McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix from Mercedes’ George Russell with the second McLaren of Lando Norris down in sixth.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, just one point behind Norris at the head of the championship, was a further place behind the Briton in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton was just ninth in the Ferrari, his team-mate Charles Leclerc third ahead of Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine in an impressive fifth place.
McLaren had always looked a certainty for pole, but what had been expected to be a private battle between Piastri and Norris fizzled out.
Piastri’s advantage over Russell was 0.168 seconds at the head of the field, and Leclerc 0.334secs off the Australian.
“I felt confident all weekend,” Piastri said. “Qualifying, the others were a little closer than we wanted but got the lap time when it mattered. Can’t thank the team enough for the car they’ve given me.”
Norris, who was 0.426secs behind his team-mate, could not explain his lack of pace.
“I was just slow,” he said. “I have been slow this whole weekend, to be honest. Nothing too surprising. I have just been off it.
“The car is amazing. I have nothing to complain about, the team are doing an amazing job but I am just letting them down.”
At Ferrari, there was a similar split between their two drivers. Leclerc spoke of following an “extreme” set-up direction in the past couple of races that had made the car “very tricky to drive but it seems like I am quicker that way so we will keep going in that direction”.
But Hamilton, 0.597secs slower than his team-mate, seemed unable to explain what had gone wrong from his side, and apologised to his team over the radio as he returned to the pits for what he said was “my poor performance”.
“There’s no reasons,” he said. “I’m just not doing the job. It happens every Saturday yeah.
“Our car is clearly a lot better than what I am delivering with it, Charles did a great job with it today, so big apologies to the team for not doing the job.”
Russell had looked on target to be best of the rest throughout the weekend, but finishing second was a happy surprise for the Briton.
“If anyone had said we’d have been within 0.5secs of the McLarens we’d have taken it,” he said. “To be second is a bonus and excited for tomorrow now.
“It was a really strong Q3. I wasn’t really feeling it through qualifying, didn’t have the confidence in myself. I don’t know why that was. Q1 and Q2 was a real challenge.
“But Q3 got back into my rhythm and surprise to be just 0.15secs off pole and ahead of one of the McLarens. And Charles up there as well.
“As the session unfolded we got quicker and quicker. Lining up P2 is exciting but it’s unlikely we’ll be able to fight with Oscar.”
