F1: Leclerc Bests Vettel To Take Maiden Pole For Bahrain GP

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured his first Formula 1 pole position for the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix. The 21-year-old driver made his Ferrari debut this year with the Australian GP and managed to put a dominant performance beating teammate Sebastian Vettel and both the Mercedes drivers. Vettel finished second, 0.294s behind Leclerc who posted a time of 1m27.866s in his second attempt improving from his initial run of 1m27.958s. Leclerc managed to post a faster time thanks to a new set of Pirellis over his teammate, while Vettel did not attempt an initial run. Hamilton completed qualifying 0.30s slower than Vettel and starts third tomorrow, while Bottas starts fourth 0.390s behind the pole-sitter.

Coming in fifth is Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen with the competitive new Honda engine. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was the fastest of the B-teams posting a time of 1m28.757s finishing sixth with teammate Romain Grosjean in eighth place. Sandwiched between the two was McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr who starts seventh tomorrow.

Sebastian Vettel posted a time of 1m28.160s, and starts second in the Bahrain GP

Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo and Lando Norris completed the top 10 positions at ninth and tenth spot respectively, followed by Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon of Torro Rosso, just 0.42s off the Renault. Red Bull's Pierre Gasly will start 13th, ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez and Danill Kvyat of Torro Rosso.

Alfa rookie Antonio Giovinazzi was the fastest driver to be eliminated from Q1 and starts in 16th place tomorrow, just 0.067s off Raikkonen. Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll finished were one of the last finishers in qualifying, but is the Williams duo of George Russell and Robert Kubica starting at the back of the grid.