Formula 1 News: Verstappen wins pole for 2024 Bahrain GP

Defending World Driving Champion Max Verstappen picked up where he left off in 2023 by winning pole for the 2024 Bahrain GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Verstappen was not the fastest in Q1 and Q2 but when it counted he put in a good lap to win pole with a time of 1m29.179s in his #1 Red Bull Honda.

It was Verstappen’s 33rd career F1 pole, tying Alain Prost and Jim Clark for 5th all-time.

“It was a lot of fun actually, the track had a lot of grip but with the wind, it’s been tricky to get the whole lap together,” said Verstappen.

“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.

“We needed to fine-tune some things on the car to get the perfect balance, and made another step in qualifying. The race is going to be close as well, we’ll see tomorrow – I’m confident.”

Charles Leclerc came closest to Verstappen with a lap that was 0.228s in his #16 Ferrari.

“I’m a bit disappointed, we did a good qualifying but it’s been tricky until now. We are in a better place than a year ago. In Q2 I think I did more or less the lap time that Max did in Q3, it was in the car but I think we lost a bit of rhythm in Q3 on the used tires.

“I’m confident we did a step forward [in race trim] but we really think Red Bull are still ahead by quite a bit in the race.”

The more talented Mercedes driver, George Russell, was 3rd fastest with a time that was 0.306s behind Verstappen.

“Everyone at the factory has done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car that we can build from,” said Russell. “But Max is still out there in front. But for us, starting P3 is a great place.

“Huge amount of work – Lewis and I have been back on the simulator all week, we hope we haven’t compromised the race pace.”

Carlos Sainz Jr.  who was fastest in final practice, was 4th fastest in the #55 Ferrari, 0.328s behind, while Sergio Perez rounded out the top-5 in the #11 Red Bull.

Alpine team slower than last year

The all-French Alpine team qualified dead-last. Bruno Famin fired American Otmar Szafnauer and made himself Team Boss.

Now they are a dead last team.

One step forward, two steps back.

2024 Bahrain GP Qualifying Results