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Bahrain GP: Gasly fastest in FP1 from Ferrari duo; Ocon causes red flag

  • Darshan Chokhani
    • F1, Bahrain GP

    BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 18: Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Scuderia AlphaTauri AT03 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 18, 2022 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202203180277 // Usage for editorial use only //

    Pierre Gasly led the way in FP1 of F1 Bahrain GP on the soft compound, leading the two Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

    The start of the 2022 F1 season with FP1 in Bahrain GP was disrupted early on due to a red flag after bodywork from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon shed off on the main straight. The session also saw multiple yellow flag disruptions, one for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s spin.

    There was trouble for Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, though, who lost significant time due to engine misfire. He did made it out but pitted back with the issue not fixed for the Finn and a new engine from Ferrari probably coming its way for FP2 session.

    Up front, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly set the pace with a 1m34.193s lap on the soft compound, leading the two Ferrari drivers of Leclerc (1m34.557s) and Carlos Sainz (1m34.611s), with Mercedes’ George Russell (1m34.629s) in fourth.

    Among them, both the Ferrari drivers set their best time on the medium compound with Russell on the soft, whereas fifth placed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m34.742s) did so on the medium tyres too. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m34.814s) was sixth.

    He led Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m34.943s), Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m35.000s), AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m35.028s) and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (1m35.050s) in the Top 10 – only the Mexican set his best time on the medium tyres among the runners.

    F1 debutant Guanyu Zhou (1m3.053s) was 11th after setting his best time late on the soft compound in the Alfa Romeo machine, while Alpine’s Ocon (1m35.151s) was 12th after the team fixed his bodywork on time. The leading Williams of Nicholas Latifi (1m35.644s) slotted in 13th.

    He led Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m35.815s) who had his first go in the 2022 F1 car as a replacement to COVID-19 positive Sebastian Vettel. The other Williams of Alexander Albon (1m35.923s) was 15th from the two McLaren drivers, who did not have a great run.

    Having gotten an interim fix to its brake problems, McLaren focused on getting the laps through with Lando Norris (1m36.304s) leading Daniel Ricciardo (1m36.402s). They led the two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher (1m36.536s) and Kevin Magnussen (1m36.804s) who set their times on the medium compound, with Bottas setting no time.