Bahrain Grand Prix 2021, F1 live: latest updates as Max Verstappen starts from pole

We still have to get to the end of the first race, though. Who knows which car will perform better under high fuel and on the new construction of Pirelli tyres for 2021. There are still plenty of unknowns that need to be answered, but this is a very promising start. 

Mercedes would of course have preferred to take pole position, but with positions two and three (with Valtteri Bottas two tenths behind Hamilton) on the grid they have a position that could be tactically beneficial. Red Bull’s second car, driven by Sergio Pérez, could only manage 12th on the grid. While he may make his way up to a higher points-paying position, he is almost out of the reckoning as it stands, meaning it is two versus one in Mercedes’ favour. 

The race behind the top three looks fascinating also. Charles Leclerc showed promise for Ferrari, less than a tenth off Bottas’s time and three tenths off Hamilton. How often did that happen last year? Carlos Sainz finished eighth in the other Ferrari could have been higher. AlphaTauri look like they could have moved from the back of the midfield – seventh in 2020 – to the front, as Pierre Gasly ended up a promising fifth. McLaren look there or thereabouts, too, qualifying sixth and seventh. 

As ever, we will be here on this blog for all the build-up, latest updates and in-race analysis and reaction. The lights go out at 4pm. Let’s hope it’s a cracker.