Max Verstappen takes pole for Bahrain GP!
Lewis Hamilton joins him on the front row after an excellent final lap, with overall leader Kimi Antonelli in fourth (but will move to third ahead of Isack Hadjar due to a grid penalty).
Key events
It’s all a bit strange seeing the Bahrain signage and flags all over the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali confirmed earlier today that the Qatar and Abu Dhabi grands prix will take place as scheduled in the Middle East to end the season.
“This is the direction we have taken, based on the information we have and the assurances we have,” Domenicali said.
Hopefully spectators at the Sepang circuit will find it easier to get home today after reports yesterday of fans having to walk 10km to the nearby airport in order to find reliable transport back to Kuala Lumpur.
Traffic caused problems for the buses operating after second practice, while taxis were not allowed at the circuit at all.
“The queues at the exit were overwhelmed when hundreds of fans tried to leave,” a fan told Reuters.
“Luckily everyone was patient,” said another fan. “There were no visual guides, no signage, no formal queue zone and no staff to manage the crowd.”
Kuala Lumpur’s main transport operator, Rapid KL, said it has improved arrangements for passenger pick-up and drop-off locations.
Not a great day for Mercedes, especially given their car upgrade. George Russell’s momentum from Baku has come to a juddering halt.
“Very difficult to understand … No performance,” Toto Wolff tells Sky Sports. “We are very draggy. We’re losing a lot of time on the straights, especially to Max, and there’s too much understeer. Something we haven’t seen all year.
“We still believe the upgrade works, we just need to understand why not here.”
Kimi Antonelli’s deleted time in Q2 forced him to use an extra set of soft tyres to make it into Q3, where he was limited to one hot lap.
“You lose a set in a qualifying that’s so tight. That’s not good,” Wolff said.
“I don’t know what to expect from the race tomorrow with the heat. It could be better, it could be worse.”
Qualifying final standings: Verstappen and Hamilton will do battle from the front of the grid, just like old times.
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:35.130
2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.298
*3. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.428
4. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.501
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.536
6. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.627
7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.632
8. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.741
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +2.080
10. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.543
*five-place grid penalty
11. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
12. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
13. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
15. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
16. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
18. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
19. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
20. Alex Albon (Williams)
21. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
22. Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
“Great job guys, car felt great!” says a very happy Hamilton as he returns to the front row for the first time since Barcelona – where he won earlier this season.
Max Verstappen takes pole for Bahrain GP!
Lewis Hamilton joins him on the front row after an excellent final lap, with overall leader Kimi Antonelli in fourth (but will move to third ahead of Isack Hadjar due to a grid penalty).
Q3: Russell has plenty of work to do down in eighth place on his out lap. No improvement from Hajdar but Verstappen extends his lead by 0.1s. Hamilton moves on to the front row!
Q3: Antonelli climbs into P3 and that’s the best he can hope for as the rest of the field return to the track. Verstappen is on provisional pole with two minutes to go. Hadjar is second but has a five-place grid penalty.
Q3: All eyes are on Antonelli as everyone else comes into the pits and he prepares for his only hot lap on his remaining set of softs.
Q3: Verstappen goes into provisional pole with a time of 1:35.250! He is trailed by Hajdar (+0.308) and Hamilton (+0.495). Piastri goes faster than Norris.
Q3: Russell is off the pace and is quickly overtaken by Hadjar, Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris.
Antonelli has come out on new softs, like the rest of them except Gasly and Bortoleto.
Q3 gets under way: Russell heads out first. Verstappen is the man to beat.
Q2 standings
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:35.696
2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.263
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6. Lando Norris (McLaren)
7. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
8. George Russell (Mercedes)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
—
Out: Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
Antonelli survives scare in Q2
Kimi Antonelli makes it safely through to Q3 in second place behind Max Verstappen but it was in doubt for a while. The Italian was penalised for breaching track limits on his first time and had to use another set of soft tyres to make amends. Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto take the final two places to advance as Liam Lawson just misses out.
Q2: Gasly and Bortoleto are the ones looking over their shoulders as the second session draws to a close. Q3 looks a step too far for the Aston Martins.
Q2: The nerves are beginning to show for Antonelli, whose first sector isn’t the best. He takes extra care on turn 6 this time. He responds well and comes in at P2, 0.263s behind Verstappen, no doubt breathing a sigh of relief.
Q2: Toto Wolff wears a stern look in the pit lane. Look closely and you’ll see a couple of beads of sweat running down his forehead – but that could just be the humidity. Antonelli is the only one out on track with four minutes to go.
Q2: Antonelli comes into a frantic Mercedes garage for some new soft tyres. Verstappen still sits top of the standings by 0.274s ahead of Leclerc. None of the other big guns look in trouble.
Q2: Antonelli’s time is wiped for exceeding track limits on turn 6, so the pressure is on. He might have to use another set of softs to make the top 10 now. “Wait, what?!” Antonelli responds on the radio.
Q2: Verstappen improves on his Q1 time by almost a second with a scorching 1:35.696, with Antonelli almost four-tenths back. Leclerc and Hamilton again slot in behind the Red Bull, this time on soft tyres.
Q2: Verstappen has been shown a black and white flag for driving too slowly – I got a major for that in my driving test, so I sympathise. Unlike me, he’s deliberately trying to keep his tyres cool on the 58C track.
Q2 is under way: Antonelli and Russell follow Hadjar out.
Q1 standings
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:36.477
2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
7. Lando Norris (McLaren)
8. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
—
Out: Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Alex Albon (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
Both Aston Martins through to Q2
It’s been a good week for Fernando Alonso, who signed a one-year contract extension at the start of it and today reaches Q2 for the second time this season. His teammate Lance Stroll progresses as well. Gabriel Bortoleto saved his skin with a fine lap to move into the top 10.
Q1: Stroll and Bearman lift themselves out of the elimination places after their final laps. The two Audis have work to do.
Q1: Bortoleto, Sainz and Hulkenberg are in the danger zone as the cars head back out for the final few minutes of the session. The Audis are the only ones on medium tyres.
Q1: Bearman locks up and looks in trouble in a bottom six that includes Ocon, Albon annd Stroll plus the two Cadillacs. Alonso is up in 12th.
Q1: Hamilton and Leclerc slot in behind Verstappen after their first hot laps on medium tyres. Piastri and Norris make it comfortably into the top 10 as Antonelli and Russell returns to the pits.
Q1: Verstappen lays down an early marker by going half a second faster than Antonelli on 1:36.477. Hadjar goes faster than the two Mercedes too.
Q1: Mercedes and Red Bull send their drivers out before a long, old queue resembling a McDonald’s drive-thru forms in the pit lane.
Q1: Just Haas out there at the moment. Bearman follows Ocon round on their first hot laps.
Qualifying starts
Q1 is under way. It’s hot (33C air, 58C track), it’s humid, the risk of rain is 10%. Esteban Ocon is out first.
Q1 is not far away – here’s a reminder of how the top of the overall standings looks with eight races to go.
1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 302pts
2. George Russell (Mercedes) 236
3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 199
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 186
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 179
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 163
Lewis Hamilton has come out in support of Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur in Malaysia this week after speculation that Christian Horner could replace him as team principal.
“People can continue with the negative narrative but inside, everyone is working really hard,” Hamilton said on Thursday. “Fred is the guy to lead us, he’s doing a fantastic job.
“If you look at the history, how many people they’ve swapped out in that role and I feel like it’s in a better place than it’s been before, but ultimately, it’s not a one man situation. It’s lots and lots of people coming together and if you want to point fingers, point them somewhere else.”
Ferrari have been forced to issue a statement saying they have “full confidence” in Vasseur, who then spoke to the media in Malaysia.
“When you see the noise and all the rumours in the press all the week, I think as a team we need to work in serenity. And it was absolutely not the case,” Vasseur said.
“And I think the statement, it was mandatory to do something, or it could have been the same this weekend. But honestly, the big issue that we have today is to put stability, put serenity into the team, the focus that we need to have – and not to have this kind of question all day.”
After Russell’s win in Azerbaijan, Giles Richards looks at the prospect of a reignited title race with Mercedes teammate Antonelli in his preview of this weekend …
The prospect of a comeback from Russell, applying pressure to his 20-year-old teammate who is in only his second season in F1, might put Mercedes too under pressure in managing them. A process of which they are all too aware, as the last time F1 was in Malaysia it was the first year after the Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg relationship at Mercedes had come apart with rancour. Nonetheless the team insist they will continue to allow their current drivers to race one another.
Kimi Antontelli was fastest in third practice, posting a time of 1:36.302. That was followed by the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen (+0.278) and Isack Hadjar (+0.558). George Russell was six-tenths back and was followed by the Ferrari and McLaren pairs.
It is a marked improvement from Mercedes after yesterday’s second session, when Russell and Antonelli were 7th and 8th. This is the first time both have driven at Sepang.
“It’s probably been one of our toughest Fridays of the season so far,” said the Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord. “The competitive picture looks a lot more like it did, say, in somewhere like Hungary than maybe last weekend in Baku.”
It is warm at Sepang – around 32C this afternoon with high humidity, with track temperatures heading north of 50C and up towards 60C. Unlike next weekend’s Singapore GP, qualifying and the race in Malaysia will take place during the day. Track temperatures will have more of an impact on tyres tomorrow.
I’d be scrambling for the shade of a palm tree on those trackside banks of grass.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The race was postponed from its original date in April because of war in the Middle East. The fact that conflict is still ongoing means F1 returns to Malaysia this weekend for the first time since 2017. Temperatures at the Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur are high – the meeting has been declared a heat-hazard race – and the stakes are high too. Will Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli extend his 66-point lead at the top of the standings or can his teammate George Russell follow up on his victory in Baku last weekend?
Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto will have grid-place penalties for tomorrow’s race after bringing in more ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) than is allowed over the course of the season. In Colapinto’s case, he already had a five-place penalty after his crash into Pierre Gasly and a very miffed Lando Norris at the Azerbaijan GP. Norris called for a one-race ban for Colapinto and said some drivers “shouldn’t be there” in F1 but has since apologised for his comments.
Q1 in Malaysia gets under way at 9am BST, 4pm local time, 6pm AEST. Let’s roll.
