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00:00 Green light is on, qualifying is go, ladies and gentlemen.
00:04 And from now on in, it gets very serious indeed,
00:08 as we go in search of the first pole position of 2024.
00:12 His teammates can approve that.
00:13 I think Charles Leclerc, who crosses the line roundabout now,
00:17 and as he does so, goes second fastest.
00:19 He'd lost a little bit of time, Charles Leclerc,
00:21 in the final sector, a couple of tenths, actually.
00:23 And by a few hundredths, he's behind his teammate.
00:26 Whilst the Ferraris are on the medium tyre,
00:29 crossing the line now, Ocon, also on the medium,
00:32 is seven tenths, nearly eight tenths further back.
00:35 Pierre Gasly, his teammate, who started last here last year
00:38 before finishing ninth, is last of the four times we've got on the board.
00:41 1.2 seconds off the pace.
00:43 Pierre Gasly, who's already been out, but it counted for absolutely nothing,
00:47 because his lap time has been deleted.
00:49 The first of the season to go over the white line,
00:51 if you put all four wheels across the white line,
00:54 either to the right-hand side, as Pierre Gasly could at the moment,
00:59 or to the left-hand side, you get your lap time deleted.
01:02 No excuses, no ifs, buts and maybes.
01:04 No mitigating circumstances. It's gone.
01:07 And it was a pity.
01:08 Pierre Gasly went over the track limits.
01:11 - And also... - Can I go?
01:13 I don't want to stop.
01:15 And he's right to say that, Max Verstappen,
01:22 because also covering this driving unnecessarily slowly
01:25 is stopping in the pit lane,
01:28 which we saw a lot of last year.
01:29 It's Lando Norris who's got new control electronics and energy store in his car.
01:34 They've changed that around after yesterday.
01:36 Goes quickest overall.
01:38 It's a horrible sound when they're scratching along the ground at high speed,
01:41 when the aerodynamics are really compressing the suspension and the tyre.
01:46 Fernando Alonso, 0.03 seconds behind Lando Norris.
01:50 Goes second fastest. Max Verstappen, we haven't said it yet, on a flyer,
01:54 goes quite a bit faster.
01:57 0.10 of a second from Lando Norris.
02:01 So puts himself right at the top, then, of the timings.
02:04 George Russell, ace of the final sector, goes fourth quickest.
02:07 One of his teammates, Lewis Hamilton, who will be the next to cross the line.
02:11 Hamilton, we can pick him up now.
02:13 Powering down the straight he goes, and it's into the 1.30s,
02:17 but really a lot slower than he would have been expecting.
02:20 0.7 off the pace.
02:22 So now it's Carlos Sainz on his own, down the main straight,
02:26 and will cross the line to go fastest overall, with a 1.29.9,
02:29 just over a tenth clear of Max Verstappen.
02:32 This is what we expected, isn't it?
02:34 It's not easy for Red Bull.
02:35 It's not the walk in the park that we feared after the testing.
02:40 Here's Lewis Hamilton, heading towards his turn one.
02:45 Now, is there a mistake here?
02:48 Just looking at the sparks.
02:51 - Yeah, I think that's more about... - The Mercedes was slow to move.
02:55 - Yeah, it was slow to move. - Yeah.
02:56 Around the final corner comes Lance Stroll,
03:03 good middle sector to go with that first sector.
03:06 He's in the bottom five, not for long, goes second quickest.
03:09 And that's what Aston Martin want to see from Lance Stroll.
03:12 But what of Lewis Hamilton?
03:13 Personal best through the first two sectors,
03:16 but he was four tenths down in the middle sector on the best overall time.
03:19 Goes tenth fastest, that'll be okay for Lewis Hamilton,
03:22 but only okay, not spectacular.
03:25 The two Alpines are 19th and 20th,
03:28 and Gasly only made it to the line by about three seconds
03:31 to start his final flying lap.
03:33 That's the good news.
03:34 Is he now going quick enough to get out of that bottom five?
03:37 And Ferrari pitted Leclerc so as not to use those tyres up
03:41 when they realized that not enough cars were passing them in this phase.
03:45 Nico Hülkenberg's in danger.
03:48 Kevin Magnussen in danger, if the Alpines can find pace.
03:53 And Logan Sargent is out of qualifying.
03:57 As down the main straight we go with Esteban Ocon.
04:00 In the Alpines, stays second slowest in this qualifying.
04:05 Norris continues on a pace, a really strong middle sector.
04:08 This is his teammate, Oscar Piastri, with a 1.30.6, goes fastest.
04:13 And then Lando Norris puts a whopping six tenths,
04:17 nearly seven tenths of a second between the two McLaren drivers.
04:21 Leclerc goes second fastest.
04:23 All of this might just be about to be eclipsed, though, by this man here,
04:26 Max Verstappen, on pole last year, fastest so far in Q2 this year,
04:31 and six tenths clear of Lando Norris.
04:34 On new tyres, looked a bit of a handful coming out of the last corner, didn't it?
04:37 And half a second there between Perez and Verstappen, both on new tyres.
04:45 That's a big margin there between the two Red Bull drivers.
04:48 - Kevin Magnussen through the esses.
04:51 Is a lap time deleted? Yes, it is. - Absolutely.
04:54 - A lap time deleted for Kevin Magnussen.
04:56 You pay the price, don't you, for these little infringements now,
05:00 but all the drivers know what they're going into.
05:03 - 140,000 square metres of run-off area at this track,
05:08 all of which will delete your lap time if you use too much of it.
05:12 - A big lock-up there for Fernando Alonso that we saw.
05:15 George Russell, confirmation that he will have to go and see the stewards after the session.
05:20 - The track conditions are getting better and we've got more of this queuing up.
05:23 - Yes, Carl, this is all very confusing.
05:25 - This is meant to have stopped.
05:28 - Are they just ignoring the race director's instructions?
05:32 - We are not allowed to stop, nobody.
05:34 - Understood, we'll report that.
05:36 - Quite right, Charles, that's what we understand as well.
05:41 Carlos Sainz, who was the quickest man in the first part of qualifying,
05:45 goes second fastest and gets within a couple of tenths of a second of Max Verstappen.
05:50 Yuki Tsunoda, next to cross the line, and goes into the top eight,
05:54 pushing George Russell down into 15th place.
05:59 Charles Leclerc will be next to cross the line,
06:01 brilliant middle sector from Charles Leclerc.
06:03 Oskar Piastri has gone eighth fastest for McLaren.
06:07 And just looking here, Russell's on a personal best, Hamilton's on a personal best,
06:11 through the first sector as Leclerc goes fastest overall
06:15 with a 1.29.1 for Ferrari.
06:17 - Game on, Ferrari versus Red Bull.
06:20 And we're still yet to see exactly what Mercedes can do here.
06:25 - Mercedes have left it late, running the risk that a yellow flag
06:29 could absolutely derail their qualifying,
06:31 but we actually haven't had a yellow flag in any, I think, of the practice sessions
06:35 so far this weekend, certainly not in FP2 or FP3.
06:39 George Russell, not the best middle sector for him,
06:43 but this could still be good enough.
06:45 He's only a few hundredths off what he needs to get into that top ten.
06:48 Hamilton's got a tenth and a half in hand
06:50 as he tries to get through to the final part of qualifying.
06:53 McLaren have got two cars into Q3 here at Bahrain for the first time in three years.
06:58 Mercedes are going to join them as George Russell has gone sixth fastest overall,
07:02 picked up pace once again in that final sector.
07:05 And Lewis Hamilton, who hasn't looked like he's had a huge amount of pace,
07:08 waiting till the end of the track evolution,
07:11 has absolutely benefited him, goes fourth fastest.
07:14 Oscar Piastri a tenth of a second slower than Nico Hülkenberg.
07:18 Here's Russell crossing the line in his Mercedes with a 1.29.6 himself,
07:22 so goes ahead of Lando Norris.
07:24 New tyres to use, tyres don't forget.
07:27 Verstappen not fastest through the middle sector, Lando Norris was.
07:31 Verstappen goes quickest overall, though, 1.29.4 for the man who was on pole
07:36 this time last year, he's on provisional pole currently.
07:38 Lewis Hamilton will be the next to cross the line.
07:41 Hamilton in his Mercedes goes fourth fastest,
07:44 second row alongside Lando Norris, provisionally as it stands.
07:47 Sergio Perez was on the second row last year-- front row last year,
07:51 second row for him, ahead of Hamilton,
07:54 behind Norris, Russell and Verstappen,
07:57 as here comes Carlos Sainz around the final corner
08:00 and his teammate Charles Leclerc not far behind him.
08:04 So where's Ferrari's pace with Carlos Sainz?
08:06 Goes third fastest.
08:07 Sainz was third fastest here last year in 2022, don't forget.
08:12 Here's Charles Leclerc on the used set of tyres,
08:14 goes second fastest.
08:16 What a great final sector for Charles Leclerc.
08:19 What a wonderful feeling that must be.
08:21 - Right, it's a temporary pole turn. - It's still not in.
08:24 Yeah, you could see, couldn't you?
08:31 Yeah, they're running that mean and low, aren't they, the Mercedes?
08:35 So it's mostly straights now towards the end of the lap,
08:38 apart from this one big braking zone.
08:41 Getting down some gears.
08:42 It was harvesting electric in there to charge the battery
08:46 for the run to the line.
08:47 One chance and one chance only in Q3 for Fernando Alonso,
08:51 and he takes that chance to go third fastest overall,
08:54 and I dare say, will be very happy with that lap.
08:57 Tenth of a second off Max Verstappen.
08:59 Verstappen on pole 12 months ago, is on pole at the moment.
09:03 1.29.1 for him.
09:06 Verstappen stretches that advantage.
09:08 Charles Leclerc on this lap, though,
09:10 has been picking up some decent sector times.
09:13 Got two tenths to try and make up in the final sector.
09:16 Can't make up that two tenths.
09:17 Leclerc's on the front row alongside Max Verstappen.
09:20 Here, though, comes Carlos Sainz,
09:22 fastest in final practice, only fourth fastest on the grid.
09:26 Ferrari have been undone at the end of qualifying
09:30 by Red Bull, who had a one and two last year.
09:32 It's a one-five this year.
09:34 Sergio Perez, fifth fastest,
09:37 and the man who took the most poles in 2023,
09:41 opens up 2024 with the fastest time
09:45 in the final part of qualifying.
09:47 It's Verstappen on pole.
09:48 And his third pole here in Bahrain.
09:52 It was enough, Max. It was enough.
09:54 Well done.
09:55 I'm so sorry, GP.
09:57 Nothing to be sorry about, Max. Very good start.
10:01 That was two tenths clear of Charles
10:04 and three tenths clear of George.
10:06 Yeah, well, I think we did very well in that qualifying.
10:10 We got the most out of it.
10:12 So thank you to everyone.
10:14 Well done. Well done.
10:15 So the race tomorrow, then,
10:19 and the last 16 times Max Verstappen
10:22 has started from pole position.
10:24 He has gone on to win.
10:26 It's a record streak that he'll be hoping to extend
10:29 and make it 17 in a row.
10:31 33rd career pole,
10:33 and he ties Jim Clark and Alain Prost
10:35 on the list, the all-time list of the most poles.
10:40 Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, the top three.
10:42 Sainz, Perez, Alonso, and the top six,
10:45 separated by just over three and a half tenths of a second.
10:50 Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, and Hülkenberg,
10:53 completing that top ten.
10:54 (ROCK MUSIC)
10:56 [MUSIC]