First blood has been drawn with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc besting Max Verstappen and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz to pole position for the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Most expectations knew Ferrari looked good heading into the season but equally felt Red Bull may have the upper hand. That narrative seemed to break down in qualifying but cautiously speaking, long-run race pace can be quite different to qualifying pace and we shall see on Sunday.
Bahrain GP Qualifying Results
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m31.471s | 1m30.932s | 1m30.558s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m31.785s | 1m30.757s | 1m30.681s |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m31.567s | 1m30.787s | 1m30.687s |
| 4 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1m32.311s | 1m31.008s | 1m30.921s |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m32.285s | 1m31.048s | 1m31.238s |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m31.919s | 1m31.717s | 1m31.56s |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m31.955s | 1m31.461s | 1m31.808s |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m32.346s | 1m31.621s | 1m32.195s |
| 9 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m32.269s | 1m31.252s | 1m32.216s |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m32.096s | 1m31.635s | 1m32.338s |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m32.041s | 1m31.782s | |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m32.38s | 1m31.998s | |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m32.239s | 1m32.008s | |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1m32.726s | 1m32.664s | |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m32.493s | 1m33.543s | |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m32.75s | ||
| 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m32.777s | ||
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m32.945s | ||
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m33.032s | ||
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m33.634s |
That Ferrari power is really something propelling Haas from the bottom to Q1! Please no big crash on the first lap and give it all back to Mercedes.
Yes, as a Ferrari fan, no big crashes please. :)
IT might be a bit early to say it. but it was rather strange to see 4 of the 5 eliminated in Q1 running Mercedes Power Units, with the 5th being a Honda. And not a Ferrari in sight. Then to see 4 of the 6 Ferrari powered cars making it to Q3.
Has the balance of power (unit) finally shifted away from Mercedes baked in advantage from day 1 of the Hybrid Turbos?
Not too early to say it, Neil!! ;)
You really want to though, I’m sure of it ;)