The Sakhir circuit at the desert of Bahrain is considered to be Ferrari's territory. Two weeks ago in the season-opener everyone wondered, where Ferrari's pace had disappeared after very promising winter tests. But like expected, the Red Team made an amazing turnaround coming to Bahrain.
Ferrari's pace seemed to be in a class of their own in the heat of the desert. Ferrari debutant Leclerc has previously won an F2 race in Bahrain, and the Monegasque felt at home on the track right from the very first segment. He set an incredible benchmark already on his first attempt, which teammate Sebastian proved unable to match. Unexpectedly, the German was two tenths down on his new teammate. At this point the gap to Mercedes seemed like a light year, as Bottas was a whole second off the Red Team's pace! Red Bull's pace seemed quite modest as well, Verstappen making it only 6th in the standings. Hamilton made a second attempt on the used set of tyres, jumping third in the standings, ahead of his tough Finnish teammate. Once again the battle in the midfield was extremely tight, and Kimi at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo Racing had to squeeze everything out of his car to make it into Q2. Actually the Iceman was the last driver to get through to the second session, whilst teammate Giovinazzi's fate was to be knocked out already in the first session. This time the big name casualty in Q1 was Renault's Hulkenberg, who had had various issues with his car. The rookies Norris and Albon stood out of the crowd, as the Briton made it shining P4 for McLaren and the Thai convincing P6 for Toro Rosso.
As Q2 was kicked off, Leclerc continued where he had left off in the first session. The talented Monegasque stamped his authority all over the place by going fastest by half a second! There was absolutely no chance for the Mercedes duo to match flying Leclerc's performance. After the first runs Sebastian was in tame P6, as his first flyer was everything but problem-free. The German had locked up his front wheels in Turn 10. This proved costly for Sebastian, as he was forced to make a second run at the end of the session, which cost him an extra set of soft tyres. Meanwhile, teammate Leclerc and the Mercedes aces could sit out the second runs. Sebastian managed to bounce back at the end of the session, jumping second in the standings, still unable to beat his teammate's time. As a positive surprise, both McLarens made it among the top ten, which hasn't happened for two years! Kimi, too managed to extract the maximum out of his car, being the last driver to make it through to the last session. Eye-catching was the missing pace of Red Bull. P7 was everything Verstappen was able to pull out in Q2, whilst teammate Gasly missed out on Q3. Renault's Ricciardo was also eliminated in Q2, alongside with the Toro Rosso duo of Albon and Kvyat and Racing Point's Perez.
Which one of the red-suited drivers was going to conquer pole in the darkening night of Bahrain? Sebastian had an extremely convincing statistics on his side, as he had taken three poles and four victories on Bahrain soil in the previous years. However, Leclerc came out and showed, that statistics didn't matter. Setting a flawless lap, the Monegasque had provisional pole firmly in his grasp. Hamilton was two and Bottas three tenths down on the storming Ferrari pilot. After the first runs Haas' Magnussen was fourth and McLaren's Sainz fifth. Q2's mistake compromised Sebastian's Q3, as the German was able to make one attempt only, as well as Red Bull's Verstappen. So everything depended on Sebastian's flying lap. And no, he wasn't able to beat his teammate's lap time! Sebastian ended up two tenths shy of Leclerc's benchmark. Leclerc even managed to improve his time at the end of the session, snatching pole with a new track record! It was extremely tight between Sebastian and the Mercedes drivers, as the gap between Sebastian in P2 and Bottas in P4 was only less than a tenth of a second! Having struggled in the first two sessions, Verstappen made it fifth in the final standings. Haas' Magnussen was the "best of the rest" by qualifying sixth. McLaren's Sainz qualified 7th, Haas' Grosjean 8th, Kimi 9th and McLaren's Norris rounded out the top ten. All in all, top teams aside, a very strong qualifying for McLaren and Haas.
Personally, I have to say I was surprised to see Leclerc take pole. He is definitely responding to all expectations in a stunning way. It's also a superb result for the team, as Sebastian made it a front-row lock-out for the Scuderia. This marked the team's 62nd front-row lock-out, which meant a joint record with McLaren and Williams. But what will happen at the start? I'm sure Sebastian doesn't want to settle for P2. He isn't used to look at the rear end of the other red car in the race. History-wise Sebastian hasn't been at his best in situations, where he has been beaten by his teammate. On the other hand, he is wise enough to know, that the benefit of the team is more important than a driver's personal interest. But it's going to be a heck of a battle into Turn 1! I'm sure I'm going to hold my breath, as the lights go out!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti