Bahrain GP Qualifying: Max Verstappen Beats Lewis Hamilton To Pole On Season Opener

 

Max Verstappen kicked off the season by clinching the pole for Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton chased on only to finish second place at the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying session. 

The Dutchman has established himself as one of the biggest names on the grid and one of the favourite contenders for the seasons' F1 World Championship, and the defending champion, Hamilton, gave a good fight for the pole but finished 0.388 seconds later than the Red Driver pilot. 

Hamilton came closer to pulling a stunt at Q3 by narrowing the gap between him and the Red Driver to a tenth of a second before that took a new dimension when Verstappen got fired up widening the gap and clinched the pole in 1:28.997s for his career fourth pole and also his first-ever pole on a season-opening qualifier. 

In admission to losing the pole, Hamilton in a statement congratulated his rival confessing that "he was so fast on the lap" which eventually was the decider. 

"There are no guarantees, but the whole week the car has been working so well and been really enjoyable to drive," said Verstappen. "It all worked out perfectly so of course very happy with pole position."

Hamilton's teammate, Valterri Bottas, finished third and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth while the Monagesque pilot's teammate, Sebastian Vettel, had a poor start for finishing 18th.