Four-time world champion Max Verstappen continued his dominant form for Red Bull by claiming his first pole position of the season on Saturday, topping the times in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The 29-year-old Dutchman, currently sixth in the drivers’ championship standings, clocked a best lap time of 1:35.130 in the final minute of a close session run in high temperatures at the Sepang International Circuit.
He outpaced seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari by 0.298 seconds. Isack Hadjar was third for Red Bull, but will drop five places on the starting grid due to a penalty imposed for fitting new engine components beyond the permitted quota.
Next came standings leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari, and world champion Lando Norris of McLaren.
Oscar Piastri was seventh in the second McLaren, ahead of George Russell of Mercedes, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi.
It will be the first time Verstappen has started at the front of the grid since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last season.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “We’ve been trying for many Grands Prix to get a pole position, so to finally get it is pretty incredible. I’m happy with today and will try to win tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s pace on a late flying lap enabled him to secure his best starting spot since winning in Catalonia in June.
“The car felt great. We’ve made lots of changes,” the 41-year-old said. “And execution was really on point. If we can keep this up, hopefully we can get better results moving forward.”
‘Going to be interesting’
The Bahrain Grand Prix is being raced in Malaysia due to disruption in the Gulf.
The session began in sizzling humidity, with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman leading out for Haas.
Verstappen set the early pace with a 1:36.447 lap ahead of the two Ferraris, both running medium tyres while all their rivals used softs.
With track temperatures in the mid-50s on a low-grip, high-degradation circuit, drivers tried to keep their tyres cool by taking things slower on their Q2 preparatory laps.
The strategy earned Verstappen a black-and-white warning flag for driving “unnecessarily slowly”. All that changed once he put his foot down and clocked 1:35.696 to go top.
Antonelli exceeded track limits and had his first lap deleted, costing him a set of softs and requiring him to go out again for a timed lap.
Taking greater care, he was fast enough to go P2, two-tenths down.
“It’s a shame about the mistake,” he said. “I think it’s going to be interesting. Max still has a bit of an edge on pace and the Ferraris looked pretty strong, so it’s going to be tight, and the ‘deg’ is going to be huge.”
Q3 began with Russell out first, but Verstappen scorched to the top again in 1:35.250 on his first run, ahead of team-mate Hadjar and Hamilton.
Antonelli’s sole lap — on his single remaining set of softs — then lifted him to P3.
That left the rest with their final runs, as Verstappen trimmed his time and Hamilton progressed to take P2 and join him on the front row in a dramatic final minute.
AFP
