Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix during an intense, hotly contested qualifying session under the Sakhir lights on Saturday night, beating Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez to top spot.

Verstappen pumped in a time of 1m 29.897s on his first Q3 run before improving to a 1m 29.708s the next time around, eclipsing Perez by 0.138s and netting a 21st career pole position in the process.

Ferrari locked out the second row of the grid, with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz despite the Monegasque not completing a second run in the pole position shootout – instead saving a set of tyres for race day.

Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s charge continued with a strong run to fifth, slotting ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, as Mercedes found themselves unable to join in the fight for pole.