Max Verstappen fended off the first attack from the competition and took pole position for the start of the Formula 1 season. The world champion in the Red Bull turned the fastest lap in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday (01.03.24) in 1:29.179 minutes.
This put him a good two tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Mercedes driver George Russell came third. Unlike usual, the race will take place on Saturday, starting at 4 p.m. German time (live ticker at sportschau.de).
Tight qualifying
Qualifying was initially much tighter than expected, and Verstappen only took the lead in the final section. Behind the dominator of the past few years, the field is mixed up. Places four, five and six are occupied by Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
Hülkenberg in the inferior Haas good tenth
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton, surprisingly the fastest man in free training on Friday, only ended up in ninth place, directly ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. The German put in a good performance: He made it into the final section of the top 10 for Haas, who came last in the team world championship last year. In the end, he finished tenth on the grid, while his teammate Kevin Magnussen only started from 15th.