Marko Hanželic
The sun had long since set, the lights were on on the racetrack Bahrain International Circuit and qualifiers with the potential to become one of the most exciting of the season have begun. The shortest track this season is long 3.543 metrov and is thus only longer than Monaka, but the speeds there are of course significantly lower than in Bahrain.
Q1: Farewell to the newcomers (and their teammates)
The first part of the qualifiers took place without any significant incidents, only occasionally did the racers complain about the crowd, which was also expected given the short track.
Recall that for Mercedes instead Lewis Hamilton performed by Williams ’racer George Russell, his replacement was Jack aitken, which otherwise occurs in Formulas 2, damaged Romain Grosjean so it is at Haas replaced Pietro Fittipaldi.
In the end, they were both newcomers to F1, then aitken in fittipaldi too short for the second part of the qualifications, and it can be a consolation for them to say goodbye to them as well Kimi Räikkönen and a teammate of both newcomers, therefore Kevin Magnussen in Nicholas Latif.
For comparison, Pietro fittipaldi is for Magnussen seven tenths of a second behind Jack aitken is for Latifim lagged behind by only a tenth.
Q2: Albon (again) failed to convince Norris of the problem
After the first attempts at fast laps, he was on top Bottas, which he Russell he was breathing behind his collar, as he was only a few thousandths behind him, he was behind them Verstappen, who, however, soon set the fastest time, had been at the top before Sergio Perez.
Against at the end of Q2 it was very lively on the track and in the end it was all fatal for Ocon, Albon, Vettel, Giovinazzi in Norris. The latter was obviously struggling with problems as he failed to complete the last fast lap and had to settle for 15. starting point at tomorrow's race.
Q3: 26 thousandths of a second between Bottas and Russell, Leclerc's little miracle
The third part of the qualifications started the fastest Max Verstappen, he was only 22 thousandths behind him Leclerc, who was s Ferrari surprisingly among the fastest. It was only after both that we found both Mercedes drivers, Bottas in Russell.
Black arrows they soon put things in their place and in the end he was Bottas 26 thousandths faster than George Russell, which so far in the racing weekend has shown that it is from a real racing test. He landed in third place Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, who no longer performed after that quick lap, retained fourth place, before Sergio Perez in Daniil Kvyat.
