F1 Bahrain GP Qualifying Results: What Happened in Qualifying?

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying.

The first qualifying session of the 2023 F1 season is over and it has set the exciting tone for what is going to be a brilliant year of racing. 

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix tomorrow in the Red Bull RB19. 

With now four teams fighting it out at the top of the grid- Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin- it was an exciting qualifying session with fans on the edge of their seats. 

Here is a round-up of what happened. 

Q1

AlphaTauri were the first to hit the track as the lights turned green on the Bahrain pitlane quickly followed by both Ferrari drivers. 

Charles Leclerc was the first to take on a flying lap but locks up on the first corner, forcing him to abort as we saw a number of carbon fibre shards flying off the car from the wheel arch - hence the lockup. This caused a red flag while marshalls fetched the Ferrari parts. 

It didn't take long for the red flags to be pulled back in and we found everyone out on track with Max Verstappen, reigning world champion, taking his first flying lap. The car looks a little upset, but Fernando Alonso takes the top of the timesheet in his Aston Martin, eventually being overtaken by both Ferraris and - what's this - a Mercedes thanks to George Russell. 

Unfortunately for new McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, he was eliminated in Q1 alongside F1 rookies Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries. Pierre Gasly also didn't make it in the Alpine. Kevin Magnussen was also pushed out, while his new teammate Nico Hulkenberg sat in a commendable sixth. 

Q2

Lance Stroll was the first to set a flying lap with Alonso following behind setting purple sectors before getting knocked off by both Mercedes cars. This didn't last long as Red Bull's Verstappen takes top of the timesheet with Perez only two-tenths behind, but eventually, all of the top four teams were scattered amongst the top 8.

Alex Albon's Williams was expressing very strange understeering behaviour so was sat for a long time at the bottom of the grid with no time at all and stayed there, leaving qualifying in 15th place on the grid. 

The times were so close during Q2 making it a very exciting and enjoyable 15 minutes.

Q3

Ferrari and Red Bull were first out onto track with Max Verstappen taking the first flying lap with immense speed that wasn't able to be matched by Perez, Leclerc, or Sainz. 

Leclerc's qualifying ended very early with what we assume to be issues with his Ferrari forcing him to slink back into the garage giving Red Bull room to breathe. 

Conclusion

What an exciting start to the 2023 F1 Season. The times are incredibly close so we're in store for some close racing tomorrow. 

A real surprise for us was Hulkenberg and his Haas who safely made it into Q3 but didn't set a time in Q3. Mercedes didn't show exceptional performance with Hamilton and Russell finishing 7th and 6th respectively.  

Bahrain Qualifying Results

1. Max Verstappen - Red Bull

2. Sergio Perez - Red Bull

3. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

4. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari

5. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin

6. George Russell - Mercedes

7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

8. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin

9. Esteban Ocon - Alpine

10. Nico Hulkenberg - Haas

11: Lando Norris - McLaren

12. Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo

13. Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo

14. Yuki Tsunoda - AlfaTauri

15. Alex Albon - Williams

16. Logan Sargeant - Williams 

17. Kevin Magnussen - Haas

18. Oscar Piastri - McLaren

19. Nyck de Vries - AlphaTauri

20. Pierre Gasly - Alpine