Bahrain Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Q1 commenced at 19:00 local time with cooler than expected temperatures greeting the field at the start of knockout qualifying. Hulkenberg and Magnussen held station in the garage for a prolonged period before attacking their starter runs on Pirelli P Zero Red softs – clocking respective laps of 1:30.623 and 1:31.252.

A second set of soft rubber for each driver produced a 1:30.566 for Hulkenberg (P14) and a 1:30.646 for Magnussen (P15) – both advancing into Q2.

Hulkenberg and Magnussen ran an opening stint on used softs to start Q2 – the Dane ultimately seeing his initial run deleted for a track limit violation. Armed with a new set of Reds, Hulkenberg set a blistering lap of 1:29.851 to land P6 at the checkered and a place firmly in Q3. Magnussen was to exit qualifying banking a 1:30.529 on his second stint to take P15.

Q3 saw Hulkenberg qualify in P10 with the German’s best effort of 1:30.502 set on used softs – the team saving a fresh set of the soft compound for Saturday’s race. At the front Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed the pole position courtesy of a hot lap of 1:29.179.

Nico Hulkenberg:

“At the end of last year, I still managed to put it into Q3 a few times and we knew from last season qualifying was our strength. It looks like we’ve not lost it, but we need to fix the race day issue from before. Obviously, that’s the most crucial point for us this season, and we pretty much only focused on that in testing, and also in the winter to dial-out that characteristic that we had last year. It feels better but tomorrow is the real test to see if it actually is better, so exciting times ahead.”

 

Kevin Magnussen:

“For me, I can’t be happy with that, I didn’t do a good lap in qualifying. The positive thing is we feel we’ve made some progress with the car, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow in the race. I know our race pace is decent so we can be more competitive, which hopefully is the case, and if it is then it will be a very different situation to last year where we were only falling back. I’m gutted with today honestly but looking forward to Saturday.”

 

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“From FP3, we focused on our low-fuel performance and after the sessions we thought if we could do a good job, we can get into Q2 – we achieved that so I’m very happy. What a lap from Nico in Q2 to get into Q3, so again I’m really happy with that also. In Q3 we had, let’s say, a calm state of mind to know that we’re not racing Mercedes or McLaren tomorrow, so we kept one new set of tires for Nico for Saturday, and we’ve given ourselves the best chance. I’d like to think that all the things we’ve been learning from pre-season testing and from yesterday’s high-fuel runs, we can put it into practice tomorrow and try and score some points.”

 

Today's Data

Event: Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix – Friday March 1
Location: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
Layout: 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track
Weather: Clear
Air Temps: 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Team Result: Nico Hulkenberg qualified 10^th, Kevin Magnussen qualified 15^th 

 

Free Practice 3 (FP3) Rundown:

Hulkenberg: 9^th overall (1:31.278), 13 laps
Magnussen: 14^th overall (1:31.671), 20 laps
Fastest: Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari (1:30.824)

 

Q1 Qualifying: 18-mins with all 20 Drivers – Top 15 Advance to Q2

Hulkenberg: 14^th overall (1:30.566) – Advanced to Q2
Magnussen: 15^th overall (1:30.646) – Advanced to Q2
Fastest: Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari (1:29.909)

 

Q2 Qualifying: 15-mins – Top 10 Advance to Q3

Hulkenberg: 6^th overall (1:29.851) – Advanced to Q3
Magnussen: 15^th overall (1:30.529)
Fastest: Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari (1:29.165) 

 

Q3 Qualifying: 12-mins – Top 10 Drivers

Hulkenberg: 10^th overall (1:30.502)
Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:29.179)