Ferrari started 2022 F1 season in style with a 1-2 finish in Bahrain GP where Charles Leclerc won from Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.
It was a clean start to 2022 F1 season in Bahrain GP as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc led the way in his Ferrrari from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Behind them, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was up to fourth with two cars dropping down.
Both Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas lost places with the Finn dropping down to 15th after a poor start. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was up to fifth with Perez in sixth from Mercedes’ George Russell and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
The Top 10 was rounded out by the Alpine duo of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with the Frenchman having already made contact with Haas’ Mick Schumacher. The German was spun around but he managed to save the car and continue on after losing places.
Ocon was given a 5s time penalty as Williams’ Alexander Albon led the back pack where the McLaren duo were the only ones to start on the medium tyres where rest all did so on the softs. At the front, Leclerc had a good lead over Verstappen and Sainz.
But Hamilton lost fourth to Perez who climbed back up after losing at the start. The Brit steadied in fifth from Russell with Magnussen then cementing himself in seventh ahead of Gasly, Alonso and Ocon in the Top 10. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda ran in 11th.
He had Bottas on his tail after the Finn climbed back up and brought teammate Guanyu Zhou along with him. As the pit stop shenanigans begun, the Top 3 remained on the soft tyres, while Perez opted for the mediums while the Mercedes duo went on hards.
The duel between Leclerc and Verstappen then kicked-in where the Dutchman passed the Monegasque thrice into Turn 1. For the first two times, the Ferrari driver came back on him at Turn 4 under DRS in the first two instances to retake the lead of F1 Bahrain GP.
The third time saw Verstappen lock-up into Turn 1 as he dropped back by three seconds. Sainz, meanwhile, held on to third despite Perez’s inroads. The field started to think about three stops – seeing the degradation – than the two they may have planned initially.
The leaders pitted for mediums but the order remained the same with Verstappen a bit frustrated after he went a bit slow on the out lap. The order remained similar behind with Sainz ahead of Perez, Hamilton and Russell in the Top 6.
Magnussen was seventh after his stop with Gasly eighth ahead of the Alpine pair where Alonso continued to be chased by Ocon. The Frenchman eventually cleared the Spaniard for ninth in the pursuit of Gasly and eighth place and come extra points.
But Alonso soon came under pressure from Tsunoda, who eventually passed him for 10th. The race seemed to be headed to a straight finish until Red Bull decided to pit both Verstappen and Perez for the third time, with Ferrari reacting with Sainz.
However, there seemed to be some trouble on Verstappen’s side with the steering wheel as he radioed in to his team. Before anything could have happened, AlphaTauri’s Gasly stopped at the side of the track with a problem as fire blew from the rear.
The Virtual Safety Car was kicked-in but soon converted to full Safety Car. Ferrari pitted Leclerc but he retained the lead from Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Hamilton, Russell, Magnussen, Bottas, Ocon and Schumacher – where two drivers made it in points.
It was Bottas and Schumacher in the Top 10 with Tsunoda and Alonso just outside. The re-start worked well for Leclerc as he continued to lead the F1 Bahrain GP, with Verstappen fending off Sainz after the Dutchman continued to fight through steering wheel issues.
Perez stood in fourth from Hamilton and Russell, as Magnussen held off Bottas and Ocon. Tusnoda, meanwhile, cleared Schumacher straight up for 10th where the German dropped to 13th after losing out to both Alonso and Zhou as well in the order.
As Leclerc continued to lead, it soon became Ferrari 1-2 after Verstappen slowed down to retire the car with Perez coming under pressure from Hamilton for the final spot on the podium. It came down the final lap and the Mexican spun out at Turn 1.
His car died on him allowing Hamilton to be third. At the front, it was Ferrari 1-2 with Leclerc winning the F1 Bahrain GP from Sainz, as Hamilton secured a podium in third from Russell. A return the sport was fruitful for Magnussen in fifth for Haas.
Bottas was sixth from Ocon, Tsunoda, Alonso and Zhou in the Top 10, where the Chinese driver scored on his F1 debut. At the same time, Schumacher missed out in 11th with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll 12th ahead of Williams’ Latifi.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo managed to finish ahead of teammate Lando Norris in 14th and 15th, with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi 16th and Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg 17th. Despite not finishing the race, both Red Bull cars were classified in 18th and 19th.
DNF: Gasly
More to come