Max Verstappen on pole but ‘not fastest’ - Red Bull warned ‘gap is smaller’
Saturday's F1 Bahrain G𒈔rand Prix tipped to be🌳 a competitive race as Red Bull's lead has lessened
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen was “not fastest” despite claiming pole position for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, he was reminded.
Red Bull picked up in the first qualifying session of 2024 where they left off last year, with Verstappen leading the pack, but there are signs that Saturday❀’s race could be a closer encounter than many of the grands prix of 2023.
Verstappen was 0.228s ahead of Charle💯s Leclerc after an 🥀excellent Q3 lap in qualifying but it was the Ferrari driver who had earlier clocked the best time.
Ex-F1 champion Damon Hill said on Sky Sports: “This is a curious anomaly - Max is no🏅t the fastest man today around this circuit, and yet he’s on pole.
“Charles in Q2 nipped him by a tiny frac♛tion. But, of course, that was just Q2 and it is Q3 that cou🍸nts.”
Naomi Schiff added about Red Bull: “The fa💧ct of the matter is, we saw their car coming into the s🍌eason and thought ‘that is an aggressive change, why do that when you’ve got a dominant car?’
“It was a risk. Now we can say it has paid off.
“The gap is smaller though. So the question is: did they go bac🎉kwards or did the others go forwards? It’s hard ꧙to tell at this point.
“Ultimately he was quick enough.”
Ferrari’s Leclerc was P2 and Carlos Sainz was P🐠4, with Mercedes’ George Russell between them.
💛“Charles’ words were reassuring,” Schiff said. “He said the car clearly has the potential, it could have bee♍n quick enough. He said he lost rhythm because they started the first part of Q3 on used softs.
“Instead of carrying momentum which he had - which is what you do in qualifying, you build, every session you’ve got more grip - unfortunately he took a step🍬 ꦏback on the used run. That’s why he didn’t maximise it.”
Satu♑rday’s grand prix in Bahrain looks set to be a far more competitive race than many of Verstappen’s dominant outings last season.
“From pole to ninth, where Lewis𓃲 Hamilton is, is half-a-second which is brilliant,” Hill noted.
Schiff: “From P2 to P9 i𝓰t’s just three-te♏nths, very tight.”
Hill: “Ra𝔍ce pace is a difജferent thing. But it bodes well.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering ever🍎ything from American sports, to football, to F1.
