Leclerc surprise pole-sitter in F-1 opener
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc stunned Formula One champion Max Verstappen by taking a brilliant pole position Saturday for the seasonopening Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir.
Verstappen was .015 seconds ahead of Leclerc on the last time split but the Red Bull star lost time to finish .123 seconds behind as his old teenage karting rival clinched the 10th pole position of his career.
“It was just a bit hitand-miss getting the balance together,” Verstappen said. “Suddenly I lost a tenth [of a second] on a corner. Nevertheless it’s the first race of the season and we’re competitive.”
It is the same track where the 24-year-old Leclerc from Monaco got his first pole, in his first season with Ferrari in 2019, earning him a phone call from friend
Prince Albert of Monaco.
“It feels good. The last two years have been difficult for the team,” Leclerc said. “We were quite hopeful this was an opportunity to be back in the front.”
Seven-time champion
Lewis Hamilton made up ground for Mercedes on his final run but never looked like securing a record-extending 104th pole and starts from a disappointing fifth place. He is behind Red Bull’s
Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in third.
Hamilton’s ex-teammate Valtteri Bottas made it a sore day for Mercedes by placing sixth for his new team Alfa Romeo, while his replacement George Russell was only ninth after a poor last run.
Mercedes looks to be struggling as others unexpectedly improve.
Haas uses Ferrari engines and is looking good, with the re-hired Kevin Magnussen showing it was maybe a mistake to fire him in 2020. The Danish driver starts in seventh place in his comeback race after replacing the axed Russian driver Nikita Mazepin.
“I’m speechless,” Magnussen said. “Being so anxious about this qualifying to really see how it is, and then finding out it is really good.”
Ferrari set the leading times in the final part of qualifying, known as Q3, with Mercedes lagging around 1.5 seconds behind the Ferraris. But already it wasn’t looking good for Mercedes in Q1 with Russell ninth and Hamilton 10th.
NASCAR CUP
Atlanta Motor Speedway billed its striking changes as a “reimagining” of the venerable track.
During a 40-minute practice session, the drivers dealt with the reality of what they’ll be facing Sunday in the NASCAR Cup race.
“Full-blown chaos,” Christopher Bell said, sounding like he was finally able to exhale.
Already one of the fastest tracks in the series, the 1.54-mile trioval was repaved with even steeper banking heading into the first of two Cup races in Atlanta this year.
The result is more packstyle racing, with the drafting in practice looking eerily similar to restrictor-plate traffic jams at Daytona or Talladega.
That should be thrilling for the fans, but there could be a lot of bangedup race cars when the grueling day is done.
“Obviously, when you come to the end of stages and points are on the line, and especially when you come to end of the race and wins are on the line, man, you need to take care of each other,” Kyle Busch said after Saturday’s practice. “There’s no reason why we should crash, but we’re going to. You just hope it’s not too hard.”
With everybody essentially feeling like a rookie, the practice session was especially important for drivers to work through the quirks and experience the unique features of the new layout.
“Everything seemed kind of chaotic for a practice session,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who posted the fastest lap at 186.616 mph. “We were all trying to learn as much as we could.”
They found it was easier to stay in the draft than the plate races, but there were some anxious moments through the sweeping curves, with the banking increased from 24 to 28 degrees and a narrower track.
Coming off turn four, it could get especially treacherous when the cars attempt to dive into the pits.
“One mistake could wipe out most of the field if you’re at the front,” Stenhouse said. “It’s going to be kind of crazy to watch this.”
Reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney are listed as the co-favorites by FanDuel.
Heavy rains wiped out the practice sessions for all three series on Friday, forcing NASCAR to make changes to the weekend schedule.
Qualifying had been set for Saturday, but it was canceled so the cars and trucks could get some much-needed practice time.
INDYCAR
Felix Rosenqvist earned a much-needed pole in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where IndyCar is desperately trying to develop a second passing lane in what could be the final race for the series at the track.
Rosenqvist turned a lap at 221.110 mph in his Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet and the time stood as 16 drivers tried to knock him off the pole. Scott McLaughlin, winner of the season-opening race at St. Petersburg last month, was the final driver to qualify and just missed bumping the Swede from the top starting spot.
McLaughlin went 221.096 for Team Penske to just barely miss the pole but give Chevrolet a lockout of the front row.
Takuma Sato qualified third in a Honda for Dale Coyne Racing and was followed by Team Penske driver Will Power as Chevrolet took three of the top four spots.
Six-time Texas winner
Scott Dixon, winner of the first race in a doubleheader last year, qualified fourth for Chip Ganassi Racing and was followed by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank Racing.
Jimmie Johnson, the all-time winningest driver at Texas with seven wins in NASCAR, qualified 18th in his IndyCar oval debut. It was his best qualifying effort in 14 IndyCar races.
For Rosenqvist, it was his second career pole since joining IndyCar in 2019.
He’s coming off a terrible first season with McLaren and admitted the qualifying run Saturday was a confidence boost.
“It’s been needed for awhile,” Rosenqvist said. “Coming into this week, we always know we have a good car here and I felt confident. There was no reason we shouldn’t be strong here.”