For the first time in 2024, F1 Qualifying took place as the 20 Drivers looked to start their season on a strong note with a good Friday Night performance in Bahrain!
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant, Esteban Ocon, and Pierre Gasly were the five slowest drivers. Kick Sauber clearly didn’t have the pace this weekend, but it’s amazing that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were separated by just 1 thousandth of a second! Logan Sargeant will be very disappointed to have been knocked out in Q1 after a decent first lap whilst Alpine’s worries turned into misery as Esteban Ocon headed Pierre Gasly in an Alpine back-row! Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped Q1 ahead of Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin!
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon, Daniel Ricciardo, and Kevin Magnussen all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Yuki Tsunoda can be pleased that he was able to outqualify his Visa Cash App RB teammate, but he’ll be disappointed to have missed out on Q3 by just 7 thousandths of a second! Lance Stroll will also be disappointed with his performance given his Q1 time would’ve been enough to get into the third part of Qualifying whilst Alex Albon did a decent job to qualify 13th for Williams. Daniel Ricciardo will probably be slightly disappointed with P14 on the Grid whilst Kevin Magnussen ended Q2 as the slowest driver. Charles Leclerc made it back-to-back fastest laps for Ferrari whilst Max Verstappen was second.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, a 1:29.179 was enough for Max Verstappen to take the first of what will probably be plenty of Pole Positions in 2024! After toying with everyone all weekend, Max showed his hand and pulled out a pretty lap good! Charles Leclerc will start P2, but he’ll be slightly disappointed over the fact that his Q2 time would’ve actually been enough for Pole whilst George Russell should be delighted with P3 for Mercedes. Carlos Sainz will have mixed feelings over P4 whilst Sergio Perez could only manage P5, some 3 and a half tenths behind his Red Bull teammate. Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin should be very happy with P6 whilst McLaren could only manage 7th and 8th with Lando Norris heading Oscar Piastri (after Lando made a mistake in Sector 1). Lewis Hamilton will definitely be disappointed with only P9 in his Mercedes whilst well done to Nico Hulkenberg for getting his Haas into Q3.
Starting Grid for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Charles Leclerc: 9
George Russell: 9
Carlos Sainz: 8
Sergio Perez: 6
Fernando Alonso: 8
Lando Norris: 5
Oscar Piastri: 4
Lewis Hamilton: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 8
Yuki Tsunoda: 7
Lance Stroll: 3
Alex Albon: 6
Daniel Ricciardo: 5
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Logan Sargeant: 2
Esteban Ocon: 2
Pierre Gasly: 1
My Predictions for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc
Sergio Perez
Carlos Sainz
George Russell