The Spanish club has said that it will not lift its players' obligations to the club in favour of their participation in the Paris Games
sports1 day ago
Red Bull's reigning world champion Max Verstappen took the first pole position of the Formula One season in Bahrain on Friday even though Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, alongside him on the front row, set the fastest lap of qualifying as a whole.
Verstappen's best final time of one minute 29.179 seconds under the Sakhir floodlights was slower than Leclerc's 1:29.165 in the second qualifying phase, but the Ferrari driver was unable to repeat it when it mattered in the third and decisive top-10 shootout round.
Leclerc ended up 0.228 slower than the 26-year-old Dutch driver.
Mercedes' George Russell qualified third, 0.306 off Verstappen's benchmark, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who will make way for seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton next season, was fourth-fastest.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, both held under lights and the first two rounds of a record 24-race championship, are being run on Saturdays to accommodate Ramadan, which starts on the evening of March 10.
Friday’s pole was the 33rd of Verstappen’s career and puts him on course to open his pursuit of a fourth consecutive title just as he left off when winning his dominant third.
It also came as a welcome reprieve for his Red Bull team, who have been in the headlines due to an independent investigation into team principal Christian Horner that on Wednesday cleared the Briton of allegations of misconduct, which he had denied.
"The track had a lot of grip but with the wind, it's been tricky to get the whole lap together," said Verstappen, winner of 19 of 22 races last season.
"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."
At the end of the session Verstappen appeared under the impression that he had not done enough and apologised over the radio to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
"Nothing to be sorry about Max. A very good start. Two tenths clear of Charles and three tenths clear of George," said Horner.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez will start fifth with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso sixth and McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri seventh and eighth.
Hamilton will start his final season with Mercedes in ninth place with Haas's Nico Hulkenberg a surprise 10th for the U.S.-owned team.
ALSO READ
"It's not the greatest of feelings," Hamilton told Sky Sports television. "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."
Renault-owned Alpine endured a bruising session with French drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly lining up on the last row of the grid.
The Spanish club has said that it will not lift its players' obligations to the club in favour of their participation in the Paris Games
sports1 day ago
The GEM’s Wellington School teenager who admits to playing well at the Al Zorah Golf Club juggles studies with golf
sports1 day ago
The 41-year-old, who has taken 700 Test wickets and is behind only Muralitharan (800) and Warne (708) on the all-time list, will retire from Test cricket after playing the West Indies at Lord's in July
sports1 day ago
Historic inaugural season of the Professional Fighters League showcased contests in the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions
sports1 day ago
Opener Andy Balbirnie anchored the Irish innings with 77 off 55 balls including 10 boundaries
sports1 day ago
The duo put on 210 runs for the first wicket before Mohit Sharma delivered the finishing blow with a three-wicket haul at Ahmedabad
sports1 day ago
The Gunners have gathered three points to temporarily open up a four-point lead over Pep Guardiola's side at the top of the table
sports1 day ago
Karim expressed her happiness at winning the medal, which added to the previous achievements of Emirati champions
sports1 day ago