Bahrain GP: Charles Leclerc seals pole ahead of Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc proved the pre-season suggestion that Ferrari would be back at the front of the field absolutely right as he took pole position ahead of Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Scuderia have been looking strong throughout testing in Barcelona and Bahrain but were eager to play down their chances at any moment, suggesting Red Bull and Mercedes were favourites.

They will now, though, have to accept they’re very much one of the teams to beat at this early stage of the season, with them now needing to show their race pace on Sunday.

Leclerc will start ahead of Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, whilst Lewis Hamilton could only manage fifth place in his Mercedes – former team-mate Valtteri Bottas will be alongside him in the Alfa Romeo.

Kevin Magnussen capped off a great Saturday by sealing P7 ahead of Fernando Alonso, whilst George Russell and Pierre Gasly round off the top ten.

Earlier, Q1 was something to forget for Daniel Ricciardo in particular. McLaren have had a tough couple of weeks and the Aussie has taken the brunt of it, with him being hit with covid last week that saw him take part in none of the testing days, ones that saw McLaren suffer with brake issues.

Indeed, it’s clear that has cost them with Ricciardo set for P18 in tomorrow’s race, with just Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi behind him.

Yuki Tsunoda will line up P16, whilst Nico Hulkenberg is in P17 – outqualifying his Aston Martin team-mate Stroll despite only turning up at the end of the week after Sebastian Vettel’s positive covid test.

McLaren’s tough Saturday continued into Q2, meanwhile, with Lando Norris only able to qualify P13, in front of Alex Albon in the Williams and Guanyu Zhou in the Alfa Romeo –