Formula One’s controversial qualifying system was back in action on Saturday to set the grid for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
However, it came to an exciting conclusion with the Mercedes and Ferrari teammates each setting a hot lap each in the closing minutes of the session. Lewis Hamilton smashed the lap record - which had been set back in the V10 era - with a 1:29.493. Teammate Nico Rosberg was just 0.077 seconds back.
Red Bull Racing also had a reason to celebrate with Daniel Ricciardo outqualifying the Williams teammates to take fifth on the grid.
In Q2, a lot of time was lost for the teams when the red light didn’t turn green at the end of pit road to begin the session while the clock was running. That led to a one-lap shootout at the start of the session before the elimination clock began knocking cars out, with Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat and McLaren’s Jenson Button being the first two victims. Subsequently, everyone returned to the pits after their one-lap shootout, leading to seven minutes of no action on track - except for Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg who jumped from 11th to 8th, knocking Romain Grosjean out of a chance for Haas to make it into Q3.
In Q1, there was no action on track in the final two minutes but there were still several surprises throughout the session, with Force India’s Sergio Perez unable to get out of 18th place before the elimination clock ran down. Meanwhile ahead of him, Pascal Wehrlein was a pleasant surprise of the session, taking 16th place on the grid for Manor. Kevin Magnussen qualified 19th but will have to start from the pits after missing the weigh bridge in Friday’s second practice session.
Full qualifying results:
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
4. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
5. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
6. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
7. Felipe Massa - Williams
8. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India
9. Romain Grosjean - Haas
10. Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso
11. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
12. Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren
13. Esteban Gutierrez - Haas
14. Jenson Button - McLaren
15. Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull
16. Pascal Wehrlein - Manor
17. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
18. Sergio Perez - Force India
19. Kevin Magnussen - Renault (will start from pits)
20. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
21. Rio Haryanto - Manor
22. Felipe Nasr - Sauber
