Oscar Piastri, following a strong performance in the qualifiers, is the pole sitter for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Next to him is not his teammate Lando Norris, but Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. The British McLaren driver is found at P6 on the starting grid, with Max Verstappen behind him at P7. In short, fans can look forward to an entertaining desert race.
The disappointment was evident on Norris’s face after the qualifiers. Shouldn’t he also be on the front row? “It’s as if I’ve never driven in Formula 1,” he grumbled. Given the speed of his orange car, we can expect him to quickly move forward from the sixth position today. And he will need to, if he doesn’t want to lose the championship lead to Piastri.
The Mercedes drivers were also disappointed after the qualifiers. Both George Russell (P2) and Kimi Antonelli (P4) received a one-place grid penalty and are therefore in the third and fifth positions on the starting grid. Sandwiched between them is perhaps the biggest surprise on the grid: Pierre Gasly. This fourth place is a nice boost for Alpine, as the French racing team has yet to score any points this season. Will that change today?
On the fourth row, we find Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. The Dutchman was dissatisfied with P7 and the question is whether the RB21 is fast enough on this circuit for a podium finish. The Spaniard, on the other hand, was quite pleased with the eighth place because he made it to Q3 and finally beat his teammate Alex Albon in the qualifiers.
Below is the full starting grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which starts at 15:00 UTC (Dutch time).
