Supreme Hamilton smashes Bahrain track record for pole; Bottas qualifies P2, Verstappen P3
Fresh on the heels of earning his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship with a fine come-from-behind wet weather win in Turkey two weeks ago, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed no sign of slowing down. The English living legend blistered the bone dry Bahrain International Circuit under the lights during Saturday night qualifying, setting a new track record en route to taking pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Team Mercedes also returned to their front row lockout ways after having that season-log streak snapped last time out in Turkey when Valtteri Bottas set the second fastest lap time in Q3, albeit nearly three-tenths adrift of Ham the Man. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sounded less than distraught at qualifying behind the Silver Arrows in P3, as that will put the Dutchman on the clean side of this often sandy track. He should also get a good tow from Hamilton when the lights go out to perhaps aid an overtaking move down into the first corner. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon will start alongside him on the second row and behind Bottas in P4, only the second time this year the young Thai has managed to pull himself within one spot of his superlative teammate during qualifying, the other being at Mugello in Tuscany in early September.
Behind the front four, Sergio Perez was the lone Racing Point to start in the top 10 with a fine P5 qualifying effort. Hard to believe the savvy Mexican veteran still does not have a F1 drive for next year. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon qualified P6 and P7 respectively, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat were P8 and P10, sandwiching the McLaren of Lando Norris, who will start P9.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:28.343 | 1:27.586 | 1:27.264 | |
| 2 | 1:28.767 | 1:28.063 | 1:27.553 | |
| 3 | 1:28.885 | 1:28.025 | 1:27.678 | |
| 4 | 1:28.732 | 1:28.749 | 1:28.274 | |
| 5 | 1:29.178 | 1:28.894 | 1:28.322 | |
| 6 | 1:29.005 | 1:28.648 | 1:28.417 | |
| 7 | 1:29.203 | 1:28.937 | 1:28.419 | |
| 8 | 1:28.971 | 1:29.008 | 1:28.448 | |
| 9 | 1:29.464 | 1:28.877 | 1:28.542 | |
| 10 | 1:29.158 | 1:28.944 | 1:28.618 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s night race in the desert airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!