Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Business as usual for Max as he takes pole
MAX Verstappen temporarily took the spotlight off team boss Christian Horner by putting his Red Bull on pole position for the opening round of the new Formula One season in Bahrain.
The build-up to the first race of the campaign has been completely overshadowed by allegations whirling around Horner.
The 50-year-old was exonerated by Red Bull Racing parent’s company, Red Bull GmbH, after an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female colleague on Wednesday – before hundreds of WhatsApp messages appearing to be written by him were leaked to the F1 world a day later.
However, Horner, who has always denied any wrongdoing and remains in his role, was on the defending world champions’ pit wall here in Bahrain to see Verstappen claim his first pole of a season in which he is expected to romp to his fourth world championship in a row in his allconquering Red Bull machine.
However, the triple world champion was made to work for the 33rd pole of his career under the thousands of bulbs that light up the Sakhir Circuit with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc second, two tenths back.
George Russell finished third for Mercedes, one place ahead of
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton will line up ninth on the grid, with fellow Brit Lando Norris, from Somerset, seventh in his McLaren.
Despite taking top spot, Verstappen apologised for what he perceived to be a scruffy lap.
“Don’t be sorry, Max,” said Horner over the team radio. “You finished two tenths clear of Charles and three tenths ahead of George.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Verstappen said afterwards. “I am very happy to be on pole, and it was a little bit unexpected. The car came to us and I felt happier than I did in practice.
“The race is going to be close, too, but we will see. I am confident we can have a strong race.”
Hamilton raised hope that he might take the challenge to Verstappen when he finished fastest in practice on Thursday.
However, the 39-year-old, entering his final campaign for the Silver Arrows before he joins Ferrari, finished half-a-second back and behind team-mate Russell.
“Max is still out there in front and we have a lot of catching up to do, but starting third here in Bahrain is a great place for us,” said Russell. “We have made a big step forward in single-lap pace, but hopefully we have not compromised our race pace. But Max is out ahead and the race for all of us is for second.”
While Verstappen took top spot, Sergio Perez was fifth in the other Red Bull, one place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly will bring up the rear following a miserable qualifying session for the Alpine team.
Earlier, embattled Horner vowed to “go racing” after the latest allegations whirling around him.
He was quizzed about the latest allegations as he made his way from Red Bull’s hospitality suite to the team’s garage for third practice.
“I am not going to comment on anonymous speculation from unknown sources,” he said. When asked what comes next, Horner, above, replied: “We go racing.”
It is anticipated that Horner’s wife, Geri, will be with her husband at the race. Chalerm Yoovidhya, who owns 51 per cent of the Red Bull group, is also set to be in attendance.
It is understood that neither F1’s
American owners, Liberty Media, nor its regulator, the FIA, has seen Red Bull GmbH’s report into Horner, thought to stretch to 150 pages and was said to be “confidential”.
It is believed that the FIA is now considering the legalities of asking Red Bull to hand over its report, and examining if Horner might have breached two clauses of its International Sporting Code.
Horner continues to operate in his role as team principal and CEO, although it is understood there is considerable unease among the team’s plethora of sponsors and partners. He said in a statement on Thursday: “I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.”