Kolisi and Co ready themselves for start of Pro14— Fixtures on

Expectations soar for Dutch Red Bull driver and his team

● Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set himself up as favourite for the first race of the Formula One season after a perfect pole position in Bahrain yesterday.

The Dutch 23-year-old was fastest in every sector on his final lap as he denied champions Mercedes the top slot in the seasonopener for the first time in the V6 turbo hybrid era that started in 2014.

Mercedes’ seven times world champion

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second on the grid, qualifying a considerable 0.388 seconds slower, with teammate Valtteri Bottas lining up in third place.

“Well done, Max, that’s the perfect start,” said team boss Christian Horner over the team radio as the mechanics celebrated.

The pole was the fourth of Verstappen’s career and continued a perfect start to the year, with the Red Bull driver quickest in preseason testing and all three free practice sessions in Bahrain.

Sunday’s race will also be the first time he has lined up on pole with Hamilton alongside.

No guarantees

“We already had a great test week. There are no guarantees coming to the first race weekend but the whole week so far the car has been working really well and it’s just been really enjoyable to drive,” said Verstappen.

“It all worked out perfectly in qualifying so of course I’m very happy with pole position,” added the driver who ended last season on pole in Abu Dhabi, a race he went on to win.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified fourth, but on softer tyres, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly fifth and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo lining up sixth for his first race with the team since moving from Renault.

McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified seventh, ahead of former teammate Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso

Spain’s two times world champion Fernando Alonso, 39, will start his first race since 2018 in ninth place with Renault-owned Alpine.

The big losers were four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel, now at Aston Martin after leaving Ferrari, who starts 18th and Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez who managed only 11th on the grid.

At the back, Michael Schumacher’s son Mick will start 19th for Haas, one spot ahead of teammate Nikita Mazepin. —

Picture: Gallo Images Work to do Springbok World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi hard at work during a training session for the Sharks. Kolisi was recently released from his Western Province and Stormers contract and joined the Durban-based outfit. He made his debut for the Sharks on Friday.

Max Verstappen yesterday.