- Lewis Hamilton starts on front row, teammate Bottas third
- Charles Leclerc qualifies fourth, Gasly impresses in fifth
Max Verstappen took pole for Red Bull at the opening Grand Pix of the new Formula One season in Bahrain. He delivered with perfection at the Sakhir circuit to leave world champion Lewis Hamilton unable to match him in second. Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was in third, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly a superb fifth.
Verstappen was given little margin of error to secure the pole, but did so with a magnificent, dominant run that has been all too familiar to Hamilton and Mercedes in the past. He led on his first run in Q3 with a time of 1min 29.526sec but there was almost nothing in it, with Hamilton just two-hundredths back from the Dutchman.
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