Max Verstappen lays down marker with masterful Bahrain F1 GP pole

Max Verstappen claimed pole for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening meeting of the new 2023 Formula One season. The Red Bull driver delivered a masterful, controlled lap of the Sakhir circuit to beat his teammate Sergio Pérez into second place. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was in third. By far the best showing of the new season belonged to Fernando Alonso putting his Aston Martin in fifth, beating both the Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who were in sixth and seventh. Carlos Sainz was in fourth for Ferrari.

In what was a tense and highly competitive qualifying session, where the outcome was far from settled until the very final runs, the track was growing quicker after every run as the rubber went down giving Q3 added tension, not least after how competitive Aston Martin had been in practice.

However on their first hot runs Verstappen set the benchmark, with a 1min 29.897sec lap just a tenth up on Leclerc. Both Mercedes cars and Alonso opted to save a set of tyres for the race and do only one run in Q3. Alonso threw himself at the lap but could not bridge the gap finishing six-tenths back, still a mighty result for Aston. Russell and Hamilton too eked out their best but the car, pushed to maximum, finished around where it had looked to be all weekend, six-tenths in arrears.

Verstappen meanwhile had more as Red Bull finally showed their true colours, went out for a second run to rub salt in the wound and delivered a 1min 29.708sec lap, a tenth up on his teammate and three-tenths on Leclerc. The pecking order for the opening race established much as it had appeared in testing: Red Bull have the edge but Ferrari are close enough to keep them honest while Aston Martin have made a real breakthrough.