Verstappen's Bahrain Pole Delivers Relief to Red Bull, Horner

Max Verstappen delivers some much-needed relief for his Red Bull team on Friday  - AFP
Max Verstappen delivers some much-needed relief for his Red Bull team on Friday - AFP
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Verstappen's Bahrain Pole Delivers Relief to Red Bull, Horner

Max Verstappen delivers some much-needed relief for his Red Bull team on Friday  - AFP
Max Verstappen delivers some much-needed relief for his Red Bull team on Friday - AFP

Max Verstappen delivered some much-needed relief for his Red Bull team on Friday when he resisted Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to claim pole position for Saturday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The defending three-time world champion picked up where he left off last year by topping the times in a closely-contested qualifying session at the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir.

His success, which he admitted was "a little bit unexpected" arrived after another day of speculation and pressure for team boss Christian Horner, following the anonymous leaking of a cache of alleged private messages and photographs between him and a female member of the team.

This came 24 hours after an internal investigation led by an independent London lawyer had resulted in Horner being cleared of all claims of inappropriate behaviour.

Verstappen clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 29.179 seconds to beat Leclerc by 0.228 seconds in the final seconds of the session, securing his third Bahrain pole and the 33rd of his career.

"It was a lot of fun," said Verstappen.

"The track had a lot of grip, but with the wind over the last few days, it's been quite tricky to get a whole lap together and it was the same in qualifying.

"In Q1 and Q2 you go a bit faster, with the track ramping up, but to really get everything out of it in Q3 was a little bit difficult. So I'm very happy to be on pole."

He added: "To be honest, it was a little bit unexpected, but I think the car came to us and I felt happier with the whole car."

He forecast a close race on Saturday.

"We look good for the race and that's the most important, but we will see tomorrow. I'm confident we can have a strong race."

Ferrari's Leclerc missed pole by only two-tenths of a second as he finished second ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

"I'm a bit disappointed," admitted Leclerc.

"But we had a good qualifying and this offers us a good start to the year."

Exceptionally the Bahrain race and next weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix are being staged on Saturdays to accommodate the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.