Verstappen takes emphatic pole with stellar final lap

Max Verstappen posted a devastating final lap of 1:28.997s to take his first Formula 1 career pole position in Bahrain by a whopping 0.388s over Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Charles Leclerc managed to put Ferrari on the second row of the grid, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo also performing strongly in the first qualifying session of the season.

But a messy end to the first round had earlier proved costly for Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel and Alpine's Esteban Ocon, with a number of yellow flags meaning that race control will be busy well into the evening checking for any violations that could yet shake-up the grid overnight.

• 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying results

While Friday practice had been reshaped with shorter track sessions, it was back to business as normal on Saturday evening. The familiar three-part format got underway with all 20 drivers taking part in the 18-minute first round under the floodlights of the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir. The big question on everyone's lips was whether Verstappen could repeat his astonishing time from final practice?

Q1: Verstappen quickest, Vettel and Ocon foiled by late yellows

George Russell was first to take to the track as qualifying got underway accompanied by his Williams team mate Nicholas Latifi and the two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. However Russell and Latifi both pitted before setting a time, while Mazepin managed to spin at turn 13, leaving Schumacher the first on the board with 1:33.816s heralding the return of 'MSC' to the top of the timing screens.

That didn't last long of course, and McLaren's Lando Norris soon ousted Schumacher with a significantly faster time of 1:31.682s. But even that paled compared to the laps which followed in quick succession. When the dust and sand settled on a rapid turnover of first runs, Verstappen was top as expected with his first run clocking in at 1:30.499s, which was already 0.118s quicker than main rival Lewis Hamilton had managed in the Mercedes.

But the big surprise was the impressive form of the two AlphaTauri drivers. Rookie driver Yuki Tsunoda barged his way into second with team mate Pierre Gasly not far behind in fourth, while Sergio Perez was fifth quickest putting him ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Best of the rest was Carlos Sainz who provisionally claimed seventh for Ferrari ahead of the man who replaced him at McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo, while the next row saw their respective team mates Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Any thoughts that this would be the final order for Q1 were quickly swept away as the drivers returned for their final runs and Russell successfully surged into the top ten. He was gradually pushed back as the cars behind him on track posted their own improved efforts, but there was drama when Mazepin charged past cars waiting to start their push laps down the opening straight, only to promptly spin at turn 1. Chief casualty of the Russian's rude and reckless manoeuvre was Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel who found himself unable to put in a flying lap and mired in the drop zone as a result.

Matters were further complicated by a yellow flag in sector 2, which was caused by Sainz slowing with an engine cut-out. He was able to restart and get back to pit lane, and his earlier time was enough to secure him a place in Q2 by the skin of his teeth. Left rather less lucky were Latifi, Schumacher and Mazepin along with Vettel, with the final place in the drop zone going to Alpine's Esteban Ocon. However race control announced that all lap times set while the yellow flags were out would be investigated after qualifying, meaning that the grid could still receive quite a shake-up.

Q2: Ferrari quickest as Perez and Tsunoda fail to make the cut

In no time at all, the remaining 15 cars were back out on track for the second round. Almost everyone was straight out for their first run of Q2, including Sainz who seemed none the worse for his engine drama a few minutes earlier. Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and AlphaTauri all felt safe enough to head out on the medium tyres while the other teams were already feeling the heat and straight on to the softs.

Hamilton was the early front runner with a time of 1:30.085s, a quarter of a second quicker than Verstappen. He was followed by Bottas and Norris while Sainz was the quickest of the soft-shod cars in fourth followed by Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. The AlphaTauris had fallen back to eighth and ninth, while Ricciardo and Perez both had their opening efforts deleted for track limit violations at turn 4. Russell was the final man to set a time, opting to wait until the initial track activity quietened down before posting the 13th fastest time, a second slower than Kimi Raikkonen just ahead of him.

Track evolution meant there was plenty of improvement across the board when drivers came out for the second time. Despite doggedly sticking with the medium compound, Perez was finally able to put in a time good enough to breach the top ten, only for quicker laps from those around to rapidly drive him back out into the elimination zone - certainly not the qualifying debut he had wanted for Red Bull.

Sainz and Leclerc timed their runs to perfection to go top ahead of Hamilton, with Norris edging Bottas for fourth followed by Ricciardo who had successfully moved ahead of Verstappen's earlier effort. Also safely through to the final round were Gasly, Alonso and Lance Stroll in the sole surviving Aston. That left Perez in 11th place, putting him on the sidelines alongside Alfa Romeo pair Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen, with George Russell slowest of anyone. The big surprise was the presence in the bottom five of Tsunoda, who after a stellar showing in Q1 now faces making his F1 debut from 13th on the grid.

Q3: Verstappen sweeps to pole with huge gap over Hamilton and Bottas

With the crucial matter of tyre choice for the top ten starting tomorrow's race taken care of, the drivers could now bolt on sets of the soft compound and go flat-out in time trials during the final 12-minute pole shoot-out.

Gasly was the first to lay down a benchmark time of 1:30.014s, and it took Hamilton to oust him with the Briton's own run clocking in almost half a second quicker. Verstappen was able to top that, but only by 0.023s to take provisional pole. Bottas was fourth quickest on a used set of softs, still enough to put him ahead of Sainz, Ricciardo and Norris, with the remaining three drivers - Stroll, Leclerc and Alonso - opting to sit out the early skirmishes.

Stroll took advantage of the mid-round lull to emerge for his run, and his time was provisionally good enough for sixth. By then the nine other drivers were all streaming from pit lane for their own all-important final runs. That resulted in a number of squabbles among cars jockeying for the ideal spot on the crowded track to allow them to show off their best selves, with Bottas managing to place himself at the head of the train as it crossed the start line.

Despite that advantage, Bottas was only able to go third with his run. Hamilton improved on his earlier time, but there was nothing he could do about another mighty lap from Verstappen which saw the Red Bull clinch pole by a huge 0.388s margin. Leclerc also pulled off a successful final lap to go fourth, with Gasly dropping to fifth putting him alongside Ricciardo on the grid. Row four on Sunday will consist of Norris and Sainz, with Alonso and Stroll rounding out the top ten.

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