Pole: Charles Leclerc
Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc 1:34.570
DOTD: Charles Leclerc
The Bahrain Grand Prix started the Formula 1 2022 season and it gave spectators plenty to talk about. Sunday's race started the new era of Formula 1, with new cars new drivers and the fiercest competition seen in a long time.
Race:
Laps 1-10
Esteban Ocon picked up a 5-second penalty as Esteban clipped the rear wheel of the HAAS car which sent Mick spinning on the first lap. Hamilton was pressuring Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz since the start of the race attempting to close the gap between the two cars. It was a bad start for both McLaren but starting on the medium tyres where they might see a comeback later in the race. Within the first 10 laps, it is clear to see that cars seem to be closing in on each other and racing closer in comparison to last year. Kevin Magnussen doing well but went deep at turn 1 a couple of times where plenty of other drivers have been doing a similar thing. By the end of lap 9, Charles Leclerc is 2.4 seconds clear of Verstappen and Carlos Sainz is 4 seconds off Verstappen. Down at the other end of the field, McLaren was still struggling with the pace running in 18th and 20th on lap 10 and the Mercedes powered teams seem to be lacking the pace.
Laps 10-20
at the beginning of lap 10, we saw Verstappen on old tyres also managing brake temperatures. Lap 12 Hamilton took a 3.4 pit stop after leaving the pits Lewis went deep in the first corner with little to zero grip on the tyres this then allows new F1 rookie Zhou to overtake him. Despite this gain, Lewis manages to overtake the Alfa Romeo with DRS down the main straight passing him the following lap. Red Bull come on the radio to tell Perez they are going with Plan B which to the spectators meant that he could possibly be going long after tyre degradation seemed higher than what they were expecting. Williams put in a 2.7 pit stop for Alex Albon despite the 18-inch tyres being considerably larger than previous years teams like Williams have still kept up the sub-3-second pit stops. Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon all pit on lap 15. Leclerc, Russell and Perez pit lap 16. By this point Max Verstappen is confidently closing the gap to the Ferrari, one thing that has been noticed already is that the Red Bull has very good straight-line speed. On lap 17 red bull and Ferrari are battling it out Max fights Leclerc with DRS which gives him the pace to overtake Charles. Charles used DRS to overtake again, Max Verstappen late-braking into turn 1 the following lap allows him to overtake and Charles returns the favour, they are back and forth between first and second across 2 laps until a huge lockup for Verstappen in turn 1 flat-spotting his tyres in the process sets him back to second. It also becomes clear during this time that Max Verstappen is nursing brake problems. Perez with the fastest lap on lap 20.
Laps 20-30
Drivers are struggling with the tyres at this point in the race. Mercedes have been running 5th and 6th for the majority of the race not seeming to be closing the gap, both on the hard tyre. Carlos Sainz comes on the radio asking to think about the 3 stop strategy, across the field all drivers seem to be complaining about tyre wear. McLaren, Williams and Aston martin struggle to find the pace fighting each other at the back of the pack. So far, the new regulations prove to be working in favour of cars following each other. Lewis Hamilton pits lap 29 for the medium tyres predicting that he will go to the end of them.
Laps 30-40
31 Charles pitting to go on the medium. Verstappen getting frustrated about having to protect his tyres. Hamilton working his way through the pack using DRS gets past Kevin Magnussen putting himself in 6th position. Lap 34 Carlos and Sergio follow each other into the pits along with Russell. Kevin Magnussen making the way through the pack up into p7. Rookie Zhou has a clean race so far but only stopped once and may drop out once he has made his stop.
Laps 40-50
The race is very calm. The gap between max and Charles is 4 seconds both red bulls managing brake problems. With 15 laps to go Ferrari see, Ferrari seems to have been in control with Leclerc still in the lead although Red Bull has in the straights Leclerc losing out in 2019. Verstappen and Perez pitting on lap 44 onto the soft tyres. Carlos Sainz is pitting on lap 45 along with Hamilton. The race is livening up a little bit as Verstappen has a problem with his steering wheel? Bad radio message. Pierre Gasly Alpha Tauri overheated and on fire on lap 46 virtual safety car then full safety car. Leclerc boxing in the safety car. The gaps will be closing, the majority of the pack running on soft tyres. 6 cars have that been lapped can unlap themselves. Seemed to be an electrical failure. 49 all lapped cars allowed to unlap.
Laps 50-57
Safety car in lap 50. Restart the same top 3 max is struggling with the steering Sainz almost has Verstappen in the first corner. Leclerc with a gap over a second n lap 51. Verstappen losing half a second each sector of a lap managing problems. Hamilton closed the gap with Perez. Lap 54 Carlos Sainz moves up to second place. Verstappen retires from the race on lap 55. Puts Hamilton into contention with Perez lap 56 Perez losing power and having to defend mightily to keep Lewis behind. The last lap Perez has spun around puts Lewis Hamilton onto the podium. Leclerc wins with a 5-second gap. Zhou was 10th in his first end race. Ferrari 1-2. Hamilton 183 podiums. Dramatic end to the race. Cars can follow close and looks good for the rest of the season.
Race Summary:
The ability for the cars to follow each other and race closely has massively improved, this is only the first race but it is looking positive. The regulations seemed to have worked and the drivers are relishing it, most teams will be looking optimistic for the rest of the season. A great day for Alfa Romeo finishing p6 and p10 is a great result for the team, especially for rookie Zhou who scores his first points in Formula 1 in his first-ever race, the team is looking to have a decent pace. HAAS look to be the most improved team this season with their new driver line-up of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher finishing p5 and p11 Kevin delighted with his performance in the car all weekend this team for sure to be one looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season develops for them. There are a lot of questions around McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams, all running Mercedes engines in their cars, about their race pace and why they struggled this first race. Especially McLaren it seems to me they took 2 steps forward in 2020 and 1 step backwards each year since then. Mercedes still need to sort out the porposing making them unable to follow in the straight lines even with DRS. Ferrari looking confident and strong for the rest of the season with a 1-2 at the first race they will be going into the next race with heaps and bounds of confidence, they seem to have the pace and the drivers to match that, definitely looking at the world championship. Red Bull suffered major reliability issues towards the end of the race, Max Verstappen suffered steering problems and Sergio lost out with his engine Red Bull will be looking into the problems for the next race despite his they still have a very fast car, especially on the straights.
In 7 days Formula 1 will be racing in Saudi Arabia where the top 3 will be looking to carry the momentum, sort reliability issues and push forward to create an even faster car.
F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Podium.
Comments