By Joe Murphy
Max Verstappen has taken an expected pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, out-pacing the competition to take the top spot after an action packed three sessions on Friday afternoon.
The Dutchman set the fastest lap ahead of Charles Leclerc and will lead the field for the start of Saturday’s race. George Russell came home in third, managing to create a decent gap back to Lewis Hamilton who could only muster ninth.
Carlos Sainz couldn’t finish above his teammate despite an impressive FP3, whilst the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was fifth. McLaren will be satisfied to both get to Q3 and finish with respectable qualifying positions, whilst standout drivers have to be both Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.
The Aston Martin man was overachieving compared to his teammate whilst German driver Hulkenberg got a Haas to Q3 whilst many expected them to be dead last. That honour fell to Alpine who endured a miserable start qualifying 19th and 20th leaving them with it all to do on Saturday when the lights go out.
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