SAKHIR, Bahrain – Charles Leclerc earned the first Formula One pole of his young career Saturday at the Bahrain Int’l Circuit as Ferrari swept the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc, in his first season as a Ferrari driver, set a track record during the final round of qualifying with his best lap of 1:27.866. He’ll be joined on the front row by Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, who was .294 of a second off Leclerc’s pace.
“This first pole position brings me a lot of emotions, even if I’m trying to stay as cool as possible, as there are no points for pole position and the race is tomorrow,” said Leclerc. “It has been a great day and a great weekend overall for the team so far, so I hope it will continue tomorrow. I said it was a question of putting everything together for qualifying and it seems I did it, unlike what happened in the first race.
“It’s an amazing feeling but now we have to focus on the race and try to bring home the best possible result tomorrow. I feel more comfortable in the car lap after lap so I’m satisfied. Before the race we will talk with the team to find the perfect strategy in order to give the Scuderia the best possible result. The start will probably be the key as the track is dirty and it’s easy to have wheelspin.”
The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, who have found themselves behind the Ferrari duo all weekend, were next in the qualifying order. Hamilton will start third, with championship leader and Australian Grand Prix winner Bottas lining up fourth.
Max Verstappen qualified fifth for Red Bull. He’ll be joined in the third row by the impressive Kevin Magnussen for the Haas F1 Team.
Carlos Sainz Jr. will start seventh for McLaren ahead of the Haas of Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Grosjean, however, was penalized three places for impeding Norris’ progress at the end of Q1.
As a result, Raikkonen will start eighth, Norris ninth and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo will start 10th. Grosjean will now start 11th.