How Bahrain GP qualifying unfolded

Great to see smiles on faces in Haas after a miserable 2021. Kevin Magnussen, after a year out, gets himself to seventh on the grid.

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen to pole position in a thrilling qualifying session at the start of Formula 1's new era.

After a difficult session Leclerc put it all together for his final lap and beat the world champion by 0.123 seconds at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz had earlier been the faster Ferrari driver but slipped down to third, just 0.129secs off pole. Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

Hamilton was 0.680secs off pole as Mercedes' pre-event predictions that they were not yet on the pace proved correct. His new team-mate George Russell was ninth after making an error at Turn One on his only lap in the final session of qualifying.

Russell was beaten by his predecessor at Mercedes Valtteri Bottas, an impressive sixth in his first race for the Alfa Romeo team, ahead of the equally impressive Kevin Magnussen on his return to F1 with the Haas team after a year away.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso was eighth ahead of Russell, with Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly taking the final place in the top 10.

What Carlos has is an incredible work ethic.

He works extremely hard with the engineers and his understanding of how a racing car works is second to none.

He has to work at it a little more than someone like Charles Leclerc but he can be the same pace because of his understanding and work ethic.

A great effort from Zhou Guanyu in his first ever qualifying session. He starts 15th - and is pretty happy about it.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Twitter...

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who starts down in fifth, speaking to Sky Sports F1, says: "I'm not saying I'm relieved, in general I'm really happy with the day compared to where we've been in the last two weeks.

"It has been a bit of a nightmare to drive, but we kept working and I'm proud of everyone.

"The guys ahead of us are in another league. In general I'm happy where we are, it's not the front row but we will make improvements as well as we can.

"These guys (Red Bull and Ferrari) will be going ahead, we are not in the fight with them, my battle is with the guys behind us. Their performance was quite a bit ahead of us."

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz says: "I'm quite happy with the progress I've done throughout the weekend.

"I'm really struggling with the car and how to drive it. I've been more than half a second behind all weekend, to be even fighting for pole position was good news for me.

"Charles has been ahead all weekend and deserves pole position.

"The problem is I've never been so far behind. This weekend I've had to fight a seventh to eight tenth deficit from FP1."

"I don’t understand the car fully yet and I'm struggling, I'm thinking a lot while driving."

World champion Max Verstappen, who qualified second, says: "Q2 seemed good, Q3 was a bit more of a struggle but it's alright, we've got a good racing car which at the end of the day is the most important thing.

"It's a good start to the new era. There are a few things to look into and we will try to do better next time.

"You want to be good in qualifying but make sure the car is working in the race and it's a bit different to some other tracks.

"It was a really nice battle with Charles and Carlos so they did a really good job in the winter."

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who will start on pole tomorrow, says: "It feels good. The last two years have been difficult for the team. We were quite hopeful this was an opportunity to be back in the front.

"We have worked extremely well as a team to find ours in the position to fight for better places. Very happy with today. It was a very tricky qualifying session I wasn’t quite happy with my driving but managed to do that lap in Q3.

"From the driving point, it is completely different to last year, I've tried many different driving styles. There's much more to come from us.

"It feels quite good, we were pretty sure Red Bull were going to be quicker than us. Now we need to finish the weekend on a high, its not going to be easy.

"We need to focus on that and hopefully have a good race tomorrow. The race is long and anything can happen so we need to stay on it."

Right, who wants some quotes from the top three?

Former world champion Jenson Button likes what he saw...

This is how we will line up for the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season...

• 1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
• 4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
• 5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• 6. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
• 7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
• 8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
• 9. George Russell (Mercedes)
• 10. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
• 11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
• 12. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
• 13. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 14. Alexander Albon (Williams)
• 15. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
• 16. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
• 17. Nico Hulkenberg (Aston Martin)
• 18. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
• 19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
• 20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

Josh Earl: brilliant from Leclerc! Welcome back Ferrari!

Cameron Robinson: Poor ol' George has had a nightmare

G: Bottas is going to shine this season I hope #bbcf1

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.123
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.129
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.363
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.68
6. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) +1.002
7. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +1.637
9. George Russell (Mercedes) +1.658
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) +1.78

Lewis Hamilton starts fifth and a late error from George Russell is costly as, in his first race for Mercedes since replacing Valtteri Bottas, is down in ninth.

Valtteri Bottas sixth, Kevin Magnussen seventh and Fernando Alonso eighth all ahead of Russell.

Verstappen only up to second, below Charles Leclerc.