AFTER possibly the greatest season in Formula One history, the drivers are BACK on the track for 2022 at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
And Lewis Hamilton has missed out on pole for the opening race after finishign fifth in qualifying.
Rival Max Verstappen came in second, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc starting from the top of the grid.
- TV channel: Sky Sports F1
- Live stream: Now TV
- Sunday, March 20: Bahrain Grand Prix (3pm)
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Stay up to date with all the latest from the latest from the Bahrain Grand Prix in our live blog…
- Justin Lawrence
How drivers line up
Here's how the drivers grid looks going into qualifying at the Bahrain GP
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Alexander Albon (Williams)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Aston Martin)
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
Hamilton speaks on finish
Lewis Hamilton refused to give up despite finsihing in fifth spot in qualifying.
Hamilton was only a spectactor in the proceedings that saw Leclerc clinch a narrow victory over Verstappen and Sainz.
But Hamilotn vowed to keep pushing despite his lowly finish going into the Bahrain GP.
Sainz praises Leclerc
Leclerc's team-mate Sainz has congratulated him for his pole position finish in qualifying for the Bahrain GP.
Sainz said to Sky Sports: "There was an extra tenth that Charles managed to extract there at the end.
"I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve done throughout the weekend.
"To be even fighting for the pole position today was good news for me.
"I think Charles has been ahead the whole weekend and he deserved the pole position, and the team did such a great job."
- Justin Lawrence
Verstappen on Q3 finish
Max Verstappen has opened up aboout his second place finish in theQ3.
He said to Sky Sports: "I think it was a bit hit and miss. Q2 seemed quite good but Q3 it was more of a struggle to get the balance together.
"We have a good race car, which at the end of the day is the most important.
"Here you want to be good in qualifying of course but you also really want to make sure your car is working for the race, because the tyres are really struggling a lot more there and it’s a bit different to some other tracks."
- Justin Lawrence
Leclerc speaks
Charles Leclerc has expressed his joy after clinching top spot for the Bahrain GP tomorrow.
He said to Sky Sports: "It feels good. The last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team.
"We were quite hopeful that this new opportunity for us was an opportunity to be back in the front.
"And I think we have worked extremely well as a team to find ourself again in a position to fight for better places."
- Justin Lawrence
Q3 final standings
- Charles Leclerc
- Max Verstappen
- Carlos Sainz
- Sergio Perez
- Lewis Hamilton
- Valtteri Bottas
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- George Russell
- Pierre Gasly
Leclerc nicks it!
Ferrari's Leclerc has stormed to victory in qualifying for the Bahrain GP.
Verstappen ends it in second while Carlos Sainz is in third.
And Lewis Hamilton ended tQ3 in fifth behind Sergio Perez in P4.
How it's going for Hamilton
Hamilton's just ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Russell.
But the Brit's 1.4secs behind leader Sainz.
Boh Mercedes drivers are using soft tyres.
Top three selected
Verstappen's behind Leclerc in second and Sainz in first.
But there's only 0.056 separating the top three at present!
What a thrilling race.
- Justin Lawrence
Veerstappen shocker
Verstappen's ended his first run in third!
He's behind both Ferrari drivers and Carlos Sainz is on provisional pole.
But there's still over five minutes of qualifying left.
- Justin Lawrence
Q3 underway!
It's time for the pole shootout for the first time this season!
Verstappen's in pole position but Ferraris's drivers will be a threat to the world champion.
We'll see if Verstappen can hold it together over the next 12 minutes.
- Justin Lawrence
Full overview of Q3 standings
- Verstappen
- Sainz
- Leclerc
- Perez
- Hamilton
- Russell
- Magnussen
- Alonso
- Gasly
- Bottas
How things shape-up in Q3
Max Verstappen has finished in pole position going into Q3 with a time faster than Sainz by 0.030s – and a tenth from Charles Leclerc.
Sergio Perez was two-tenths off in fourth.
And Hamilton improved to end Q2 in fifth position, 0.3secs behind Verstappen.
It's all over for Norris
Lando Norris has bowed out in Q2 and will join McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo on the side-lines for Q3.
The racers joining Norris will be;
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Alexander Albon (Williams)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
Albon's out
Albon seems to be done with Q2.
He's just announced on the Williams radio: "Thanks everyone.
"I’m really happy."
In a slight improvement, Albon's jumped into P14 ahead of Guanyu.
- Justin Lawrence
View from the bottom
There's only a few minutes left in Q2 and the bottom five racers are as follows.
- Mick Schumacher.
- Lando Norris.
- Pierre Gasly.
- Zhou Guanyu.
- Alexander Albon.
How it's looking so far
Max Verstappen is leading the way with a 1:30.757,
His time is six-tenths better than Charles Leclerc in second.
While Sergio Perez follows in third.
Kevin Magnussen is in fourth and Hamilton languishes in seventh.
Albon takes centre stage
Alex Albon had the track to himself for a brief period as Q2 got underway.
Q1 standings
- Leclerc
- Sainz
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Magnussen
- Ocon
- Gasly
- Norris
- Russell
- Hamilton
- Perez
- Alonso
- Schumacher
- Zhou
- Albon
Reaction to Ricciardo's failure
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has reacted to Daniel Ricciardo's failure to make it out of Q1.
He said: "I think we just saw the result of everything that happened in the last seven-eight days.
"I think he was on the back foot from the beginning going into this weekend after missing out on the test last week, then he lost additional time yesterday with the water leak that we had, so it was always difficult challenge for him today.
"In addition, we just struggled really, all weekend with the pace of the car. I think that’s a result of all the fire-fighting we’ve had to do."
Alfa Romeo progress
Alfa Romeo have got both drivers through with Bottas impressing in P4.
Magnussen has finished in fifth while Schumacher clinches P13 .
- Ben Hunt
Some big upsets in Q1
- Ben Hunt
Hamilton is only fifth-quickest
First flying runs done and I will say it again. Mercedes have work to do!
Russell is down in 11th place. Surely they will both get into Q2 at the very least.
- Ben Hunt
Max looking unstoppable
Yes, it is early days, but he has smashed in an early lap to go 1.1 seconds clear. Staggering.
- Ben Hunt
We are go in Bahrain
Alex Albon is first out in his Williams. He has plenty of work to do this season.
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