Max Verstappen on pole but ‘not fastest’ - Red Bull warned ‘gap is smaller’
Saturday's F1 Bahra꧙in Grand Prix tipped to be a co😼mpetitive 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 Ve✅rstappen 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 Charles Leclerc aft🅠er an excellent Q3 lap in qualifying but it was the Ferrari driver who had earlier clocked the best t💃ime.
Ex-🧔F1 champion Damon Hill sai꧂d on Sky Sports: “This is a curious anomaly - Max is not the fastest man today around this circuit, and yet he’s on pole.
“Charles in Q2 nipped him by a tiny fraction. But, of cours🐼e, that was just Q2 and it is Q3 that counts.”
Naomi Schiff added about Re🐻d Bull: “The fact of the mat⛦ter is, we saw their car coming into the season 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 backwards or did the others go൩ forwards? It’s hard to tell at this point.
“Ultimately he was quick enough.”
Ferrari’s Lecl🅠erc wওas P2 and Carlos Sainz was P4, with Mercedes’ George Russell between them.
“Charles’ words were reassuring,”⛦ Schiff said. “He said the car clearly has the potential, it could have been quick enough. He said he lost rhythm because they started the first par🗹t 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 ꦦgot more grip - unfortunately he took a step back on the ♈used run. That’s why he didn’t maximise it.”
Saturday’s grand prix in Bahrain looks set to be a far more compet🧔itive race than many of Verstappen’s dominant ꦛoutings last season.
“From pole to ninth, where Lewis Hamilt🃏on is, is half-a-second which is brilliant,” Hill noted.
Schiff: “From P2 to P9 it’s just th🌸ree-tenths, very tight.”
Hill: “Rac꧃e 💎pace is a different thing. But it bodes well.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering e🌟verything from American sports, to football, to﷽ F1.
