FERRARI continued to ‘paint the town red’ last night with another dazzling display culminating with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen locking the front row with comfortable ease for today’s Gulf Air Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix at the iconic Bahrain International Circuit.
Though both Vettel and Raikkonen reserved their best for last, the German and Finn, respectively, were in command right through yesterday’s qualifying under the state-of-the-art floodlights.
Vettel clinched his 51st career pole in the dying seconds and his teammate Raikkonen, who was leading for most of last night’s qualifying, had to grudgingly settle for second spot on a night of feverish racing in a festive atmosphere with thousands of die-hard Formula 1 fans mingling with music lovers and wide-eyed first-timers on a lovely and pleasant day where everyone had something to enjoy and, in turn, get entertained.
This is how Vettle described his final lap: “Yes, P1! Pole position.
“That was a lion lap. That was quite intense... I was happy with my first run until I tossed it away in the last corner so I stayed away from that kerb in the second run.
“The car has been excellent here all weekend.”
Champions Mercedes had to settle for the second row with Valtteri Bottas finishing third fastest ahead of teammate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton, who has a five-place grid penalty after an overnight gearbox change and starts from ninth.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo thus starts fourth ahead of Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Dane Kevin Magnussen of Haas. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Renault ahead of Esteban Ocon for Force India and Carlos Sainz in the second Renault.
On a dramatic day of thrilling action, the top two teams – Mercedes and Ferrari – were involved in cat-and-mouse-type warfare. A minor drama in the first qualifying section when rookie Brendon Hartley ran off track and damaged his Toro Rosso’s front wing was only an unwanted and unnecessary interlude. Max Verstappen then crashed on the exit of Turn Two and ploughed into the barriers to cap his wretched weekend which started with a technical problem during first practice on Friday.
However, despite a scorching qualifying performance, Raikkonen rated the day as ‘not ideal’.
“Far from ideal in the last run with the traffic,” said the 2007 champion at the post qualifying press conference.
“But what can I do? Tomorrow is the main thing – that’s when we get the points.”
Disagreed
However, Bottas disagreed slightly. “It felt ok. The laps were getting better, but these guys in the red cars! It’s going to be a close race.”
For the records, it is Ferrari’s first pole position at Sakhir since 2007 when Brazilian Felipe Massa turned it into a victory ahead of then-rookie Hamilton, now a three-time champion in Bahrain, and, for good measure, repeated the feat next year.
His teammate Hamilton, who struggled for that decisive extra fraction of pace right through, though not disconsolate, was not really happy.
“Not easy,” was his crisp response.
“But I will give it all I can. I wasn’t able to get any more from the new tyres at the end and the Ferraris were really the quickest.
“There will be chances to do something with the strategy and I will eke out all the performance and strength I can from the car.”
At the other end, Verstappen emerged unscathed after a scary crash into the barriers.
“I’m ok,” the Dutch said calmly which was in stark contrast to the initial outburst, not worth repeating to an audience in a conservative country like Bahrain. He then hopped on to a waiting bike and disappeared into the sunset as the session was stopped for over seven minutes.
The break, however, helped McLaren’s Fernando Alonso as he squeezed into the next stage by the slenderest of margins while Charles Leclerc of Sauber spun and failed to go through.
He was joihned by Grosjean, Swede Marcus Ericsson in the second Sauber, Russian Sergey Sirotkin and his Williams team-mate Canadian teenager Lance Stroll.