13/04/2025 10:00
Max Verstappen was downbeat heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix
weekend, and his worst fears were ultimately realised in
qualifying, where he was only seventh, nearly 0.6s slower than
pole-sitter Oscar Piastri. Throw in the fact that Pierre Gasly, in
an Alpine which is last in the constructors' with zero points, is
ahead of him by the tune of 0.207s on pure merit, the salt rubs a
little deeper into the wounds. Helmut Marko tried to soothe those
fears after the session, claiming Verstappen had a brake problem -
but this was not the only excuse in Verstappen's mind as Red Bull
frantically searched for a set-up to extract any performance from
the RB21, but it was just not with the brakes he struggled. Whether
it be top speed or cornering speeds, the package is well off the
pace, with the world champion firmly in the middle of the pack for
grunt and losing four-tenths alone to Piastri in the middle sector.
The problem lies within the fact that the RB21 is a recalcitrant
car to set-up changes and despite working at the problem throughout
practice, qualifying data paints a glum picture for driver and
team. View lap times, sector times and top speeds below. The
article continues below. McLaren leads the way About McLaren,
Piastri stewed sovereignly to pole position. The gap to Russell,
who was later dropped one place, may have been smaller than
expected, but Piastri was not in danger for a moment. Compared to
Russell and Leclerc, Piastri actually only loses time on the back
straight, start/finish and at turns 9 and 10, proving once again
that McLaren is very strong all round, both in the corners and on
the straight. On the road, Piastri only took pole by 0.168s from
George Russell, who was later demoted to third after a Mercedes
mix-up in the pit-lane after Esteban Ocon's crash in Q2, but it did
not mean that Piastri's second career-pole was under any
significant threat. The Australian only lost time on the straights
and in Turns 9 and 10, but was otherwise serene as he set himself
up to assume command of the championship for the first time in his
career. View the comparison between Piastri, Russell and Leclerc
below.
