F1 Bahrain GP qualifying results: Leclerc beats Verstappen to pole

Leclerc pipped Red Bull driver Verstappen by 0.123s in the third and final segment of the one-hour qualifying session, in which five cars are knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the Q3 top-10 shootout.

They will share the front row as Leclerc scored Ferrari's first pole since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz Jr was third-fastest in the second Ferrari, leading Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez, while Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could only muster the fifth and ninth-fastest times.

Verstappen set the early bar in Q1 by lapping in 1m31.909s, 0.474s faster than his team-mate Perez, who ran wide at the final corner having beaten the Dutchman’s middle sector time. Kevin Magnussen grabbed an early second for Haas before Valtteri Bottas snatched it away for Alfa Romeo, just 0.01s off Verstappen.

Ferrari then took control, with Leclerc taking the top spot on 1m31.471s, 0.096s quicker than team-mate Sainz. Hamilton claimed fifth for Mercedes at this point, eight tenths off the pace, while Russell beat him on a second push lap on his first set of tyres.

Only the top three cars and the Mercedes duo didn’t run again on a second set of soft tyres, with Magnussen jumping up to fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Lando Norris (McLaren), pushing the Mercedes back to the lower reaches of the top 10.

Falling at the first hurdle were Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Nico Hulkenberg (subbing for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Lance Stroll (Aston) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).

Verstappen dived straight into the 1m30s bracket, with a 1m30.757s that was six tenths clear of Leclerc and Perez. Magnussen was fourth fastest after the opening runs, despite