SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) 鈥� Ferrari's Charles Leclerc stunned Formula One champion Max Verstappen by taking a brilliant pole position Saturday for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verstappen was .015 seconds ahead of Leclerc on the last time split but the Red Bull star lost time to finish .123 seconds behind as his old teenage karting rival clinched the 10th pole position of his career.
鈥淚t was just a bit hit-and-miss getting the balance together,鈥� Verstappen said. 鈥淪uddenly I lost a tenth (of a second) on a corner. Nevertheless it鈥檚 the first race of the season and we鈥檙e competitive.鈥�
It is the same track where the 24-year-old Leclerc from Monaco got his first pole, in his first season with Ferrari in 2019,
鈥淚t feels good. The last two years have been difficult for the team,鈥� Leclerc said. 鈥淲e were quite hopeful this was an opportunity to be back in the front.鈥�
Montreal's Lance Stroll was 19th and Toronto's Nicholas Latifi was 20th.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton made up ground for Mercedes on his final run but never looked like securing a record-extending 104th pole and starts from a disappointing fifth place. He is behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. in third.
Hamilton's ex-teammate Valtteri Bottas made it a sore day for Mercedes by placing sixth for his new team Alfa Romeo, while his replacement George Russell was only ninth after a poor last run.
Mercedes looks to be struggling as others unexpectedly improve.
Haas uses Ferrari engines and is looking good, with showing it was maybe a mistake to fire him in 2020. The Danish driver starts in seventh place in his comeback race after replacing .
鈥淚鈥檓 speechless,鈥� Magnussen said. 鈥淏eing so anxious about this qualifying to really see how it is, and then finding out it is really good.鈥�
Ferrari set the leading times in the final part of qualifying, known as Q3, with Mercedes lagging around 1.5 seconds behind the Ferraris. But already it wasn鈥檛 looking good for Mercedes in Q1 with Russell ninth and Hamilton 10th.
It was even worse for McLaren鈥檚 Daniel Ricciardo, who has won eight races in his career.
The experienced Australian won the team鈥檚 only race last season but couldn鈥檛 even get into the second part of qualifying known as Q2. He starts in a dismal 18th place while teammate Lando Norris, who got four podiums last year, is not much further up in 13th.
McLaren is struggling to adapt the car with one of the main issues being 鈥減orpoising鈥� 鈥� an F1 term where an aerodynamic issue causes cars to hop and bounce on the track.
Verstappen led Q2 from Sainz Jr. and Leclerc as Mercedes again trailed the top drivers.
鈥淚t was a good start to the new era,鈥� Verstappen said. "It was a really close battle with Carlos and Charles.鈥�
Earlier, Verstappen narrowly led the third and final practice ahead of Leclerc and Perez.
Verstappen posted the fastest time in all preseason testing and led second practice ahead of the Ferraris, which were also second and third in the first practice.
Mercedes expressed severe doubts about the pace of its car in testing. After Friday鈥檚 two practice runs Hamilton had already ruled out victory despite being F1鈥瞫 record holder with 103 GP wins.
Hamilton has won races where he's started from far lower than fifth, but there are doubts his car can match his driving this time.
For Ferrari, the upward curve continues.
left the Scuderia Ferrari's Tifosi fans in tears and the team in tatters. Last year was stable with a handful of podiums but no wins.
鈥淲e have worked extremely well as a team to find ourselves in the position to fight for better places,鈥� Leclerc said. 鈥淔rom the driving point, it is completely different to last year, I鈥檝e tried many different driving styles. There鈥檚 much more to come from us.鈥�
Ferrari's last F1 title was Kimi Raikkonen's in 2007.
Perhaps it could be in real contention for the first time since 2017, when four-time champion Sebastian Vettel led the championship at halfway but wilted under Hamilton鈥檚 pressure, as he did in 2018.
Leclerc beat Vettel 2-1 for wins in 2019 and even led Hamilton for most F1 poles 7-5 to showcase his speed.
He'll go for his third race win on Sunday, with Verstappen right behind him and chasing win No. 21.
On this track three years ago, Leclerc looked set for his first F1 win until
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Jerome Pugmire, The Associated Press
