Bahrain GP Qualifying Report

With turmoil in the FIA, Sainz bewildered by a hefty fine for a visit to the loo at the wrong time, Alonso's steering wheel fell off when he was out on the track during Practice. 

In the first Qualifying session, Verstappen was complaining about his car; it wasn't right.  The Red Bulls were not through as the final push started.  Albon was knocked out in the final seconds by Ocon and Hulkenberg, he was too cold.  Behind him was Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll and Bearman.  At the front was Norris and Hamilton.

The second session saw Ocon's push to get through being absolutely wasted as he went  immediately in the wall and the session was stopped with a Red Flag.  There were no surprises in the five that went out apart from Sainz, who was comfortably through in 7th.  It was Doohan, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Ocon.

It was harder for all in the final session, with the most pressure on Antontelli and Hamilton who had their first lap times deleted.  Whereas McLaren had been dominant in the first two sessions, Russell was a real contender now.  It was looking strong for him until Piastri did pull something out of the bag to take pole position and he could not be touched.  LeClerc wass third, Antonelli 4th, Gasly 5th.  If you're reading this and wondering where the championship contenders are: Norris 6th and Verstappen 7th.  Behind them were Sainz (finally outqualifying his team mate), Hamilton and Tsunoda.  LeClerc did not expect his place and was glad of the new tyres.  Russell thought it was the cooling track temperatures that helped.  Or were people just not as good?  Norris and Hamilton were both quick to blame themselves but Verstappen explained it away as something with the brakes.

Gasly was hoping that BFFs Lando and Max were going to fight with each other off the line but leave him out of it.  Mercedes were penalised for something administrative on Q2, where I think they released the drivers into the pit lane too early after the Red Flag.  They were each given a one place grid penalty.

If it doesn't turn out to be another dreary procession then it could be a spicy race.