Formula 1: Red Bull Lock Out First Row For 2023 Bahrain GP, Ferrari In Row Two

Formula 1 was back in action with Red Bull coming out strong in qualifying at the 2023 Bahrain GP. The team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez locked out the starting row of the grid for Sunday’s race with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz starting in row 2. The results were a first for Red Bull with the team never having previously locked out the first row at the venue.

Image source

The first qualifying session did see some drama with a red flag being brought out early with just the Alpha Tauri cars and Carlos Sainz posting times. The sharp kerbs on the track caused parts of the wake control winglets of the Ferrari to fall off as Leclerc came off of his out-lap. The damage however was minor with the car back on track following repairs when the session resumed minutes later. The red flag tough resulted in the pack being bunched together for the remainder of the session with the session ending with the lead and last car on the grid separated by just 1.128 seconds. The session ended with Sainz on top followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Williams Racing newcomer Logan Sargeant was edged out of Q1 by McLaren’s Lando Norris while fellow rookie McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished 19^th in the session. Nyck De Vries’ Alpha Tauri finished at the back of the pack in Q1 though a subsequent time deletion for Pierre Gasly means that he replaces De Vries in P20.

Image Source

Red Bull came into contention in Q2 with Verstappen going head-to-head with Leclerc in the battle of P1. Verstappen ended the session in P2 behind Leclerc with Mercedes’ pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in P3 and P4. Alex Albon saw his lap times deleted in the session forcing him to to start Sunday’s race in P15. A Returning Nico Hulkenberg – back after two season- had a strong outing for the Haas team sticking all the way through to Q3 and starting 10^th on the grid when his Q3 lap times were deleted from exceeding track limits.

Image source

Q3 was smooth sailing with Red Bull and Ferrari going head-to-head to post the fastest times. The closing stages though did feature a little drama with Leclerc not participating in the closing stages of the session. Sitting in second 0.103 seconds behind leader Verstappen, Leclerc pulled into the pits after posting his times and climbed out of the car ending his session with 2 minutes to spare. The two Red Bulls and Sainz’s Ferrari would make their way back onto the track in the closing stages with Verstappen and Perez blitzing the circuit in their quickest times of the day to bag P1 and P2 respectively.

Here is a look at the grid for Sunday's Bahrain GP: