Bottas on pole by a breath in Sakhir, 26 thousandths ahead of Russell

He will have been hot. Very hot. After a messy Friday where he felt the breath of his new teammate Mercedes George Russell on the back of his neck, Valtteri Bottas finds the necessary resources to bounce back and take the 16th pole position of his career, his 5th of the 2020 season. 

However, the Finn had to work hard to dominate an ultra-tight qualifying session. Bottas will be accompanied on the front row by that devil of a Russell, who is only 1 thousandths behind the leading W26 for his first weekend with the German team. 

The 2 Mercedes drivers, who will start on Sunday in Mediums, made 3 attempts each in Q3 to overcome a Max Verstappen very lively. The pilot Red Bull, who will start with Tendres must once again settle for 3rd place, only 56 thousandths behind Bottas. 

Behind the top three, Charles Leclerc signs a huge performance to raise his 'modest' Ferrari in 4th place. The Monegasque did not even try to improve the first mark he registered in Q1.

Leclerc precedes the Racing Point of Sergio Pérez andAlpha Tauri of Daniil Kvyat, who will share the 3rd row. Next Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), Carlos Sainz (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), and Lance stroll (RacingPoint).

While he stood out at the forefront during the 3 free practice sessions, Esteban Ocon fails at the gates of the Top 10 in Q2. The Frenchman from Renault is accompanied in the cart by Alexander albon (Redbull), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), And Lando Norris (McLaren).

While some predicted a hell of a mess in Q1 with 20 cars on track, the first part of qualifying went off without a hitch. It did not cause any big surprise with the elimination of Kevin Magnussen (Haas), then Nicholas latifi (Williams), who is ahead of his teammate in qualifying for the first time in his young career. 

The Canadian precedes rookie Jack Aikten (Williams) by less than a tenth, while Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) and debutant Pietro Fittipaldi (Haas) will share the last row of the grid on Sunday evening.

Almost nothing in it at the top #SakhirGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/hdAkmvxvms

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 5, 2020