Max Verstappen continues his fine form into the new season as he takes pole position for the first grand prix of 2024.
Q1
Alpine were feared to have one of the worst cars coming out of pre-season testing. The A523 appeared to be overweight, difficult to drive and generally slow all around. Those fears were realised in Q1, as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly found themselves planted to the bottom row.
Things were relatively close towards the back of the grid though. Stroll, Hamilton, and both RB cars found themselves in the bottom 5 in the dying moments of Q1, but were all able to emerge safely through to Q2. Furthermore, the gap between 16th and 19th ended up being less than four hundredths of a second, even if they were all over a tenth from safety.
ELIMINATED
16. Valtteri Bottas – Kick Sauber +0.110
17. Zhou Guanyu – Kick Sauber +0.111
18. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.124
19. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.147
20. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.302
Q2
Ferrari had begun to show off their pace, now that everyone had firmly thrown off their sandbags. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in Q2 with a 1:29.165, which would prove to be marginally faster than the eventual pole time.
It was mixed fortunes in the Haas garage, as Hulkenberg was able to soar through to Q3 with a time that had seen him initially go 2nd place, though he would drop to 6th by the end of the session. However, Kevin Magnussen was not able to make it through, and was slowest of all 15 remaining drivers. This result still isn’t terrible though, as pre-season testing and expectations from the team suggested that the car might have looked like one of the biggest strugglers in the early parts of the season.
Mercedes found themselves having to manage some tense nerves as they were the final two cars to cross the line for the session, whilst also having to deal with some traffic on these laps. Fortunately for them, any worries of a Q2 knockout were alleviated once Russell moved up to 6th, and Hamilton up to 4th just a moment later.
ELIMINATED
11. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.007
12. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.078
13. Alex Albon – Williams +0.099
14. Daniel Ricciardo – RB +0.156
15. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.407
Q3
The stage had been set for a close end to the night’s proceedings, as the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin looked close to identical in terms of pace, whilst Ferrari’s speed showed they might have been able to cause Verstappen some headaches.
It would be Verstappen though who would go on to take provisional pole position, albeit roughly three tenths slower than Leclerc’s fastest time in Q2. The Monegasque was himself only marginally behind, going just six hundredths slower whilst also being on used tyres.
It would be Verstappen who would make the biggest jump forward out of the two, though. Taking advantage of a small slipstream from an Oscar Piastri finishing his lap, Verstappen was able to improve by two and a half tenths to extend his gap at the top. Leclerc however would not be able to improve on his time, nor would his teammate Carlos Sainz.
Elsewhere, Russell was able to bring his Mercedes into third on the grid, whilst Hamilton in the other Mercedes was only quick enough to go 9th. McLaren lockout the 4th row of the grid, whilst Alonso’s only lap of the session was good enough to see him go 6th.
Despite Verstappen being over two tenths of a second faster than Leclerc in 2nd place, the whole of the top nine were only separated by a little over five tenths of a second. This highlights that the teams have begun to close up to Red Bull in terms of one lap pace, given that 9th place last season found themselves 1.2 seconds behind Verstappen in qualifying during last year’s Bahrain grand prix.
Qualifying Results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:23.445
2. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.228
3. George Russell – Mercedes +0.306
4. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.328
5. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.358
6. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.363
7. Oscar Piastri– McLaren +0.435
8. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.504
9. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.531
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +1.323
