Bojan Vrbnjak
Max Verstappen said before the start of the season and after testing in Bahrain said it was time to take off their pants and to show who has what. Max he took off his pants for the first time in today’s qualifiers and the rivals had something to see. They were probably most astonished at what was shown Mercedes, as Hamilton was just under four tenths of a second behind the Dutchman.
It will be necessary tomorrow take off your pants again, this time the teams and racers have to show how what they showed works on longer distance and how it will be with tire management throughout the race. And obviously MAXU he enjoys the evening atmosphere on the Arabian Peninsula as he also convincingly won last year’s final race in Abu Dhabi. But Dutchman he knows he can't work today account without an innkeeper, because at Mercedes they have shown in tests in the long-distance segment that they are not serial champions in vain.
MaxVerstappen, Red Bull Racing - pole position: Now we need a clean start and the first lap
Max Verstappen was the fastest racer in Bahrain all weekend, also during winter testing. At the most important moment, on qualifications, showed how good this year's car is Red Bull Racing, which sounds like a name RB16. The Dutchman was very satisfied after the qualifications. “Of course, since we already had a great test. There was no guarantee in the first racing weekend, but all week the race car worked flawlessly and was a real pleasure."
His final round was remarkable, as it was the fastest in all three sectors. In the end, that was convincing enough pole position, it is Hamilton behind him nearly four-tenths of a second. “The wind was changing direction all the time and it wasn’t easy to set up the race car to perform well in the qualifiers. My first lap in Q3 wasn’t good, but you never know for how much.”In terms of tomorrow's race but he said: “Overall, our race car worked well over short and long distances. I look forward to tomorrow’s race as we have a good race car. We need to have a clean start and a first lap."
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - second place: After the test, I thought our lag would be even bigger
Lewis Hamilton had a very difficult start to this year’s season on the winter test. With a race car he was not satisfied, but during the racing weekend GP Bahrain, it has become clear that he is always feeling better in his new company car W12. But in the end, that wasn’t enough to beat it Verstappen.
"Congratulations Max, he did a great job. He was very fast in the last lap,He said Hamilton, who was visibly pleased with the conquest elsewhere. "I did my best in my last lap, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Everyone in the factory has done an outstanding job to get us closer now Red Bullu. In testing, we thought we would fall even further behind,”Added the seven-time world champion.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - third place: Everything is possible from the third starting place
Valtteri Bottas will start tomorrow's race from third place, behind a teammate Lewis Hamilton and the best Max Verstappn. The Finn is confident the team can challenge Verstappen, as he has both racers in the foreground, Red Bull so Max. Therefore Bottas he was not overly depressed after qualifying.
"The morning training was not easy as I had a lot of problems with the balance of the car and I hoped it would be better in the qualifiers. In Q1, in the second attempt, we went to the track with a soft tire mix, which wasted wasting the entire set of tires. In Q3, we only had one more set of fresh soft compound tires available, so it was hard to compete with Max and Lewis with just one set,He said Bottas and added in the same breath: "But it’s not that bad, even though we’re not there because we’d like to be. But from the third starting place, anything is possible."
