Maiden F1 pole position for Bottas
The Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix and won a maiden pole position in his Formula 1 career.
Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in the first qualifying round, with a lap time of 1:30.814 what was just 0.090s better than the result of Max Verstappen. The battle at the bottom of the grid was very exciting and at the end, Carlos Sainz Jr, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sergio Perez, Marcus Ericsson, and Kevin Magnussen failed to go into the second qualifying round.
In Q2 Lewis again was the fastest, this time with a result of 1:29.535 what was just 0.020s better than the result of his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Fernando Alonso stayed in the garage during Q2 due to an engine failure while the other four drivers which stayed out of the last qualifying round were Esteban Ocon, Pascal Wehrlein, Lance Stroll, and Daniil Kvyat. The team which had a reason to celebrate was Renault. For the first time in 2017, both cars of the French manufacturer reached Q3.
The two Mercedes cars dominated the final qualifying round but this time Bottas was the faster one with 1:28.769, just 0.023s better than Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo will start from the second row, while Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen will start from the third row.
Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, and Jolyon Palmer will start from positions from 7 to 10.
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Photo: formula1.com