Red flagpublished at 15:05 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
A red flag already. Nico Hulkenberg heads back into the Haas garage.
Summary
World champion Max Verstappen on pole position for first race of 2023
Second Red Bull of Sergio Perez in P2, Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz P3 & P4
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso P5 despite topping two practice sessions
George Russell P6, Lewis Hamilton P7, Lance Stroll P8, Esteban Ocon P9, Nico Hulkenberg P10
Eliminated in Q2: Norris, Bottas, Zhou, Tsunoda, Albon
Eliminated in Q1: Sargeant, Magnussen, Piastri, De Vries, Gasly
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Use audio icon at top of the page to listen to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra commentary
Red flagpublished at 15:05 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Postpublished at 15:04 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
The opening time is set by the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda with a 1:32.132.
Postpublished at 15:04 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
First flying lap for Charles Leclerc and the Monegasque man locks up straight out the gate. Lap aborted by the 25-year-old, minus a piece of carbon fibre too.
'Could be 60 minutes of pure excitement'published at 15:03 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 LiveConsidering we thought it could be a bit of whitewash this season, it's incredibly competitive. This could be 60 minutes of pure excitement.
Postpublished at 15:02 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Alpha Tauri drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries are on the soft tyres for Q1, while the medium compounds have been selected for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc over at Ferrari.
Go! Go! Go!published at 15:00 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Q1 is green. Any early shocks on the cards?
Tyre talkpublished at 14:59 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Pirelli have selected the C1 (white, hard), C2 (yellow medium) and C3 (red, soft) for this weekend's season opener in Bahrain.
The C1 is the new tyre on the block this campaign, one step above this year's hardest rubber the C0, and was tested out by Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez during this morning's third practice run.
Place your bets on red to get you around the 5.412km circuit in the quickest time.
Image source, Pirelli Motorsport TwitterTrack guidepublished at 14:57 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari was polesitter and race winner at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022, while Red Bull haven't scored a victory in Sakhir since Sebastian Vettel took back-to-back wins in 2012 and 2013.
Image source, BBC SportPostpublished at 14:54 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
The top time across the three practice sessions in Sakhir was a 1:30.907 by Fernando Alonso during Friday's second outing.
Image source, Getty ImagesRewind: Leclerc Bahrain pole king in 2022published at 14:51 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Image source, Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc claimed the first of his nine pole positions during 2022 at the opening race of the season in Bahrain 12 months ago.
In a thrilling qualifying session, Ferrari's Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to the front of the grid as Formula 1 began its new era of regulation changes.
Leclerc managed to pip the Red Bull of Verstappen by 0.123 seconds, with his Scuderia team-mate Carlos Sainz lining up in third place.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes behind the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
First trip outpublished at 14:47 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Good luck to McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Williams' Logan Sargeant who are taking part in their maiden F1 qualifying session.
Alpha Tauri rookie Nyck de Vries has already experienced the nerves of a qualifying fight when he put the Williams 13th on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix in 2022 while standing in for Alex Albon.
Image source, Reutersget involved Get Involvedpublished at 14:44 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
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Hondajet: I expect Verstappen to make the difference today as he is the best driver in the world at the moment
'Mercedes are between third or fourth' - Hamiltonpublished at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Bahrain
Image source, Getty ImagesMercedes technical director Mike Elliott said on Friday the team would wait to see where they were after qualifying and the race in Bahrain before making a definitive conclusion as to how competitive they were and what to do about closing the gap to the front.
Lewis Hamilton said: "I think I got the car to the best place I can get it set-up-wise. I will continue to tweak, but it will be small bits here and there, which is milliseconds, not closing a gap of a second.
"We have to find if there is any way we can find performance overnight.
"I thought the Ferraris were second but on the long run we are quite close to Ferrari. It looks like the Aston is second and we are between third or fourth.
"We are kind of where we were last year, if not a little bit further behind."
Team principal Toto Wolff has already said that Mercedes have a design change to the side pods coming this season, but the team have not said how extensive it will be or when it will be on the car.
Hamilton added: "I have to be hopeful. There was good progress through last year but the gap wasn't as big as it is now.
"Do I believe we can close the gap at some stage? Yes, but I think it's quite hard with the concept we have."
'Aston Martin could be a threat to Mercedes'published at 14:37 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on the Chequered Flag podcast
Image source, Getty ImagesThe logic says Mercedes must be [quick] but the threat is Aston Martin, who have had a bit of a revamp over the winter. Dan Fallows moved over from Red Bull and this is the first year he has put his own design stamp on the car they have signed Fernando Alonso.
Alonso is an upgrade on Sebastian Vettel, in my opinion. He's so hungry for it and watching him trackside, day one, and he's ringing the neck of the car. There is no level of building up to to it for Alonso. He's as hungry as ever and I think he sees that Aston Martin are moving in the right direction.
The car looked really good so they are the team - I don't think any other midfielder can make a jump - but Aston Martin are the question mark. I'd be surprised if they were actually ahead of Mercedes in qualifying in Bahrain but some people are very much touting it.
Chequered Flag podcastpublished at 14:34 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
BBC SoundsThe 5 Live team are back with some preview podcasts to get us excited for the new season.
In the Chequered Flag season preview, Jack Nicholls, Jolyon Palmer, Andrew Benson and F1 reporter Rosanna Tennant react to testing and look ahead to the 2023 campaign. Plus, hear a special message from our presenter and reporter Jennie Gow.
In the second podcast, Steve Crossman is joined by Jolyon Palmer, Sam Bird and Jack Nicholls to talk through this weekend's opener in Bahrain. There are also interviews with Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
get involved Get Involvedpublished at 14:31 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
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Matt: Catching up on F1 practice- WOW Alonso has that Aston Martin raring to go!!!
Postpublished at 14:28 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
... the two Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Could this photograph be given a 2023 upgrade, with Alonso flanked by the present bulls, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez?
Image source, Getty ImagesAnother pole for Alonso?published at 14:24 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
The last time Fernando Alonso was able to point his finger in the air after securing pole position was at the German Grand Prix in July 2012.
The 41-year-old, who has 22 poles in total during his long career, was in his Ferrari era when he claimed a front-row seat at Hockenheim 11 years ago.
Who qualified behind the Spaniard in the top three that day? ...
Image source, Getty Imagesget involved Get Involvedpublished at 14:21 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
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Christian: Excited to see Fernando P1 especially after going all in on the Aston Martin F1 gear this season!! Although I fear Max will have the race pace and dominate and win
Happy anniversarypublished at 14:18 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2023
Image source, Getty ImagesIf Fernando Alonso did manage to secure pole position in Bahrain this afternoon, it would cap off an anniversary weekend for the two-time world champion.
Today marks 22 years since Alonso made his F1 race debut for Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix in 2001.
The Spanish rookie qualified 19th on the grid for the event in Melbourne and crossed the line on 4 March just outside the top 10 in 12th place.
Alonso wasn't the only driver that day making the step up to the big school, as Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Enrique Bernoldi were also newbies at Albert Park