Charles Leclerc kick-started the 2022 F1 season with pole in Bahrain GP as teammate Carlos Sainz was third behind Max Verstappen.
Q1:
The first part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying started with a Ferrari 1-2 finish as Charles Leclerc (1m31.471s) led teammate Carlos Sainz (1m31.67s) by 0.096s, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third in the order where Mercedes were ninth and 10th only.
It wasn’t a good day for the Mercedes-powered cars where out of the eight cars, only four made it into Q2 with four getting knocked out in Q1. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m32.750s) led the pack in 16th from Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m32.777s).
He led his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1m32.945s) in his McLaren, who struggled all-through with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m33.032s) 19th while Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m33.634s) rounded out the 20 runners.
Q2:
The second part in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying saw some opt for used set of soft tyres, especially the Ferrari cars as Red Bull’s Verstappen led the way with a 1m30.757s lap from Sainz (1m30.787s) and Leclerc (1m30.932s) who improved late in the session.
Again Mercedes were only fifth and sixth, as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen made it into Q3 but complained of hydraulics issue. A last gasp effort helped AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly into Q3, which bumped Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m31.782s) in 11th.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher (1m31.998s) was 12th missing out on Q3, with McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m32.008s) only 13th from Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m32.664s) and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou (1m33.543s), who lost his best time due to track limits at Turn 5.
Q3:
The final part in F1 Bahrain GP had Mercedes duo and Gasly on used tyres for their first run, while Magnussen, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso not electing to run initially, with eyes on the Haas crew to see if they make it out.
On track, it was just 0.056s separating the Top 3 as Sainz led Leclerc and Verstappen after setting a 1m30.687s lap. The final run changed the order as the Monegasque set a 1m30.558s to take 2022 F1 season’s first pole in Bahrain GP.
He beat Verstappen (1m30.681s) by 0.129s with Sainz (1m30.687s) ending up third from Perez (1m30.921s), while Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m31.238s) was only fifth from former teammate Bottas (1m31.560s) in the Alfa Romeo.
Haas’ Magnussen (1m31.808s) made it out in seventh but stopped on track after finishing his lap, with Alpine’s Alonso (1m32.195s) eighth from Mercedes’ Russell (1m32.216s) and AlphaTauri’s Gasly (1m32.32.338s).
