The Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was the fastest this Saturday at the Baréin Grand Prix, the room of the year, in the Sakhir circuit. Photo: EFE
EFE / Madrid
The Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) first leaves this Sunday at the Baréin Grand Prix, the Formula One world Cup room, in the Sakhir circuit, where his partner, the Englishman Lando Norris, leader of the championship, starts from the sixth place; and the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will do so from the eighth and the thirteenth, respectively.
Piastri, 24, achieved his second ‘pole’ in the F1, the second of the year, after marking the best time of the third round of the qualification by covering the 5.412 meters of the desert track on the outskirts of Manama – the capital of the kingdom of the Arabian archipelago – in a minute, 29 seconds and 841 thousandths. Exactly 168 less than the English George Russell (Mercedes), which will accompany him from the front row; In a test in which the Monegasco Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) leaves third, from the second, next to the other Mercedes, that of the young Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli: the best debutant to date.
Norris, second in the general last year and leader of the World Cup, complicated life with the sixth grill; One ahead of the quadruple Dutch world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull), to which he takes a point in the championship. But five behind his Australian partner.
If Piastri, winner in Shanghai (China), achieves this Sunday his fourth win in the queen category will take the leadership of the World Cup. And he will apply to be, also, the theoretical leader of the Woking team; That, on paper, gives freedom of action, without team orders, its pilots.
Sainz, 30, signed his best result in a main timed since he runs for Williams and will leave from the eighth square, after ending that time a great day for Spanish motor racing thanks to the triumph, in the Sprint test of Formula 2 played in Sakhir, of Barcelona Pepe Martín (Campos Racing). One of the pilots sponsored by Alonso; that fell with the fourteenth time of the Q2, but it will be thirteenth after a time back to the German Nico Hülkenberg (Kick Sauber); And it will come from the seventh row, next to the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Haas).
Surprisingly, the return to the German – for overcoming the track limits, in curve 11 – corresponded to the first round. But F1 sometimes has these things difficult to understand.
The McLaren had once again been the fastest in the last free training, which dominated Pastri. The Australian, who had marked the best time on Friday, ahead of Norris -who had led the first free -repeated positions with his colleague in the Woking team in the third essay, which the Sainz and Alonso finished ninth and nineteenth, respectively.
Piastri, who, again from the ‘pole’, will seek his second triumph of the year in a race in which the management of the tires will be fundamental, on a very abrasive track, the fastest in the last essay had already been long (1: 31.646), with 668 thousandths of advantage over Norris; and with 834 on Leclerc (Ferrari), which had marked – as well as the previous ones, with the soft tire – the third time of the session.
Sainz had been ninth in the morning on the track where he signed two of his 27 podiums in the queen category -one of them last year, when he was third -, a second and 446 thousandths of Piastri, from which the double Asturian world champion concluded to a second and 902 thousandths.
Alonso, who achieved three of his 32 victories in F1 in this circuit, ended up fourteenth a little transcendent trial – designed by day, unlike the qualification and race, on a track with very little grip and slow – in which the only remarkable incidence starred by Hülkenberg, surprising seventh in the first race of the year, in Australia. The German stopped, in the eighth of the 15 Sakhir curves, his Kick Sauber, which had entered ‘Anti-Stall’ (anti draft), causing a virtual security car for a couple of minutes.
Verstappen -gain last Sunday in Japan -which is second in the championship, to a point of the 62 with which Norris commanded, had registered eighth in the time table, a second and 381 thousandths of Piastri, in the last free.
Thai Alex Albon (Williams) and Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Sainz and Alonso’s companions, respectively, were eliminated in the first round of the qualification (Q1), in which Norris marked the best time (1.31.107), with 112 thousandths of advantage over his compatriot the septuple world champion Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), which will be ninth this Sunday; From the fifth row and next to the other Red Bull, that of Japanese Yuki Tsunoda.
Sainz spent the cut with the eleventh chrono -48 hundredths -and Alonso, with the thirteenth -a 52-
The Astro Astur fell, with the fourteenth time – at 1,432 of piastri- in the second round, which was interrupted for a few minutes, with a red flag, because of the accident – for fortune without regretting personal damage – of the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Haas), in the third of the 15 Sakhir curves. And in which, apparently, the Mercedes went out early for time, called to declare by the commissioners after the main timed for that reason.
Sainz went to the decisive round with the sixth time, 390 from Piastri; He announced that, with the dominant McLaren, he will also fight for the World Cup.
Melbourne’s prodigy did not miss the opportunity and signed his second ‘pole’ in the Queen category, which he can encourage this Sunday if the victory is aimed – and, incidentally, his partner Norris complicates the life of his partner Norris – in a career scheduled to 57 laps; To complete a 308.2 kilometers route.
