Chapter 381: 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix | Saturday | Qualifying II | Sandwich

"Unpredictable, exciting. Just who is going to come out on top? Lewis Hamilton, in six of the last seven seasons, has started the opening race on pole. Max Verstappen, a man who has only led one lap here, never won or qualified on the front row; could he be about to steal Hamilton’s crown based on the pace they had?" Croft continued as the camera feed showed the view from the cable cam across the pit lane."The Red Bull looks as if it is on rails, especially in the hands of Max Verstappen. He looked so comfortable and so at one with the car, and we will see if that will translate to pole position."

Brundle said just in time as Verstappen’s chief mechanic, who had been standing in front of the garage, started moving back, finally letting Verstappen go out of the garage and into the fast lane as he left the pit lane.

Gasly, who was already on the track, could be seen going through the warm-up lap procedure as he approached the end of the middle sector before he was told on the radio to move aside as Verstappen was approaching on a qualifying lap.

.....

"It’s the final minutes of Q3, and we are finally seeing the pecking order to be expected in this season as drivers are now going on their final laps of the qualifying session, with every one of them wanting and vying for pole. And for Red Bull, the happy news is Sergio Perez goes ahead of Valtteri Bottas as they went for the first laps of the pole position shootout. Red Bull’s hope of the new teammate taking the fight to Mercedes and getting at least in between them has started paying dividends," Croft said as Perez moved to P2, dropping Bottas to P3, with Hamilton remaining on provisional pole.

"Yeah, but the team’s main man is currently on a lap very similar to Hamilton’s, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to smash him out of the park," Brundle took over as the feed changed to showing Max’s onboard as his qualifying timer appeared, showing a green first sector.

"Well, it was about seven and a half tenths of a second that was the difference between Max and Hamilton in practice, BUT IT IS A TENTH OF A SECOND AS HE CROSSES THE TIMING LINE AND ENDS THE LAP MUCH, MUCH CLOSER THAN IN THE OPENING STAGES AND WITH A FEW SECONDS TO GO, TAKING WITH HIM THE FASTEST MIDDLE AND FINAL SECTOR!" Croft shouted as Max went through the line and his name flashed with purple.

Max moved to the top of the timing tower, looking to take pole position if none of the remaining drivers made drastic improvements, and with Hamilton already having done his final lap, the chances were very little.

"He probably gave up a little bit in the early part of the lap to have better tires, BUT LOOK, TSUNODA IS UP INTO FOURTH PLACE!" Brundle, who was about to discuss the lap, found himself focusing on another name that moved on the timing tower as Tsunoda set a lap that put him in P4, making him forget all of what he had wanted to say.

"IT WOULD BE A HISTORIC RUN FOR THE ROOKIE AND THE ONLY DRIVER WHO WAS BORN IN THIS CENTURY TO START HIS CAREER WITH A P4 STARTING POSITION, BUT THE SENIOR IS ALSO IMPROVING, AND HE LOOKS TO BE IN THE LEAD!

AS HE COMES THROUGH THE FINAL CORNER, IT IS A LONG RUN TO THE START-FINISH LINE, AND HE DETHRONES HIS TEAMMATE AND TAKES P4! BUT WILL THAT POSITION STICK AS BOTTAS IS STILL ON HIS FINAL RUN AND HE LOOKS TO BE FASTER THAN GASLY! OOOOOOOOOOOH, HE SLIDES ON THE FINAL CORNER, AND HE WILL BE LOSING TIME ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE FINAL PART OF THE LAP, AND HIS MISTAKE COSTS HIM AS HE CROSSES THE LINE, AND IT IS P4 FOR HIM!

IT IS A RED BULL, MERCEDES, RED BULL, MERCEDES WITH THE TWO ALPHATAURI TAKING THE THIRD ROW, TAKING AN ENTIRE ROW FOR THEMSELVES AT THE MOMENT! BUT CHARLES LECLERC, HAVING STARTED HIS LAP A FEW SECONDS BEFORE THE CHECKERED FLAG, HAS THE CHANCE OF SPLITTING THE TWO ALPHATAURI, AND HE LOOKS TO BE ON PACE IF HE HAS A GOOD MIDDLE SECTOR, WHICH HE HAS MANAGED TO DO!

THERE ARE NOW THREE CORNERS BETWEEN HIM AND THE TIMING LINE, AND IT IS MOSTLY ON THE STRAIGHT! CAN THAT FERRARI ENGINE GIVE HIM ENOUGH STRAIGHT-LINE SPEED TO JOIN THE FIGHT OF THE CURRENT TWO ENGINES THAT ARE HOGGING THE TOP SIX? AND IT IS A DOUBLE SANDWICH AS THE MONEGASQUE SPLITS THE YELLOW BULLS AND SLOTS HIMSELF IN P6, DROPPING THE ROOKIE DOWN TO P7..."

While Croft was commentating excitedly, the racing operation in AlphaTauri was cheering as one of their cars was in a position considered to be the best of the rest, while the rookie was still very close to it as well, a remarkable improvement compared to last year, pace-wise.

Fatih as well had his hands up, as they were only about four-tenths behind the top two teams, and he knew the gap would shrink even further if they solved all their kinks and got updates through the season.

It was also him feeling relief, as he realized that the changes he had made had finally worked. He had been worried that Ferrari were sandbagging, but that worry had just been invalidated by the results of the qualifying session, as it was set in stone that they were ahead, or at least near the top if Red Bull and Mercedes are not counted.

{COME ONNNNNNNN!} Gasly shouted on the radio when he was told he was P5, since it was pole for any team that was not Mercedes or Red Bull.

{Good job, Yuki, it is P7 for you on debut, a perfect debut,} James could be heard on Yuki’s radio. Fatih raised his eyebrows when he heard a voice that he was used to talking to him talking to another driver.

It wasn’t jealousy, more so amusement, as he was actually hearing him conversing with another driver, which let him see how James acted when it wasn’t with him.