Sakhir Grand Prix: Pole at Bottas

Clear. Dry. Air + 24C, via + 27 … 26C

Bahrain made the curious decision to change the track configuration for the second Grand Prix, excluding the entire inner winding sector. The track turned out to be short, fast, and requiring completely different settings, which affected the balance of power.

Lewis Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19 and the injuries suffered by Roman Grosjean in the crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix led to replacements. A member of his youth program, George Russell, who temporarily moved from Williams, got behind the wheel of Lewis’s car at Mercedes. Russell was replaced at Williams by Formula 2 Jack Aitken, and Grosjean was replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi at Haas F1; both drivers made their debut during the official Formula 1 weekend.

Like last week, Pirelli chose the three “middle” lineups: the roles of Hard, Medium and Soft were C2, C3 and C4. On the short version of the track, the soft tires didn’t wear out as fast as they did a week ago.

At the end of the third training session, Ferrari noticed a malfunction in Vettel’s car via telemetry and decided to replace the power plant. The substitution was completed on time, arriving in time for the start of qualifying.

In the first session Sainz first went to Hard, Gasley, Kvyat, Bottas, and Russell to Medium, but then they all switched to Soft.

At the drivers’ briefing, the drivers agreed on how to act on a short lap so as not to interfere with each other in qualifying, and there were no serious problems.

The best time was shown by Bottas, having driven a circle in 0: 53.904. Retired from more fights: Magnussen, Latifi, Aitken, Raikkonen and Fittipaldi. For the first time in his career, Latifi was ahead of his partner in qualifying: he was rookie Aitken.

In the second session Bottas, Russell, Leclair, Vettel, Verstappen, Ocon, and Riccardo went to Medium, the rest to Soft. In the first attempt the protocol was led by Sergio Pérez, who completed the circle in Soft in 0: 53.787. The first five fit in 0.053 seconds.

On the second try, everyone but Bottas and Russell switched to Soft. Norris’s car slowed down. Verstappen had the best time with a lap at 0.53.647.

Retired from new fights: Okon, Albon, Vettel, Giovinazzi and Norris.

In the end Gasli and Kvyat made their first attempt on Medium, the rest went to Soft. It was important to be in a slide on a fast lap. Verstappen led the protocol with 0: 53.591, Leclair unexpectedly showed the second time, losing just 0.022 seconds – and abandoned the second attempt, but Bottas was faster – 0: 53.377.

On the second attempt, Valtteri failed to improve, but the rivals were unable to overtake. The first three were separated by 0.056 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas won the classification of Sahir, taking pole number 16 of his career and fifth of the season. George Russell lost only 0.026 seconds; tomorrow, the Mercedes drivers will occupy the entire front row of the starting field.

Verstappen and Leclair will start from the second row, Pérez and Kvyat will start from the third row; For Russell and Kvyat, this is the best result of the season.

Qualification results