F1 | Amazing Ferrari in Bahrain: Leclerc on pole, Sainz third

Charles Leclerc’s tenth career pole position is the first of the new era of F1 with ground-effect single-seaters. Ferrari has shown that they have an F1-75 that, at least at the start of the season, proved to be the most competitive single-seater, because Carlos Sainz also came within just 6 thousandths of Max Verstappen, the super favorite on the eve of Red Bull. RB18. The world champion seemed predestined for the position on the post and did not hide his surprise at seeing that he ended up in the Cavallino sandwich.

Leclerc hit an excellent 1’30 “558 with the soft tires, going under the simulations that provided for a slower time of a couple of tenths: the Monegasque was able to put together a perfect lap in the last run and was able to trim 123 thousandths Dutch.

Ferrari is back! Of course, points are awarded only on Sunday, but the Maranello team had to cancel two years of bitter morsels. And the restart with the new regulation was not betrayed, surprising many, beating everyone.

The men of the Cavallino worked during the race weekend to prepare for pole, because they took care of the race already in the tests last week: the Scuderia can look to the future with optimism if at the start everything goes smoothly with the Dutchman. Carlos Sainz also very well, having reduced his gap from Leclerc to just over a tenth, while paying about half a second in free practice: the “nerd” studied well and received his positive response driven by an F1-75 that did not showed great flaws.

It was since 2007 that Ferrari had not conquered a pole position (the year in which Kimi Raikkonen then won the world championship), snatching it from Red Bull which alternates its drivers with those of the Cavallino. The game seems to be between these, because Lewis Hamilton has led the Mercedes to fifth place. The seven-time world champion did his best, but the almost seven tenths of a delay speak volumes about the problems of the W13 which does not even allow you to “invent” a lap.

George Russell made a mistake in the first sector and slipped to ninth place, collecting less than what the team expected. Valtteri Bottas made an excellent performance: tomorrow he will start alongside his former teammate, Hamilton with an Alfa Romeo that manages to make the most of the Ferrari 066/7 power unit. They did a great job at Hinwil and the Finn’s experience will be invaluable in the race.

The return of Kevin Magnussen to F1 is also wonderful: the Dane took Haas to seventh place, after having always been very competitive all weekend. Simone Resta’s VF-22 is controversial for being defined as a white Ferrari that is ailing team principal Gunther Steiner.

Fernando Alonso scratched in the flying lap bringing the Alpine to eighth place: it is more thanks to the Spaniard than to Enstone’s car as he only made one run like Magnussen and Bottas. Pierre Gasly also managed to put the AlphaTauri in Q3: the Frenchman used all his experience to put the AT03 in the top ten, because the car doesn’t seem right.

Esteban Ocon remains out of the top 10 with the second Alpine: the Frenchman managed to make a leap ahead of the morning free practice, a sign that Enstone’s team has figured out where to get their hands on the A522. Esteban trimmed over two tenths to Mick Schumacher who is only 12th with the Haas: the German took a good lesson from his teammate Kevin Magnussen, returning to F1 after a stop, because he lost the VF-22 at turn 11 with a cross due to oversteer.

Lando Norris has tried to do his part, but McLaren is not as fit as in Barcelona: the MCL36 shows several problems, especially under braking, for which the Englishman has to grit his teeth. The nine tenths trimmed to Ricciardo testify that he has done his job in full: he deserves a more competitive vehicle.

Alexander Albon is 14th with Williams: the Anglo-Thai immediately took over the Grove team aware that the Sakhir track does not adapt to the characteristics of the FW44, which appeared in more difficulty than expected especially in the cooling system.

Yuki Tsunoda was the first excluded from Q1: the Japanese paid dearly for not being able to turn in the morning free practice due to the hydraulic problem that blocked the steering and prevented him from completing a lap. Yuki found himself in trouble with an AT03 less comfortable in Barhain than expected.

Behind the driver of the Faenza team there is Nico Hulkenberg with the Aston Martin released by Sebastian Vettel hit by COVID immediately after the tests: the German without any knowledge of the car, tried to limit the damage with a 17th place that it is encouraging for a driver who drove the AMR22 only in the simulator, because he immediately did better than Lance Stroll, the starting driver who finished only 19th.

The “verdona” showed great limits, as they had already pointed out in the presentation of the car, limits that promptly materialized, so much so that at Silverstone they launched the study of a B version.

Bad, very bad Daniel Ricciardo: the Australian had caught the virus during the Sakhir tests and in these two days he did not find the MCL36 square which is an interesting car curated by James Key, but still with too many technical problems. Daniel paid for his lack of knowledge of the difficult car to drive.

More was expected from Nicholas Latifi, the last of the last with the Williams FW44: the Canadian adapted to the material available and was shipwrecked.