John N
Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc grabbed the pole position for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, beating reigning world champion Max Verstappen and his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.
Qualifying Session 1
When the qualifying session began for the first time in 2022, Williams drivers were the first to have a go. Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi, however, returned to the pits after completing two laps. Pierre Gasly set the first lap time with two hot laps, and Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton needed to complete two laps as well to be able to continue into the remainder of the qualifying session. Ferrari drivers set fast times early on and led Max Verstappen by several seconds by the end of Q1.
New driver Yuki Tsunoda missed out on making the second portion of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix after his team discovered hydraulic problems with his car in the final free practice session. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing experienced a lack of pace with both Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll only finishing in P17 and P19 respectively. After missing the Official Pre-Season Test due to Covid-19, Daniel Ricciardo was unable to progress through the middle section of qualifying. McLaren’s Australian driver only managed P18 which puts him into a difficult situation for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi rounded off the timesheet for Williams, eight-tenths of a second adrift of the second slowest Stroll.
Qualifying Session 2
Max Verstappen set the fastest time with a 1m 30.767s to beat the Ferrari duo in the second part of the qualifying session. In the other Red Bull, Perez finished fourth – 0.251s off – while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was narrowly off in fifth and Robert Russell sixth. It was the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, both Haas drivers made it to Q2 but Mick Schumacher was on a strong lap in the dying minutes of the session, but was forced to abort it, and will start tomorrow’s race from P12.
Alpine’s Oviedo-born driver Fernando Alonso made it to Q2, but teammate Esteban Ocon failed to progress through Q3. Although McLaren had a promising form in Barcelona, Lando Norris was unable to progress through Q3, ending up P13. F1 returnee Alexander Albon managed to go a tenth of a second quicker than his Q1 time, but the sport’s only newcomer Zhou Guanyu failed to repeat his previous times and will start from P15 on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Qualifying Session 3
When the lights changed to green in the last qualifying segment, Mercedes drivers went out on a used set of soft compound tires which meant that they were not in contention for grabbing a position in the sharp end of the field. However, the Ferrari drivers and Max Verstappen kept each other honest by getting the best out of their cars. The Dutch driver complained about the tires which indicated that there was more to come from him.
On the second run, Leclerc delivered a brilliant performance to post a time of 1m30.558s which was enough to clinch the season’s first pole position. Verstappen was also quick, improving his previous sector times, but he was over a tenth of a second adrift of the Monegasque’s benchmark. Ferrari’s Spanish driver was quick through the first sector of the lap, but needed to abort his lap due to a driver error, and ended up P3.
Mercedes made it to Q3 couldn’t make it into the front row. Hamilton took fifth while his new teammate ended up only P9 after messing up his last qualifying lap. Hamilton’s former teammate Bottas finished sixth fastest for Alfa Romeo Ferrari while F1 returnee Kevin Magnussen took seventh with Haas Ferrari which indicated how much Ferrari have managed to improve their power trains for 2022.
The qualifying times are as follows:
POS DRIVER Q1 Q2 Q3
1
LEC
1:31.471 1:30.932 1:30.558
2
VER
1:31.785 1:30.757 1:30.681
3
SAI
1:31.567 1:30.787 1:30.687
4
PER
1:32.311 1:31.008 1:30.921
5
HAM
1:32.285 1:31.048 1:31.238
6
BOT
1:31.919 1:31.717 1:31.560
7
MAG
1:31.955 1:31.461 1:31.808
8
ALO
1:32.346 1:31.621 1:32.195
9
RUS
1:32.269 1:31.252 1:32.216
10
GAS
1:32.096 1:31.635 1:32.338
11
OCO
1:32.041 1:31.782
12
MSC
1:32.380 1:31.998
13
NOR
1:32.239 1:32.008
14
ALB
1:32.726 1:32.664
15
ZHO
1:32.493 1:33.543
16
TSU
1:32.750
17
HUL
1:32.777
18
RIC
1:32.945
19
STR
1:33.032
20
LAT
1:33.634
Q1 107% time – 1:37.873
The Starting grid for Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 goes thus:
1st: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2nd: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3rd: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4th: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5th: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6th: Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
7th: Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
8th: Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
9th: George Russell (Mercedes)
10th: Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
11th: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
12th: Mick Schumacher (Haas)
13th: Lando Norris (McLaren)
14th: Alex Albon (Williams)
15th: Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
16th: Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
17th: Nico Hulkenberg (Aston Martin)
18th: Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
19th: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
20th: Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
