Max Verstappen seals pole position in F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix

Triple world champion Max Verstappen secured pole position for the opening round of the new Formula One season in Bahrain.

The Red Bull driver was made to work for the 33rd pole of his career at the Sakhir Circuit with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc second and George Russell third for Mercedes.

The first two grands prix of a record 24-race championship in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, are both being held under lights and on a Saturday.

Vertappen, who won from pole in Bahrain last year and ended up with 19 victories from 22 races in a dominant season, said he had enjoyed the day.

“It was a lot of fun actually, the track had a lot of grip but with the wind over the last few days, it's been quite tricky to get the whole lap together and it was the same in qualifying, in Q1, Q2 you go a bit faster with the track ramping up but to really get everything out of it in Q3 was a little bit difficult,” said the Dutchman.

“I'm very happy to be on pole, to be honest it was a little bit unexpected but in qualifying I think the car came to us and I felt a bit happier with the whole car.

“I said yesterday we need to fine tune a few things on the car to try to get that perfect balance, but with the wind that was not possible, but luckily we went in the right direction and we could really push a bit more with the car.”

Career pole #33 for @Max33Verstappen