula 1.
Canadian Nicholas Latifi rounded off the grid ahead of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
By Cameron Anderson-Jones
