SAKHIR (Reuters) - Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to the first pole position of the Formula One season on Friday despite his Ferrari rival setting the fastest lap in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying.
The 26-year-old Dutch driver secured top spot on the grid with a one minute and 29.179 second lap in the final session of the qualifying hour.
Leclerc’s best lap, a 1:29.165, was quicker but the Monegasque set the time in qualifying’s second phase and was unable to repeat it in the top 10 shootout when it really mattered.
“The track had a lot of grip but with the wind, it’s been tricky to get the whole lap together,” said Verstappen, winner of 19 of 22 races last season, after taking his 33rd career pole.
“Q3 was difficult, but happy to be on pole. To be honest it was a little unexpected but in qualifying the car came to us.”
Verstappen had gone into the weekend as clear favorite to make a dominant start to his bid for a fourth straight championship.
Practice offered hope of a closer contest, however, and qualifying duly delivered.
George Russell qualified third in his Mercedes, making it three different teams in the top three.
Carlos Sainz went quickest for Ferrari in the opening session before Leclerc set the timesheets alight with his qualifying fastest.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso, who eventually qualified sixth, also showed glimmers of speed on his sole run in the pole position shootout only to lose time in the final corner.
“I’m a bit disappointed, we did a good qualifying but it’s been tricky until now,” said Leclerc.
“We are in a better place than a year ago,” he added. Ferrari finished third overall last year after a slow start with Leclerc retiring in two of the first three races including Bahrain.
Verstappen’s Mexican team mate Sergio Perez will start fifth alongside Alonso on the third row of the grid.
McLaren team mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will share the fourth row of the grid in seventh and eighth.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton will start his final season with Mercedes, before moving to Ferrari in 2025, in ninth place with Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg a surprise 10th for the US -owned team.