Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018

2018 Bahrain Grand Prix grid

2018 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Row 11. Sebastian Vettel 1’27.958
Ferrari
2. Kimi Raikkonen 1’28.101
Ferrari
Row 23. Valtteri Bottas 1’28.124
Mercedes
4. Daniel Ricciardo 1’28.398
Red Bull
Row 35. Pierre Gasly 1’29.329
Toro Rosso
6. Kevin Magnussen 1’29.358
Haas
Row 47. Nico Hulkenberg 1’29.570
Renault
8. Esteban Ocon 1’29.874
Force India
Row 59. Lewis Hamilton* 1’28.220
Mercedes
10. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’29.986
Renault
Row 611. Brendon Hartley 1’30.105
Toro Rosso
12. Sergio Perez 1’30.156
Force India
Row 713. Fernando Alonso 1’30.212
McLaren
14. Stoffel Vandoorne 1’30.525
McLaren
Row 815. Max Verstappen No time
Red Bull
16. Romain Grosjean 1’30.530
Haas
Row 917. Marcus Ericsson 1’31.063
Sauber
18. Sergey Sirotkin 1’31.414
Williams
Row 1019. Charles Leclerc 1’31.420
Sauber
20. Lance Stroll 1’31.503
Williams

*Five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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57 comments on “2018 Bahrain Grand Prix grid”

  1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    7th April 2018, 17:12

    Seb’s right – the Ferrari is at least 0.4 seconds slower:-)

    1. maybe mercedes is losing time due to the holes they have open in the chassis for cooling. but yeah, in this race ferrari is the car to beat.

    2. It is! It’s just VET who made the DIFFERENCE.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        7th April 2018, 17:38

        @mg1982 yeah he did:-) Raikonnen seemed like he felt he would have gotten pole were it not for some traffic. What a shame, he didn’t!

  2. Toro Rosso-Honda 6th? Fml. What have you done, McLaren?!

    1. Also, with the highest speed trap figures throughout the weekend. *sigh*

    2. Seriously. Just yesterday I was commenting that TR look likely to be in a race to the bottom, and today they go and do a good job over 1 lap. Let’s hope the Honda PU holds up well during the race as well.

    3. @mashiat Seeing Red Bull’s pace, I guess McLaren’s first problem is not the engine. The Honda engine probably remains the weakest of the grid but it’s the least of the concerns McLaren should have right now.
      I am extremely disappointed.

      1. @spoutnik
        If Honda is indeed the weakest engine on the grid that really highlights how deep Williams have dug. The worst drivers on the grid, the worst car on the grid and i guess Paddy wasnt exactly the root of MErcedes success.

        1. @rethla No Mercedes customers seem to be doing particularly well though (even Force India doesn’t look that fast)

      2. 2 @spoutnik
        I don’t think that Honda is the weakest engine. Gasly is higher than Haas and both Renaults.

        1. That’s what we hear constantly though. Honda engine is certainly weaker that 2018 Ferrari engine. But my point was suggesting how bad the McLaren chassis probably was?
          @rethla indeed, but to be fair about Paddy he jumped late in the team. Not sure he has anything to do (yet) with their current form.

          1. When we look at how McLaren qualified last year an how slow they were in races, i suspect that Handa does have a quali mode on theengine. And then in the race, due to both reliability and fuel efficiency, they lose a lot

    4. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! This is really embarrassing for McLaren. As a fan, I don’t know how much longer I can take this! Both Torro-Rossos faster than both McLarens??? What is going on?

      Does anyone know what percentage of their new aerodynamic package is now on the car? They talked of a “big upgrade” coming after pre-season testing, then said it wasn’t all ready for Australia. Is it all on the car now or is more to come?

      1. “Does anyone know what percentage of their new aerodynamic package is now on the car?” This is referring to McLaren, not TR.

        1. @harrydymond Lets hope nothing of it is on yet. :)

      2. @harrydymond
        Yesterday, Alonso told that all the updates were working as expected, and McLaren gained two tenths. But the reality is different.

      3. Even both force india boys are faster!

    5. It looks little better than it really is due to grosjean and verstappen being out of Q3. Still, it is very respectable result. Let’s see if honda can finish their first race without an issue this season…

  3. Awesome from Gasly!

    1. Astonishing

  4. Aaaand McLaren have been proved wrong.

    But just last race, I stated McLaren had been proved right. So I’ll stay silent.

    1. I don’t think they’ve been proven anything in just one race and two qualifying sessions, let’s just wait for the season to unfold

  5. This is far from over… Australia is indeed a special track and nothing should be concluded after it.

  6. the worst thing that could have happened to maclaren was to be beaten in a power circuit by a powered honda car lol on alonso

  7. Watch out for those McLar…. uhhh… Mercedes and Red Bull

    1. @tweak I mean for all we know Vandoorne could crash out bringing out a timely SC for Alonso…. (fine, /s)

  8. This actually makes me very happy. I was a bit worried that Mercedes would be the fastest in 80% of races, but nice to be proven wrong.

    1. @mashiat Ferrari have some advantage today be it tyres, the cooling, whatever, so it actually frightens me Mercedes is still so close,…

    2. @mashiat: Same predictions and feelings here. But, however badly I want to be wrong, I’ll wait a few more races before saying we’ve been proved wrong.

  9. It seems a trend might be forming here.. Mercedes faster on slower, twisty, circuits, and Ferrari faster on power circuits? And perhaps they are a match on high-speed tracks like Silverstone and Spa? This season is not over!

  10. Niiiice! Hope it will be just like this all season long.

    I was sure RAI is not to be “trusted”, although he seemed more comfortable with the car since the season started, and that VET will get on top pretty soon.

    Wow, suddenly all HAM’s greatness went out of the window. VET put him to shame.

    McLaren… ridiculous! Top 3 is 110% out of reach this season.

  11. Alonso is truly cursed.

    1. Or overrated.

          1. Still time to get a good ride at Indy.. a little late for Long Beach..

  12. Great job from Pierre and Gasly.

    Kimi complaining about traffic, we didn’t see his lap, what happened?

    Nice to see the FI back in thr game. We should have an interesting race tomorrow

    1. I mean, Pierre and Hulk!

    2. I think it was a battle for track position between Kimi and Dan. Possibly neither got ideal preparation.

    3. @johnmilk Kimi had the Renaults in the way.

  13. Oh well… :)
    Honda is beating McLaren and is going 0,8 sec faster? Interesting. I presume Red Bull Honda next year?

    1. Very probable. It’s obvious they don’t trust Renault to give them the same works engine once Renault will be up there and battling for the position, so they’re testing the only option left: Honda.

      1. @mg1982
        Well the Renault cars aint exactly breathing them in the neck so i doubt they are in a rush to get into a new PU supplier.

        1. Not this year, of course. But, next year, Renault might build a really good car and challenge RBR tho. So, RBR will want to be ready and obviously that’s what’s all about this STR-Honda partnership.

  14. At least for this track McLaren has slipped back from last year. Their so called chassis advantage is no longer there, or it was just a myth last year. Both the Renaults have qualified ahead and even the Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly. Though Hartley was some way off, he was still ahead of the McLaren-Renaults. They were the slowest Renault-powered cars. I know the Australian GP result was fortuituous but I still didn’t expect such as poor performance from the Woking team. They’ve changed engine partners but they’re still struggling to get to even Q2 now – something they easily managed last year. What’s going on? Updates not working?

  15. According to former Redbull reserve driver Robert Doornbos (on Dutch TV) he got information from within Redbull hat Max crashed out because of a software glitch in the power unit.

    Now I’m really interested in the Max interview

  16. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    7th April 2018, 17:41

    Nice to see Stroll outperforming again – he has jumped from 8.5 which is what he scored himself last season to a solid 20…on the grid!

    1. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Williams debrief, listening to Laurence Stroll rant and rave about how many millions he’s given this team and yet they put together a lousy car, incompetent idiots, going to fire them all, etc.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        7th April 2018, 22:40

        I’m sure in the Strolls’ opinion, Williams should not be in F1 at all. It’s simply ruining Lance’s reputation in F1.

    2. Checking off all those boxes of his set targets. He probably will be ranked around #10 this year since he actually managed to complete his first weekend this year, thats an true achievment!

  17. @keithcollantine – perhaps an interesting piece of statistics for your round-up after the weekend: This is the first time that Kevin Magnussen has reach Q3 two Grand Prix’ in a row since Brazil and Abu Dhabi 2014! Not bad my fellow Dane :)

    1. Was that also the last time for Mclaren? ;)

      1. HAHA perhaps :) I am not sure whether McLaren have been in two consecutive Q3s since 2014… anyone?

  18. @pt

    “Their so called chassis advantage is no longer there, or it was just a myth last year. ”

    They have a new chassis this year

  19. On this kind of circuit, seems like all technical drivers surged ahead of their raw(er) talent counterparts.

  20. Going to be interesting…

Comments are closed.