“Starts the season and ending it today itself too”;“Toto's nightmare has begun” - 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying leaves F1 fans divided

Max Verstappen took pole position in the 2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying session, making it his 33rd F1 pole position.

The session's results were reminiscent of the earlier season with Red Bull up at the top. However, the gap between the top nine was wafer-thin. Max Verstappen in P1 and Lewis Hamilton in P9 were split only by 0.531 seconds.

Despite the results promising quite stiff competition within the teams, Verstappen will start the season exactly where he left off in 2023. This elicited reactions from fans as many feel this will be another year for the Dutchman to stay at the top.

"Starts the season and ending it today itself too," they wrote.

Some fans commented on Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's situation as the Brit could only qualify in P9.

"Toto's nightmare has begun," they wrote.

Others felt this season would again be dominated by Verstappen.

"We've seen this this script before. End the season already," they wrote.

Some users expect the championship fight to be closer with a narrow gap between the top three at the end of Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying.

"3 different teams in the top 3! Can't wait for the race," they wrote.

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2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying promises close competition

As mentioned earlier, although Max Verstappen managed to qualify for pole position, his competitors were rather close to him during the session of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

It was a battle between Ferrari and Red Bull during the entire session. Charles Leclerc's final lap looked promising but couldn't beat the Red Bull's 1:29.179. The gap between the two was only 0.228 seconds.

Although Lewis Hamilton will be starting the race in ninth position, his teammate George Russell qualified P3, making it three different teams at the top of the charts. Sergio Perez was further down at P5, right behind the #55 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

Even Haas, who were expected to be at the back of the grid as their new team principal Ayao Komatsu stated earlier, were in the top ten. Nico Hulkenberg's 1:30.502 ensured him a P10 start, and his teammate will start at P15.

There was plenty of competition in the entire field. Kick Sauber and Alpine were the only teams who did not look strong enough to battle in the midfield. This result was expected with the latter as the issues with their cars (overweight, poor aerodynamic efficiency and related issues) were reported at the end of pre-season testing.

So far, the Bahrain Grand Prix has proven to be more competitive than the earlier season, but the final analysis will only be made after the main race.