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Valtteri Bottas claims fifth pole of the season by beating Mercedes substitute George Russell by just 0.026 seconds; Max Verstappen third with Charles Leclerc fourth for Ferrari; Alex Albon knocked out in Q2 in 12th
By Matt Morlidge
Last Updated: 12/05/20 6:36 pm
Valtteri Bottas overtook Mercedes substitute George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to claim pole position for the Sakhir GP with the fastest lap in Formula 1 as the first qualifying around the fast ‘Outer’ track in Bahrain It resulted in an exciting and fascinating shootout.
It was Bottas’ fifth pole of the season, and the fastest in F1 history with 53,377, but he only claimed it by two hundredths of a second from Russell as the 22-year-old Englishman, who replaces Lewis Hamilton this weekend. . made a remarkable performance on his Mercedes qualifying debut.
Russell got very close to Bottas on his last lap, as did Max Verstappen, although the Red Bull star lost his first pole in F1 2020 by just 0.056.
It was a throbbing top-three battle throughout qualifying hour in Bahrain’s ‘oval’ design, one that Russell should be proud to have been a part of, let alone nearly win, as Mercedes selected him. from Williams on Wednesday.
“Really satisfied,” said Russell, who had never reached Q3 in F1 before Saturday. “We did it all together on the last lap. Obviously we lost pole by 20 milliseconds, but if you had told me last week that I would be qualifying P2 on the grid, I would not have believed you.”
He added: “Valtteri has put a lot of pressure on Lewis in qualifying over the years. I think statistically there has only been a tenth between them and we all know how great Lewis is.
“Just to be behind Valtteri, arriving at the last minute with two days of preparation, I am happy. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
2:08 Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson looks at the close qualifying laps between Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton’s replacement George Russell at the Sakhir GP.
Charles Leclerc secured fourth place for Ferrari with an excellent lap early in Q3, finally just two-tenths behind Bottas, taking full advantage of Alex Albon missing the top-10 run after being eliminated in Q2 at the post. 12 for Red Bull.
Sergio Perez, who aspires to fill Albon’s position at Red Bull next year, again impressed in fifth place at Racing Point, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Daniel Kvyat, who secured his best F1 grid spot in 18 months. One of the many surprises of F1.
Sakhir GP qualifying result
1. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
2. George Russell, Mercedes
3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5. Sergio Pérez, Racing Point
6. Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
8. Carlos Sainz, McLaren
9. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
10. Lance Stroll, Racing Point
More to follow.
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