Bahrain Grand Prix: Qualification – All the news of Formula 1 2020

Cloudy. Dry. Air + 26С, track + 28 … 27С

Typically, the stage in Bahrain took place in the spring, and qualifying made it possible to assess the balance of forces on the traditional stationary track, after unpredictable results at Albert Park.

In 2020, the stage took place at the end of November, the teams completed the completion of the cars a long time ago, and in training many people tested solutions for the upcoming season. Lewis Hamilton led the protocol twice on Friday and Max Verstappen posted the best time on Saturday afternoon.

A year ago, tire workers brought the toughest tires to Bahrain. Many criticized this choice and hardly used the toughest lineup, and this year Pirelli chose the three “middle” lineups: the roles of Hard, Medium and Soft were C2, C3 and C4. This time, questions arose for C4: The softer composition was losing its effectiveness too quickly.

Qualification in Bahrain is not essential, but always curious. The track allows you to overtake, over the past ten years the pole-holder has won the race only three times at the Sakhir circuit.

In the first session everyone went to Soft, only Stroll chose Medium. Hamilton led the protocol with a lap of 1: 28.343. Williams drivers Alfa Romeo, Haas F1 and Nicholas Latifi withdrew from the fight.

In the second session only Gasli and Kvyat chose Soft for the first try, the rest went to Medium – nobody wanted to start the Soft career.

The drivers did not have time to complete the lap when the red flags appeared: Carlos Sainz’s car stopped on the track when, after a curve, the power station suddenly switched off. They tried to restart it but failed. The car was evacuated, soon the cyclists were out again; eight minutes remained until the end of the session.

Albon and Norris switched to Soft. Hamilton spearheaded the protocol, setting a new tracking record of 1: 27.586.

Last year, Leclerc and Vettel took the top two places in the standings in Bahrain, now both have not reached the final. Along with them, Stroll, Russell and Sainz withdrew from the fight.

In the end everything went soft: the tire resource was barely enough for a fast lap. In the first attempt, Hamilton showed the best time: 1: 27.677.

On the second attempt, Lewis drove even faster – 1: 27.264 – this is now the new all-time record at Sakhir.

Lewis Hamilton won qualifying in Bahrain, taking his 98th career pole and the tenth of the season. Valtteri Bottas qualified second, three tenths behind; For the eleventh time this year, Mercedes drivers will occupy the entire front row of the starting field.

Verstappen and Elbon start from the second row, Pérez and Riccardo from the third row. The race will be interesting!

Qualification results