Formula 1 started its 2022 season with the Bahrain Grand Prix, which took place on Sunday morning. The event took place at the Bahrain International Circuit located in Sakhir.
The race consisted of 57 laps in one of the circuit’s night races.
Free Practice and Qualifying Sessions
Free Practice 1 was held on Friday. Frenchman Pierre Gasley, who drives for Scuderia AlphaTauri, was fastest with a time of 1:34.193.
The second and third practices took place on Friday and Saturday. Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, who drives for Red Bull Racing and won the 2021 Formula One World Championship, drove quickest in both sessions, recording times of 1:31.936 and 1:32.544.
Monaco’s Charles Leclerc, of team Scuderia Ferrari, took first place in qualifying on Saturday with a time of 1:30.558 and earned pole position.
The Race
The race began with a clean start for both Verstappen and Leclerc. Leclerc led his opponent for most of the race.
By lap 10, Spain’s Carlos Sainz was in third place, followed by Mexican Sergio Pérez of Red Bull. British driver Lewis Hamilton had been trying to pass Sainz but failed.
On lap 14, Verstappen tried to undercut his rival. Then on lap 17, he passed Leclerc but was overtaken at turn 4. He overshot the first corner on lap 19, giving Leclerc a clear lead.
Verstappen tried the undercut again on lap 30 with medium tires but failed. He stopped in the pits for soft tires on lap 43. The Safety Car was deployed three laps after Gasley’s car caught fire at turn 3. Afterward, Leclerc made a pit stop for fresh soft tires.
On lap 51, the race restarted. Verstappen complained of battery problems on lap 54 but was dismissed; he had also been wrestling with steering troubles up to that point. He exited the race towards the lap’s end; his car was later found to be suffering from fuel system issues.
His teammate Pérez exited in the race’s final lap after a half-spin at turn one due to the engine cutting out.
Results
Leclerc finished in first place with a time of 1:37:33.584 and earned 26 points. Lap 51 was his fastest, with a time of 1:34.570.
His last win was the 2019 Italian Grand Prix. He gave Ferrari their first win since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2019. Leclerc was the lap leader for laps 1-31 and 34-57.
His Ferrari teammate, Sainz, was lap leader for laps 32-33. He came in second place with a time of 1:37:39.182 and gained 18 points. In third place was Hamilton, who drove for Mercedes and won 15 points with a time of 1:37:43.259.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell came in fourth place, followed by Danish driver Kevin Magnussen of Haas. This was Magnussen’s first race since coming back to his team.
