Ferrari opened their 2022 title charge in dominating fashion under the lights in Bahrain, with Charles Leclerc claiming his 3rd victory in Formula One, ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in second. Meanwhile, Mercedes struggled to find pace and Red Bull suffered a nightmare double DNF (did not finish).
Leclerc was declared driver of the day and narrowly missed out on the grand slam of pole position, leading every lap and fastest lap, having surrendered the lead during his second pitstop. It was a fantastic day for the Scuderia, who appear to be title challengers, after finding pace in pre season testing. “Ferrari is properly back,” exclaimed Sainz, after the pair secured Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish since 2019.
It was damage limitation for the Mercedes driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton, who rounded out the top 3. The Brit spent most of the race in 5th behind the Ferrari and Red Bull pairs. The defending constructors champion appeared to be lacking pace and provided no real threat to front runners.
After following Leclerc for most of the race, and even challenging for the lead, 2021 world champion, Max Verstappen looked set to finish 2nd. However, after his final pit stop, he started complaining of a mechanical issue, which inevitably lead to his retirement on lap 54/57. His teammate Sergio Perez later retired on lap 56/57.
They joined Alphatauri lead driver, Pierre Gasly, who retired after his car went up in flames on lap 46.
Behind all the chaos, Hamilton’s new teammate, George Russell improved his starting position of 9th, with a 4th place finish.
Best of the rest Haas driver, Kevin Magnussen finished 5th on his return to Formula One after a two-year hiatus. His teammate Mick Schumacher also had an outstanding finish in 11th. You should definitely keep an eye on the American based team as they too have made significant strides since last season.
Hamilton’s former teammate, Valteri Bottas finished 6th in his first Alfa Romeo outing. His teammate, Formula One’s first Chinese driver, Zhou Guanyu finished 10th, scoring points on debut.
The Alpine duo of Estabon Ocon and Fernando Alonso and Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunado rounded out the top 10.
Lance Stroll finished 12th for Aston Martin while his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who was called in at the last minute after Sebastian Vettel tested positive for covid-19, finished 17th. Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi in the Williams finished 13th and 16th, respectively.
The biggest disappointment of the race was the McLaren duo of Daniel Riccardo and Lando Norris, who finished 14th and 15th, respectively. The team appears to have hit reverse and struggled to find pace.
Next weekend, the Formula One circus heads to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Gran Prix. If this race is anything to go by, these new cars and technical regulations have appeared to have leveled the playing field.
While this was Ferrari’s best performance since 2019, and a spectacular start to the season, it is race 1 of 23. Fans will be looking to see if the Scuderia can maintain this form and lift both the Driver’s and Constructor’s championships at the end of the season.
