Bahrain GP Qualifying: Verstappen beats Leclerc for the first pole of the F1 season

Max Verstappen, Red Bull's reigning world champion, took the first pole position of the Formula One season on Friday, despite his Ferrari rival setting the fastest lap in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying.

In the final session of qualifying, the 26-year-old Dutch driver took pole position with a lap time of one minute and 29.179 seconds.

Leclerc's best lap, a 1:29.165, was faster, but the Monegasque set the time in the second phase of qualifying and was unable to replicate it in the top ten shootout when it counted the most.

"The track had a lot of grip, but with the wind, it's been tricky to get the whole lap together," said Verstappen, who won 19 of 22 races last season and secured his 33rd career pole.

"Q3 was difficult, but happy to be on pole. To be honest it was a little unexpected but in qualifying the car came to us."

Verstappen entered the weekend as the clear favourite to make a strong start to his bid for a fourth consecutive championship.

Practice did, however, provide hope for a closer contest, which qualifying delivered.

George Russell qualified third in his Mercedes, putting three different teams in the top three.

Carlos Sainz led the way for Ferrari in the first session, but Leclerc dominated the timesheets with his qualifying fastest time.

Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who eventually qualified sixth, showed glimmers of speed on his only run in the pole position shootout before losing time at the final corner.

"I'm a bit disappointed, we did a good qualifying but it's been tricky until now," said Leclerc.

"We are in a better place than a year ago," he said. Ferrari finished third overall last year after a slow start that saw Leclerc retire from two of the first three races, including Bahrain.

Sergio Perez, Verstappen's Mexican teammate, will start fifth alongside Alonso on the third row of the grid.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both from McLaren, will start seventh and eighth on the fourth row.

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, will begin his final season with Mercedes before moving to Ferrari in 2025, in ninth place, with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg finishing a surprise 10th for the United States-owned team.

"It's not the greatest of feelings," Hamilton told Sky Sports. "But I am excited to be here... it's amazing for us to have a car that we can fight with. It just really lights the fire within us drivers."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff stated that the team, which was fastest in Thursday's second practice with Verstappen finishing sixth, prioritized race pace over single lap performance in their car setup.

"Yesterday it looked better but we put the car in a sweet spot for tomorrow's race, at least this is what we hope," said the Austrian.

The qualifying hour provided few surprises and was largely incident-free.
Alpine, owned by Renault, had a disappointing performance, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly topping the timesheets. They will form a line in the grid's last row.

"It's a tough situation for anyone to be at the back, yeah we are not happy with it as a whole," said Ocon.

"It's very important to be united, keep the chin up and move forward."

The Bahrain Grand Prix kicks off Formula One's record 24-race season, and Verstappen's record 39-race run at the top of the championship standings may come to an end.

The race and the following round in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a week later, are scheduled for a Saturday to allow Middle Eastern kingdoms to host races before Ramadan begins.

SportsLigue