Posted on 15th April 2017
In Qualifying at the Bahrain International circuit today, Valtteri Bottas claimed his first ever Pole Position of his career ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel which has ended Hamilton's run of six consecutive Pole Positions in the sport and has become the first Finnish driver to claim a Pole Position in Formula One since 2008.
During Q1, it was Valtteri Bottas who led the field just after halfway through this period of qualifying with a 1.31.041. But Bottas was then replaced quickly by Max Verstappen and then his team mate Lewis Hamilton who wasn't beaten. As this was happening, Force India driver Esteban Ocon was complaining via his team radio that his DRS wasn't working and was asking his team for advice.
At the end of Q1, Carlos Sainz Jr stopped on the track with a problem with his power unit and has left him out of qualifying with the greatest surprise being Sergio Perez not qualifying for Q2 for the first time in Bahrain since joining the Force India team.
During Q2, it was Bottas again who topped the field with a 1.29.555 which was then quickly replaced by his team mate Hamilton with just 0.02 seconds separating them. But the biggest surprises of the session were Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer who both put in stunning laps to now qualify in the top ten guaranteed since the 2011 Italian GP.
As we headed into Q3; all eyes would be on who would claim Pole Position. Once again it was Bottas who topped the field with a 1.28.844 which was then yet again replaced by Hamilton who was 0.052 seconds quicker than his team mate. Unless Ferrari or Red Bull had an answer to the Mercedes, it looked likely that they would lock out the front row of the grid ready for tomorrow's race.
With Hamilton making a mistake in the second sector and Bottas making a slight error in the first, all eyes were on the television screens as to who would claim Pole Position and it was a surprise to see that it was Bottas who got the edge over Hamilton with a brilliant lap that is worthy of his talent.
But it was Valtteri Bottas who took his first ever Pole Position at the Bahrain GP with an astonishing lap time of 1:28.769 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second place who was 0.023 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 0.478 seconds behind Bottas.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fourth place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place, Max Verstappen in sixth place, Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place, Felipe Massa in eighth place,
Romain Grosjean in ninth place and Jolyon Palmer who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Daniil Kvyat qualified in eleventh place ahead of Lance Stroll in twelfth place, Pascal Wehrlein in thirteenth place, Esteban Ocon in fourteenth place and Fernando Alonso in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Carlos Sainz Jr qualified in sixteenth place ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in seventeenth place, Sergio Perez in eighteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in nineteenth place and Kevin Magnussen in twentieth place.
The classification of Qualifying for the Bahrain GP is as follows:-
1. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1.28.769
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.023s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.478s
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.776s
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.798s
6. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.918s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1.073s
8. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.305s
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.994s
10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.305s
11. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.30.923
12. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 1.31.168
13. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.31.414
14. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.31.874
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, No Time
16. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.32.118
17. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.32.313
18. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.32.318
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.32.543
20. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 1.32.900
Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Bahrain GP weekend with our race report alongside the latest news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
