Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has beaten Lewis Hamilton to pole position ahead of the opening Formula One race of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit.
For the first time in his Formula One career, Verstappen topped the timing sheets in every session ahead of quali – snatching the top spot by a whopping 0.388s ahead of both of the Mercedes with a 1:28.997.
Hamilton admitted he gave all he had throughout the session, but it just wasn’t enough to beat the flying Dutchman.
He said: “Congratulations to Max, he did such a great job. So fast on that last lap. Absolutely gave it everything I have, but unfortunately wasn’t good enough.
“There’s always more [pace] but it was the best I could do that’s for sure. I got absolutely everything I could from the car.
I think we did a really good job from testing, to come here. The Lads back at the factory, they’ve really done such an amazing job, and our aerodynamicist Kim, she’s been giving such great information for us to be able to get the car to where we needed it to be closer to the Red Bulls so, to be that close, considering I think in testing we were further behind.
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