Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying: Mercedes Goes 1-2 for the 11th Time

The Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying session was topped for the 11th time by The Silver Arrows with the Red Bulls chasing in tandem.  

In a world where Hamilton has already clinched his record tying 7th title, there was no sign of him slowing down comfortably outqualifying Valtteri Bottas in the sister car. When asked how Hamilton was so far clear of the Finn, he was at a loss for words – full context and quote below. Speaking of outqualifying your teammate, Verstappen would yet again pull vastly clear of his teammate Alex Albon who is fighting for his job at this point after his shunt in FP2 that left him with a new chassis for the rest of the weekend. His P4 is a positive sign but the fact that he was roughly 6 tenths off Verstappen might overcompensate. Not to mention the man vying for his job was just 4 hundreths off the Thai driver. Sergio Perez will be keen to see no contact knowing he likely has a slight advantage over Albon but I wouldn’t rule any early touching out. 

Both of the Ferrari drivers were eliminated from the Q3 final 10 shootout for pole which means in the span of one season they’ve gone from the front row to double digit qualifying in Bahrain. But the good news is they will have choice of tyres and will avoid in early race contact that I anticipate will come at the hands of the front pack. 

Bahrain Revised Event Notes

Race Director Michael Masi has put out Event Notes Version 3 late Saturday post-qualifying that confirm no tyre blankets shall be used in pit lane at any point during the race – see below. Off the event points amended for Bahrain, this one seemed to deviate the most from typical protocal so be on the lookout for anything interesting here as surely this may be a difficult habit to break for teams.

Bahrain Grand Prix Outlook

I expect a fairly smooth race after any first lap contact. Albon driving to save his career spices things up with Checo only 0.04 seconds off. Verstappen provisionally piped Bottas so his pace will be even on race trim more or less. Strategy will play a major role tomorrow. If Albon can avoid contact, it may very well be the first race Verstappen can leverage him teammate to challenge on merit for a race win without extenuating circumstances intefereing. But alas, I don’t predict that. Rather I find Checo hitting the OddsChecker line and landing a podium with atleast one of the Renault’s overcutting for a 30+ lap stint on the hard C2 compound, likely Ocon with Ricciardo mixing it up flirting for another podium as the Arrows convert their 11th front row lockout to another 1-2 finish.

Bettings odds (subject to change)

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