Enterprising Verstappen off to a flyer
IT was just one qualifying lap, a spark in the desert night, but it could be the flame that lights up the whole Formula One season.
Max Verstappen conjured a brilliant flash of precision and nerve, maximising the pace of his Red Bull to turn the timing screens purple — denoting the fastest times — for all three sectors of the Sakhir International Circuit that today hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, chasing an unprecedented eighth world title, was second quickest, 0.388sec off the pace, a deficit that prompted the British driver to cry foul, believing the rules have been deliberately altered to thwart him and Mercedes.
Tough luck – this season’s regulations are the same for everyone from the off. And, if the mandated changes to the car’s floor — which impact downforce — hamper Mercedes more than Red Bull, so be it.
As for Verstappen you could see how much it meant to him to have blazed his way to the front of the grid, confirming the suggestions he barely dared believe from pre-season testing that his team may finally have the measure of the all-conquering Silver Arrows.
The possible fun of the year ahead comes down to Verstappen making a fight of it because Valtteri Bottas, a further two-tenths back in the second Mercedes, is destined always to be the hind legs of Hamilton’s horse.
Shame on Mercedes for their mindnumbing decision to keep Bottas on this season when evidence points to his never having enough about him to offer an internal threat to the top dog. For the sake of the sport they should have paired Hamilton with George Russell, the 23-year-old Williams driver who so dazzled in his one substitute appearance in the Mercedes last December.
Verstappen, the man of the moment, in windy conditions, was cautiously optimistic, saying: ‘It is not a relief. This is what you aim for. The last few years it hasn’t materialised.
‘The regulations have not changed a lot and we knew what our weaknesses were last year. We have addressed them and we are happy with that. It is a great start but there are no guarantees for the future.’
Hamilton said he had given his all but admitted even that would never be enough against the superior Red Bull.
He added: ‘We want to be first, but we knew it would be a challenge from day one in testing. It is no secret that the changes have, of course, been implemented to peg us back. We had the changes last year to our engine (a boost function) to do the same thing. But that is OK. We love a challenge.’
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez fell out in Q2. A touch slower over the weekend, he failed to deliver the required speed when shod on medium tyres at the crunch moment yesterday. The Mexican qualified 11th and let out an expletive of obvious disappointment as he pulled into the pits, the bleep function on overdrive.
That setback, though, was nothing compared to Sebastian Vettel’s baptism of fire at Aston Martin, the German qualifying a lowly 18th, eight-tenths behind his team-mate Lance Stroll.