Charles Leclerc earned pole position ahead of Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, proving that pre-season predictions that Ferrari would return to the top of the field were correct.
The Scuderia has looked good in testing in Barcelona and Bahrain, but they were quick to dismiss their chances, implying that Red Bull and Mercedes were the favourites.
They must now understand that they are one of the teams to beat at this early juncture of the season, and they must now demonstrate their racing pace on Sunday.
Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Sergio Perez will start ahead of Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton will start fifth in his Mercedes, with former teammate Valtteri Bottas behind him in the Alfa Romeo.
Kevin Magnussen finished seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso on Saturday, with George Russell and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.
Earlier in the season, Daniel Ricciardo, in particular, had a difficult time remembering Q1. McLaren has had a difficult few weeks, and the Australian has borne the brunt of it. He was diagnosed with covid last week, and as a result, he was unable to participate in any of the testing days, which saw McLaren suffer from braking troubles.
That has clearly cost them, with Ricciardo set for P18 in tomorrow’s race, with only Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi ahead of him.
Yuki Tsunoda will start from P16, while Nico Hulkenberg will start from P17, outqualifying his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll despite only arriving late in the week following Sebastian Vettel’s positive covid test.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s difficult Saturday continued into Q2, with Lando Norris qualifying P13, ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams and Guanyu Zhou in the Alfa Romeo – the latter’s time being erased due to violating track limitations.
Before the weekend, Norris stated that Haas might compete with McLaren this year, and that appears to be the case, with Mick Schumacher scheduled to start only one position ahead of him, and Esteban Ocon poised to start from P11 in the Alpine.