World News – CA – Sakhir 2020 Grand Prix Qualifying: Live F1 Updates as George Russell replaces Lewis Hamilton

Vettel breaks off his lap and will likely shoot the softs. Leclerc continues, ranking sixth in the media. But will that be enough?. He is faster than Verstappen on the same tire and faster than Albon on the slower tire.

Top five within 0. 053s from each other. Ferrari is 12. and 13. , so needs improvement, but both got back on the media. A bit strange?

. . . but on the softs as opposed to media from Mercedes. A walk takes place in fourth place, only 0. 053s before Perez â ???? but three places.

What was that with a gap of 0?. 016s?! Perez now moves up to first place and publishes exactly the same lead over Bottas – # BahrainGP – ???? §Ð ???? # F1 pic. Twitter. com / uFaLdMC6IB

What can Albon do? Sixth, on the softs, 0. 020s slower than Verstappen on the media. That’s okay at best.

Ocon is on the way now, Ricciardo, Perez, Stroll and Albon are out too. Gasly too, as his lap time was canceled due to a track restriction violation.

Bottas is the fastest with a good lap, a 53. 8th. Russell is only 0. 016s behind him, which is not bad at all. Verstappen, also in the media? Two tenths behind. . .

Leclerc is 0. 128s after two sectors. Towards the end of the lap he gets a bit of tow and goes fastest with 0. 40s with Vettel in the back. That’s until Gasly goes fastest with 0. 344s. . . but on the softs.

Norris’ Mercedes comes to a standstill at the pit exit, a Mercedes does the same when Sainz begins his hot lap. . . My goodness. . .

Less than a tenth ahead of Latifi, faster than Raikkonen, not much slower than Magnussen. He ran a bit far in the last corner though, so will be at least a little disappointed.

Will someone take out Albon? Do you have enough time Raikkonen is on a fast lap so that he can oust Albon. Will he make it? He has to find three tenths. I think Albon will be fine here. . .

Bottas is the fastest in sector one. What is Russell doing? He’s more than two tenths less, which isn’t great. I think Russell may have had traffic problems there. . . he has just passed Fittipaldi.

Russell, however, is fastest in the middle sector. Bottas goes fastest, Russell goes 0. 256s behind and in third place, with Verstappen between them. All of that was pretty much lost in the first sector.

But remains in second place. Aitken moves up out of the drop zone and his second round is better than Latifi’s second round too. Nice job from him.

Albon looks okay but is unlikely to bother the tip. At the moment four tenths ahead of Perez. . . and fastest in P3 as Verstappen, 0. 627s faster than his teammate. Ricciardo landed in third place, now ahead of both Mercedes, also on the softs.

First for Perez, third for Stroll. Both on the soft tires but Perez 0. 340 in front of the leading Mercedes.

With a 54. 607s. Kvyat is currently second until Russell brings him to third. Both Mercedes and Kvyat on the media. Russell 0. 170s slower than his teammate. It’s good.

Now they come out. Gasly on a hot lap, fastest in sector one, although Leclerc beats this in a short time. Gasly runs VERY far on the last corner, is the fastest, but has definitely lost a tent or two there. . .

Leclerc is about to beat that by four tenths, and he is. What is Vettel doing? 0. 017s slower and in second place. Small margins today.

Which is a little strange. He is 0. 130s faster than Magnussen at the moment, with Magnussen on the softs. Maybe just a sight for the Spaniard?

He is second, but almost a tenth faster than Latifi. Decent from the debutant. 0. 116s behind Magnussen too. Not much action from the other drivers yet. Sainz has just come out, however. Fast lap, so out and in is no problem.

Fittipaldi is the first man to set a time, but he immediately beats teammate Magnussen by four tenths.

It’s not easy to jump into another car and get up to speed right away, but Russell wasn’t too far off yesterday, although the third RP was a bit more difficult. Really, if he can finish third behind Bottas and Verstappen in qualifying, maybe within a couple of tenths of both, that will be pretty good.

And in the race? A comfortable podium would be a good result. It won’t all be easy and the pressurized part of the weekend is about to begin. And what does it mean for his chances of having this Mercedes drive in 2022?

Well, he has to impress the team and prove his speed at this point, and Bottas is a decent benchmark for performance, certainly in qualifying. It’s not make or break, but it will only improve his chances if he does it well.

Amazing to see Romain sit back in the car this afternoon. @RGrosjean # HaasF1 #SakhirGP pic. Twitter. com / btMzksJVCl

I’m not sure he has recovered enough to race in Abu Dhabi next week. It would be a sad way to end your F1 career if it weren’t for that.

And he has been confirmed to have driven for Haas in 2021. But how good is it? I looked at his chances of success in F1 and what exactly success would be. You can read the whole piece here.

Well, having been a few tenths away from his teammates yesterday, Pietro Fittipaldi failed to improve that gap at Haas, but Jack Aitken came in two tenths of his in the other Williams, Nicholas Latifi. They don’t have a lot of time to update themselves and neither man has spent much time in an F1 car, but getting through the weekend and being as close to their teammates as possible will be the goal.

And welcome to our coverage of qualifying for the penultimate race of the season, the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. Yes, it’s in the same location as last week’s race, but on a different track layout. It’s a short and quick blast through the desert, with only 11 corners and a tricky, twisty mid-sector that will no doubt create absolute chaos in traffic in qualifying and possibly even the race.

It’s been an incredibly busy week in F1, with the aftermath of Romain Grosjean’s terrible fiery fall at the start of last week’s race, Lewis Hamilton’s positive Covid test and the ensuing musical chairs among the drivers. It’s not often a seat in what is possibly the largest F1 car ever designed, even for just a single race. But this is the opportunity for George Russell, who has spent the last 36 races of his F1 career in a car that sits firmly in the back of the grid without scoring a single point.

Mercedes persuaded Williams to release Russell. Who is a driver contracted by Mercedes? to replace Hamilton, with her reserve driver Jack Aitken taking Russell’s place this weekend. Oh, and let’s not forget that Pietro Fittipaldi â ???? Grandson of Emerson â ???? has replaced Grosjean at Haas to make his own F1 debut.

How did Russell settle into the W11? Pretty good so far. Yesterday he looked decent and overtook both free training sessions with team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who had a somewhat unkempt day. In the last practice session today he was a little further off the pace. Bottas and Max Verstappen looked like the two most likely men fighting for pole. Russell is by no means excluded from this, however, and he will obviously hope to improve in qualifying.

The track also offers the riders enough challenges, with a lot of twists and mistakes during all three previous sessions. Qualifying could be interesting. It all starts in a little over an hour, but I’ll be here with updates in the meantime. I can not wait. Really. Who Said Dead Gums Are Boring?

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Mercedes AMG Petronas F1-Team, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Bahrain International Circuit, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Williams Racing