- The '14', surprised by Gasly, is out of Q3 and will start thirteenth
- Ferrari consolidates its dominance, with Kimi Raikkonen also very toned
Pierre Gasly, a 22-year-old rookie, knocked out McLaren in Bahrain. A painful blow to the jaw, because the Frenchman is under the hood of his Toro Rosso with a Honda engine, the emblem of all nightmares for three years in Woking. The surprising appearance of Gasly separated Fernando Alonso from Q3, who will have to take his elbows on Sunday to scratch a point.
The mood of McLaren froze on the night of Sakhir, where Ferrari consolidated his dominance with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. To celebrate the 200th Grand Prix of his career, the German signed his third pole in the desert, after the 2010 and 2012. His last attempt (1: 27.958) bitter Iceman , inspired in this season's start.
But the leader of the Scuderia could not afford to leave on Sunday for the dirty area of the grid. He had to endorse the red domain in Shakir, where the people of Maranello have five victories and 12 podiums in the previous 13. It would have been fatal to repeat the error of Lewis Hamilton, relegated here 12 months ago by the unexpected pole of Valtteri Bottas.
Verstappen, denied
In any case, the current champion still does not enjoy the Arab night. Weighed down by his Friday sanction of five places on the grid, Lewis lacked that killer instinct at other times. In Q2, with the soft compound, he drew the guidelines for an alternative strategy that allows the comeback.
Just behind Hamilton was Daniel Ricciardo, sole survivor of a black Saturday for Red Bull. This time, Max Verstappen barely lasted 12 minutes on the asphalt. His spin at turn two, just when he opened gas with violence, crowned his cluster of disasters. On Friday he had suffered a problem as soon as he got out of the garage and in the free third his absurd maneuver at the end of the straight almost took Raikkonen ahead.
Who took advantage of the good vibes was Renault, especially thanks to Nico Hukenberg. "Great turn", they sang to the German on the radio after his 1: 29.187 in Q2, almost seven tenths better than Carlos Sainz. Finally, the Madrilenian will start from the tenth position and will be able to challenge Hamilton himself in turn.
The DRS and Grosjean
Behind, Alonso will want to recover from this unexpected moral blow. His anguish has already begun in the first screen. A fast lap attempt penalized by the DRS. When the engineer confirmed that he was not activated by a yellow flag on the other side of the runway, Fernando's fury exploded via radio: "I do not understand why they closed the DRS, it's stupid."
That way, he was seen with only four minutes ahead for the heroic. And there he benefited from a little wink of fortune, by marking exactly the same time as Romain Grosjean (1: 30: 530). Only a rude mistake by the Frenchman in the last corner before the finish gave the world champion a break. The tie-breaking method is clear: it is still the one who sets the time in the first place. As resounding as the later disappointment. At the hands of Honda, nothing less.
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