Lewis Hamilton grabs pole and sets new track record ahead of the 2020 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix

Setting a new track record at the Bahrain International Circuit, Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position ahead of Sunday’s race.

The usual three musketeers qualified first, second and third and it was the seven-time World Champion on top in qualifying once more. Valtteri Bottas’ late charge saw him pip Max Verstappen to second and left the Dutchman in third once more.

Alex Albon confirmed an all Red Bull second row as he put his car into fourth. Sergio Perez denied the Renault drivers of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon an all Renault third row as he put his Racing Point into fifth as Ricciardo was pushed to sixth and Ocon into seventh.

Pierre Gasly could only qualify eighth as Lando Norris qualified ninth splitting the two AlphaTauri drivers as Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten after Q3.

Both Ferrari’s were knocked out of Q2 as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will look to replicate their luck from Turkey. Lance Stroll went from pole position last week to a bleak P13 start. Mr Saturday, George Russell made it out of Q2 again as he will start the race from 14th on the grid alongside Carlos Sainz who after his spin was unable to get a competitive time and will start 15th.

After a great weekend in Turkey, Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen failed to get out of Q1 and will start 16th and 17th. Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were only able to get 18th and 19th as Nicholas Latifi qualified last in P20.

As It Happened

Q1

George Russell was the first car to come out onto the Bahrain circuit as he looked to set his competitive time on a free and empty track. He later decided to abort his flying lap and peeled into the pits.

Max Verstappen then remained as the sole driver on the circuit and subsequently set the first competitive time of the first qualifying session with a 1:28.885.

After the Red Bull driver finished his flying lap, everyone rushed to the circuit to set their respective times.

Purple sector after purple sector saw Lewis Hamilton light up the timing charts and slotted his Mercedes on top with a lap time half a second faster than Verstappen’s.

By the end of Q1, the drivers eliminated were: Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Raikkonen, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi.

Q2

Daniil Kvyat was the first driver out of the pits as a group of ten drivers followed the Russian out.

The session was stopped and red-flagged not long after as a spinning Carlos Sainz parked his car on the curb of Turn One as he bowed out of Q2.

Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez were the first drivers out of the pits after the restart of the second qualifying session.

The Red Bull of Verstappen was the first to set a competitive time yet again as he set a time eight-tenths quicker than his Q1 time. He stayed at the top of the timing charts as the trio that he was joined by were unable to go faster than him.

Hamilton went quickest in Q2 by nearly half a second as his lap time of 1:27.586 allowed him to jump ahead of Verstappen.

The drivers eliminated from Q2 were: Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, Lance Stroll, George Russell and Carlos Sainz.

Q3

The top ten shootout began as all ten drivers made their way onto the circuit with the red soft tyres on all ten cars.

Norris set the first time of Q3. The McLaren driver set a 1.29.029 as Kvyat went four-tenths slower than the Brit.

Hamilton set the benchmark time of 1:27.677 for provisional pole as Verstappen was one and a half tenths back and Bottas followed in third, a quarter of a second slower than his teammate.

All the drivers came out of the pits for their final timed laps to set the top ten for tomorrow’s race. Lewis Hamilton set a new track record of 1:27.264 to extend his pole lead. Bottas jumped into second which left Verstappen sour-faced in third once again.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt