Formula One world champion Max Verstappen made a bright start to his title defense in Bahrain on Friday, grabbing pole position ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.228 seconds.
Amid frustration over slow pit lane queues, a nervous end to the first quarter from Lewis Hamilton and a poor start to the 2024 season from Alpine, there was a huge battle between Red Bull and Ferrari at the top of the leaderboard.
Both teams shared the lead in the three qualifying rounds, with Red Bull only eliminating the Italian outfit at the end of the third quarter, with Leclerc finishing second and George Russell finishing third with a strong result, 0.306 seconds behind Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz, who had jumped to the top of the leaderboard in the first session with a time of 1:29:909, finished fourth, leaving Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris behind.
After setting the fastest lap in the second practice lap on Thursday, Hamilton endured a difficult evening on track and narrowly avoided elimination in Q1 before having to fight for ninth place in the rankings, 0.531 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
Max Verstappen (centre) secured pole position after qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday, while Charles Leclerc (left) and George Russell (right) finished second and third
The Dutchman got off to a brilliant start in defending his Formula 1 title, finishing 0.228 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner (centre) was pictured talking to Verstappen (left) in the paddock.
Alpine, meanwhile, endured a nightmare start to the season as both drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly retired on the first lap after finishing at the bottom of the field.
This week's headlines have been dominated by the Christian Horner text messaging scandal, but the Red Bull team boss was pictured in the paddock speaking to Verstappen and several other team members as his team took pole position.
It was a good start to the season for the Milton Keynes-based racing team. Verstappen, who came from behind to win Q3, said over the radio: “I think we did very well in this qualifying, we made the most of it!”'
He added to Sky Sports after the race that it was “a bit unexpected” to take pole in the first training session of the season, but added: “The car came to him during qualifying.”
“It was a lot of fun,” said Verstappen. “The track had a lot of grip, but due to the wind of the last few days it was quite difficult to last the whole lap and it was the same in qualifying. In Q1 and Q2 you drive a little faster the higher the track gets.” But really getting everything out of it in the third quarter was a little difficult.
“I am very happy to be on pole. To be honest it was a bit unexpected, but in qualifying I think the car came to us and I was a bit happier with the whole car.”
“I said yesterday that we need to refine a few things on the car to get the perfect balance, but with the wind that wasn't possible, but luckily we went in the right direction and were able to do a little bit with the wind push more 'car.'
At the start of the first quarter, quite a bit of traffic began to build up as drivers slowed to exit pit road. At one point, at least seven cars rolled along in a slow-moving traffic jam. This seemed to anger both Verstappen and Leclerc, who shouted insults at the cars in front of them over the radio. The Frenchman raged: “The guys in front of Carlos stop, we’re not normally allowed to stop.”
While progress was slow in the pit lane, there was a lot of movement in the leaderboard. Norris enjoyed an excellent evening, moving up to third in the standings at one point before finishing seventh, while Nico Hülkenberg crowned the top ten with a fast lap in the third quarter.
Carlos Sainz finished fourth in qualifying despite moving to the top of the leaderboard at the start of the session
George Russell finished Friday strongly and secured third place on the grid for Saturday's race
Lewis Hamilton endured a tough race, narrowly avoiding elimination in the first quarter and then fighting for ninth place
Perhaps Friday's qualifying gave us a hint that the Formula 1 Championship paddock may be a little tighter this season than in previous years, with Leclerc getting very close to the world champion.
While Verstappen was hopeful Red Bull can take victory on Saturday, the Dutchman feared he would face a tough challenge from those around him.
“I also think the race will be close. We look good in the race and that's the most important thing, but we'll see tomorrow. I am confident that we can have a strong race.”
It was his 33rd career pole position and of the previous 14 times he has finished first in qualifying, the Dutchman has won the Grand Prix.
He once again demonstrated his skills by seemingly effortlessly navigating corners, building on his excellent result last season.
While the Dutchman will remain the man to beat this season, it looks like he will have a tough job ahead of him to defend his title with a very competitive field hot on his heels .