Max Verstappen on pole but ‘not fastest’ - Red Bull warned ‘gap is smaller’
Saturday's F1 Bahrain Grand Prix tipped to be a competitive race as Red Bull's lead has lessened
Max Verstappen was “not fastest” despite claiming pole position for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, he was reminded.
Red Bull picked up in the first qualifying session of 2024 where they left off last year, with Verstappen leading the pack, but there are signs that Saturday’s race could be a closer encounter than many of the grands prix of 2023.
Verstappen was 0.228s ahead of Charles Leclerc after an excellent Q3 lap in qualifying but it was the Ferrari driver who had earlier clocked the best time.
Ex-F1 champion Damon Hill said on Sky Sports: “This is a curious anomaly - Max is not the fastest man today around this circuit, and yet he’s on pole.
“Charles in Q2 nipped him by a tiny fraction. But, of course, that was just Q2 and it is Q3 that counts.”
Naomi Schiff added about Red Bull: “The fact of the matter is, we saw their car coming into the season and thought ‘that is an aggressive change, why do that when you’ve got a dominant car?’
“It was a risk. Now we can say it has paid off.
“The gap is smaller though. So the question is: did they go backwards or did the others go forwards? It’s hard to tell at this point.
“Ultimately he was quick enough.”
Ferrari’s Leclerc was P2 and Carlos Sainz was P4, with Mercedes’ George Russell between them.
“Charles’ words were reassuring,” Schiff said. “He said the car clearly has the potential, it could have been quick enough. He said he lost rhythm because they started the first part of Q3 on used softs.
“Instead of carrying momentum which he had - which is what you do in qualifying, you build, every session you’ve got more grip - unfortunately he took a step back on the used run. That’s why he didn’t maximise it.”
Saturday’s grand prix in Bahrain looks set to be a far more competitive race than many of Verstappen’s dominant outings last season.
“From pole to ninth, where Lewis Hamilton is, is half-a-second which is brilliant,” Hill noted.
Schiff: “From P2 to P9 it’s just three-tenths, very tight.”
Hill: “Race pace is a different thing. But it bodes well.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
