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Charles Leclerc has secured his first pole position in Formula 1, beating teammate Sebastian Vettel to the top spot in Bahrain.
The Monegasque driver set a 1:27.866, which is a new track record for the Bahrain International Circuit.
He beat Vettel to glory by just under three-tenths of a second, who could only set one lap in Q3 as he was forced to go again in the second stage after his Q2 lap was compromised.
After Mercedes struggled throughout the weekend, it managed to claw some time back during the session, however Lewis Hamilton ended up over three-tenths of a second down on Leclerc.
Valtteri Bottas followed Hamilton to make it an all-Mercedes second row. The gap between the pair was less than Melbourne, however both will be determined to beat Ferrari once again as it did two weeks ago.
Red Bull had a tough session, with Pierre Gasly shockingly failing to make it into Q3 for the second consecutive qualifying session. The Frenchman was eliminated after Q3, as he finished in 13th.
Max Verstappen was sixth, but was eight-tenths down on Leclerc.
Haas got both of its cars into the final stage of qualifying. Kevin Magnussen's fastest time was just marginally slower than Verstappen's and won the intra-team battle, beating Romain Grosjean who qualified eighth.
However, Grosjean is under investigation as he blocked Lano Norris at the final corner in Q1, as the Briton was ending a fast lap.
Romain Grosjean is under investigation for blocking Lando Norris at the final corner while the Briton was on a fast lap. #F1 #BahrainGP
— Fergal Walsh (@fergalf1) March 30, 2019
Nevertheless, Norris progressed all the way to Q3 along with teammate Carlos Sainz. The latter split the two Haas', while Norris had to settle for 10th, behind the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen.
Daniel Ricciardo once again failed to make it to Q3 for Renault, but this time out-qualified teammate Nico Hulkenberg who was a surprise dropout from Q1.
As he did in Melbourne, Alexander Albon got the better of his teammate Daniil Kvyat, with the Thai-British driver set to share the sixth row with Ricciardo.
Sergio Perez confirmed on Friday that reaching Q3 would be tough for Racing Point, and so it proved as the Mexican could only manage 14th. The second Racing Point of Lance Stroll was only 18th, ahead of the two Williams'.
Bahrain International Circuit - 30 March 2019
That was a pretty exciting session. Very tight, very tight indeed, love it. Great weekend from Leclerc, that car looks as if its made for him. And McLaren's fighting in Q3, while their works rival is far behind (I hope you are still believing AJPP?). And Honda in P5 again (where the hell was Gasly again?). This is a race I'll be sitting pinned and ready for. Bring it!
Brilliant by Leclerc. Wya to give the middle finger to Ferrari's team orders.
@calle that McLaren.... I believe baby. But must admit I'm baffled by the massive improvement in one race. I'm not aware of any major updates. Whatever the case I'll take it.
Gasly? Well he's living up to my well documented expectations. But to be honest he's actually worse than I expected. I mean he hasn't made Q3 yet.
Gotta recognize Kimi as well. I have given him a lot of flack for his incredibly mediocre years at Ferrari. But he is clearly dragging that Alfa to the limit. He's making Giovinazzi look so weak.
Finally that Haas... It's for reelzz. Properly fast car. More than last year. I expect Magnussen to rise to the challenge and stop driving like a pillock in traffic. Grosjean will fade with the ocasional standout performance.
Absolutely. He has gone in and delivered from day one in Ferrari, so Im a happy camper. Will surely be a bit sobering for Vettel. I wonder how the Scuderia will handle this conundrum. In fact, good showing from most newbies so far. All of the new additions look more or less solid. Aside from Gasly. Man do that red flashing Torpedo button probably look more and more tempting for Doctor Doom.
Hehehe yeah, not gonna lie, I was happy to see them up there (and I chuckled a bit for myself, thinking "someone" is gonna be happy today). :) Most importantly, I love how they beat Renault, since it means the day a works team cannot be beaten by its customer isn't here yet. Good progress for both F1 and McLaren.
And as you say, great work from Kimi. I think we've agreed earlier that him moving to Sauber was a good thing for everyone, and so far, we are yet to be disproven.
They are where they should be. But let's wait a bit and see, HAAS do after all tend to be creative with how they bollock up their chances.
I feel quite chuffed to see both McL’a in the top 10, well done to them. Not so good for Renault to be skipped by a customer team. Gasly, well, have not been partic. impressed before and didn’t think he would cut it to a good enough level with RB to be honest to detriment of their team ambitions, see how it goes.
The gap from Lec to Vet is basically the same as the gap is between pos 5 and 10. That says two things, Leclerc is proper fast and it is super tight for the position of best of the rest. Unimpressed by Gasly, Stroll and the Renault team today. Been saying that Gasly may have to start to worry about being replaced by Kvyat, but Albon has outqualified Kvyat so far... Impressed by Magnussen, the McLaren team and Räikkönen today, and of course Leclerc but that is stating the obvious.
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Also, Ricciardo outqualied the Hulk today.