F1 Quals: Bahrain 2017

Of all the results I imagined I'd see when I got home from work/lunch today, I gotta admit, I didn't expect this one.  Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Bahrain:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:31.041	1:29.555	1:28.769
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.814	1:29.535	1:28.792
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:31.037	1:29.596	1:29.247
4	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:31.667	1:30.497	1:29.545
5	Mumbles Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:30.988	1:29.843	1:29.567
6	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:30.904	1:30.307	1:29.687
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:31.057	1:30.169	1:29.842
8	Felipe Not Retired Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:31.373	1:30.677	1:30.074
9	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:31.691	1:30.857	1:30.763
10	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:31.458	1:30.899	1:31.074
11	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:31.531	1:30.923
12	Pleasant Stroll	Williams Mercedes	1:31.748	1:31.168
13	Pascal's Wehrlein	Sauber Ferrari	1:31.995	1:31.414
14	False Esteban	Force India Mercedes	1:31.774	1:31.684
15	Indy Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:32.054	DNF
16	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:32.118
17	Snuffy Vandoorne	McLaren Honda	1:32.313
18	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:32.318
19	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:32.543
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:32.900

This is Valtteri Bottas' first career pole, and it's his own damn bad luck it had to come at Bahrain, where starting second is actually better.  That's the clean side of the track, as it turns out.  Still, you gotta hand it to him... it isn't everybody that can say they beat Hamilton to the pole anywhere!

There's nothing particularly shocking in the rest of the grid.  However, we do now know who will be replacing Indy Alonso when he comes to America instead of going to Moncao:  Jenson "I'm Not Retired Yet Either" Button.

Race at a normal time tomorrow morning... F1U! sometime afterwards!  See ya then.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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