Sakhir Grand Prix qualifying LIVE: Russell looks to beat Bottas and Verstappen to pole

Sakhir GP qualifying LIVE

-Updates to appear here from 5pm

-George Russell replaces Lewis Hamilton after F1 star tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week

-Max Verstappen will look to upset the Mercedes cars after finishing second last week on a different Bahrain layout

Qualifying preview

David Coulthard has backed George Russell to take his golden opportunity this weekend as he replaces Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

He told Express Sport: “This is the absolute golden opportunity for George to go out, match Valtteri at the minimum, beat Valtteri and put himself on the map.

“This is a shootout – not the first time he’s had a shootout – his career has been full of those to get to this point.

“Let’s imagine Mercedes are the fastest car again and they will be happy with one-two which is Valtteri on pole, George second but if George outqualifies Valtteri then people are going to sit up and take notice in the way Mika Hakkinen, when he was drafted into McLaren in Estoril, in his very first race outqualified Ayrton Senna.

“Everyone went woah. Suddenly it was a statement of intent.

“Similarly, Michael Schumacher in Spa in the Jordan qualified seventh, nobody expected it and that was a statement of intent.

“Everything is setup beautifully for George to go from being from someone who is respected as a fast racing driver to someone who has elevated himself to a must-have driver for any of the top teams.”