SAKHIR, Bahrain — Charles Leclerc will start Formula One’s new era from pole position after beating reigning champion Max Verstappen to pole position in Bahrain on Saturday evening.
Leclerc set a 1:30.558 in his Ferrari to secure first place on the grid by 0.123s from Verstappen’s Red Bull, which appeared to hold the edge over the Ferrari right up until the final attempts to decide pole position.
Hype built around Ferrari throughout preseason testing, but the team consistently played down its performance and pointed to rivals Mercedes and Red Bull as the teams to beat.
However, in the first competitive session of the season Leclerc made the difference, finding lap time over Verstappen in sectors two and three of the lap.
Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was also in the running for pole, but had to settle for third overall after missing out Leclerc’s time by 0.129s. He admitted his teammate had held an advantage over him throughout practice and deserved the pole.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will start fifth on the grid behind Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez. The seven-time champion was 0.680s off the pace of Leclerc, which underlined the struggles Mercedes has encountered so far under F1’s new technical regulations for 2022.
Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, secured sixth on the grid for his new team Alfa Romeo, ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who also impressed in the Haas.
Magnussen was drafted into the American team last week to replace Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, who was dropped by Haas.
Fernando Alonso was eighth fastest for Alpine ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell. Russell made a mistake on his final attempt at Turn 1 and finished 1.658s off the pace of Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly secured tenth place for AlphaTauri.
Esteban Ocon was 0.065s shy of a place in the top ten and a tenth of a second off his teammate Alonso in Q2.
Mick Schumacher will start the race 12th for Haas ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren, Alex Albon’s Williams and Chinese rookie Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo.
Yuki Tsunoda missed out on a place in Q2 by 0.024s after setting a time 0.7s off his AlphaTauri teammate Gasly.
Nico Hulkenberg was 17th fastest as he subbed in for Sebastian Vettel, who is missing this weekend’s race due to a positive COVID-19 test. He outqualified Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren in 18th and teammate Lance Stroll, who line up on the final row of the grid ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in last place