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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas starts first in the Sakhir Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship season, with the fastest time on the Bahrain International Circuit in qualifying session, beating his teammate George Russell for just 0.026 seconds. While Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull.
Excitement levels were high at the Bahrain International Circuit, where the second consecutive round was held in this exceptional Formula 1 season, but with the adoption of the external fast track and with times below the one minute per lap limit.
Due to this short track on the circuit, the times were very even and competition was fierce among many drivers for the starting position.
The first fast laps in the third section of the qualifying session saw Red Bull driver Max Verstappen outscored, scoring a time of 53.591 seconds, but Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc shone in that section when he scored 53.613 seconds and was just 0.022 behind. Verstappen seconds with the end of that. Quick turns.
But for the Mercedes team, which is witnessing the absence of world champion Lewis Hamilton after being infected with the Corona virus, George Russell and Valtteri Bottas used only semi-hard tires in the second part of the qualifying session, which means that this guy of tires are used at the start of the race.
This led to three sets of soft tires that Bottas and Russell could use in the third section of the qualifying session. [الأولى مستهلكة والمجموعتان المتبقيتان جديدتان] With Bottas and Russell advancing to first and second place, waiting for the final fast laps that would have decided the classification of the starting grid for Sunday’s race under the lights of the Bahrain International Circuit.
Unlike the Mercedes team, Leclerc had used all his tires during qualifying and was therefore only able to complete that first fastest lap in the third division, and waited for the rest of the drivers to complete their final times to see the position you would get.
Bottas managed to score 53,377 s, but Russell was very close as the Briton scored, in his first participation with the Mercedes team and without having any previous experience with this team and his participation in the Williams ranks only since the beginning of 2019, the time 53.403 seconds, that is, it was 0.026 away. The boots thing.
Verstappen was third for Red Bull, just 0.056 seconds off the lead.
Once again, Alexander Albon, who is doing his best to save his seat with Red Bull for next year, has struggled as, in light of Verstappen’s brilliance in this qualifying session, Albon struggled and failed. was able to qualify in the top ten.
Albon finished the second half of the qualifying session out 0.3 W for his colleague Verstappen, and to start from the center 12 In the Sunday race.
While Leclerc’s good timing at the start of the third section of the qualifying session was enough to guarantee him a fourth place, a remarkable result for Ferrari under his conditions in the 2020 season, and 0.2 seconds behind the leader.
While Leclerc gave Ferrari a good result in this qualifying session, with the expectation that this track at the Bahrain International Circuit may reveal Ferrari’s weaknesses, his teammate Sebastian Vettel did not enjoy the same pace as Vettel settled for 13th on the starting grid for Sunday’s race.
Racing Point was in the top ten, with Sergio Pérez in fifth place, while Lance Stroll could not keep up and settled for tenth on the starting grid.
Sixth place went to Alpha Tore driver Daniel Kviat, while Pierre Gasly finished ninth and suffered damage to the floor of his car in this qualifying session due to his climbing on the side tires. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh for Renault, against McLaren driver Carlos Sainz.
Esteban Ocon could not join his Renault teammate Daniel Ricardo in the top ten, but he was the fastest driver to fail to qualify in the top ten, thus taking the 11th starting position.
Antonio Giovinazzi was the best Alfa Romeo driver, finishing 14th, while McLaren team driver Lando Norris was in chaos, unable to complete a clean lap and settled for 15th starting position.
The Haas duo, the Williams duo and Alfa Romeo team driver Kimi Raikkonen retired in the first section of qualifying.
Kevin Magnussen was the fastest of the drivers who did not qualify for the second leg of the qualifying session, with his starting position 16, beating the Williams duo and team Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken, as this was the first time that Latifi outdid her teammate in class. Qualifying, with Russell participating with Mercedes and Aitken registering his first Formula 1 participation.
Williams Latifi and Aitken will start from 17th and 18th respectively, while Raikkonen will start from 19th, ahead of Pietro Vittipaldi, who replaces Roman Grogan with Haas, and the Brazilian will start his first Formula 1 race from last place. .
