SAKHIR, Bahrain – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won the pole for Sunday’s season-opening Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Monégasque driver posted a fast lap of 1:30.558 around the Bahrain International Circuit.
This was Leclerc’s 10th career pole position, with his first one coming in Bahrain three years ago.
It is the first pole of the new 18-inch era. Like all the drivers, Leclerc got through qualifying using the P Zero Red soft tyre only: a total of four sets, one each in Q1 and Q2, then two sets in Q3. The only exception was Williams, which did an in and out run with mediums.
Defending champion Max Verstappen qualified second.
“Overall, it’s not a bad position to be in, of course you always want more but this is a positive start to the season,” Verstappen said in a media release. “I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn. Q2 was good but Q3 was a bit more hit and miss with not really getting the right balance. There was some oversteer and understeer so you can’t really attack the corner which makes it quite difficult to put that lap together, so that’s something we’ll need to look into. The Ferraris are of course very close and it’s going to be a tough battle, they have two strong drivers so it’s going to be exciting.”
