Bahrain qualifying was 'hit and miss' for Verstappen

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Reigning world champion Max Verstappen admitted that the first qualifying session of 2022 had been rather up and down, after Red Bull missed out on taking pole position in Bahrain as expected.

Verstappen was quickest of anyone in Q2, but then pipped to pole by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.123s in the final top ten pole shoot-out that followed. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez will line up on the second row.

That was a surprise to fans and pundits watching the evening session unfold, with Verstappen having been seen as favourite to take the top spot. It seemed to have slightly shaken the driver's own belief in the new RB18.

Read also: Leclerc snatches Bahrain pole from Verstappen and Sainz

"It's a bit difficult to tell," he replied when asked by the media in parc ferme whether the car had more speed to offer. "Not fantastic, but also not too bad

"It was a bit hit and miss," he admitted of the session as a whole, adding: "It was a good day overall. It's a good start.

"Q2 seemed quite good, and then Q3 was a bit more of a struggle to get the balance together, but nevertheless I think it was alright.

"A really good battle with Carlos and Charles at the end," he said of the battle with the two Ferrari drivers. "They did a really good job over the winter, and hopefully it's going to be an exciting race.

"I think we have a good car - a good race car as well - which at the end of the day is the most important [thing]," he said. "A few things of course to look into, and we'll try to do better next time

"It's a bit different to some other tracks," he continued. "Here you want to be good at qualifying, but you also really want to make sure your car's working for the race because the tyres really struggle a lot more."

Probably the biggest positive news for Verstappen and Red Bull was conformation that Mercedes hadn't been bluffing in testing and practice and really were having trouble getting their W13 up to speed.

Lewis Hamilton was almost seven tenths off Leclerc';s pole time and will start tomorrow's race from fifth on the grid. His team mate George Russell was even further adrift, a second further back in ninth place.

Asked if he was happy to see the Mercedes pair well out of the battle for pole today, Verstappen smiled broadly and replied: "Very. Very!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.