Lance Stroll’s run of qualifying defeats to his team mate Fernando Alonso continued in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
However his team explained it made an error in setting up his car for qualifying.
Change from practice to qualifying
Three teams – Racing Bulls, Haas and Sauber – were no faster in qualifying than they were in practice:
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Gaps between team mates
Red Bull will have breathed a sigh of relief as Yuki Tsunoda joined Max Verstappen in the final round of qualifying – the first time this year both the cars have reached Q3.
But the gap between their drivers remains a cause for concern. Tsunoda was almost nine tenths of a second slower than Verstappen, the largest gap between any pair of team mates, as was also the case in the two rounds where Liam Lawson was Verstappen’s team mate.
Stroll had the longest-running streak of qualifying defeats to his team mate heading into this weekend’s race. That grew today, as Alonso reached Q2 and he failed to.
However Aston Martin revealed afterwards they made an error with Stroll’s set-up. “We got things completely wrong with Lance’s car today,” said the team’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack.
“The ride height set-up was incorrect, which created high levels of understeer, and cost him significant lap time and a chance to qualify higher up the grid.”
Although Stroll’s run of defeats in grand prix qualifying sessions since last season continued, he did out-qualify Alonso for the sprint race in Shanghai last month.
Team mate battles sequences
Out-qualified team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 16 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | 11 |
| 3 | George Russell | 10 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | 7 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | 3 |
| = | Isack Hadjar | 3 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | 2 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Oscar Piastri | 1 |
Out-qualified by team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Stroll | 16 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | 10 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | 5 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 4 |
| 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 3 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 3 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | 2 |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | 1 |
| = | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
| = | Lando Norris | 1 |
Q1 and Q3
Unusually, although Hulkenberg participated in Q2, he officially did not qualify for the session as his quickest lap time in Q1 was belatedly deleted. Sauber therefore saw both drivers drop out in Q1 for the second race running.
Eliminated in Q1
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 3 |
| 2 | Nico Hulkenberg | 2 |
| = | Lance Stroll | 2 |
| 4 | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
| = | Liam Lawson | 1 |
Reached Q3
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | 15 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 11 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 8 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 7 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | 4 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 4 |
| 7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 3 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 1 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 1 |
| = | Pierre Gasly | 1 |
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