Verstappen puts Red Bull on pole in Bahrain

Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.

It was the first time in the sport’s V6 turbo hybrid era that began in 2013 that Mercedes, winners of the drivers’ and constructors’ championships for the past seven years, had not taken pole for the first race.